Miss Indian World at 30

Gathering of Nations Powwow pageant marks milestone year

Kansas Begaye, the current Miss Indian World, will hand her crown to a new winner on Saturday, April 26.

Courtesy of Gathering of Nations

When the moment arrives, thousands of people inch to the edge of their seats with anticipation. The booming voice of announcer Beulah Sunrise-Rau (Diné/Santa Domingo Pueblo) starts to echo through the University of New Mexico’s 15,000-seat arena “The Pit” and she gives the stage to two others, Jason Whitehouse (Shoshone/Paiute) and Lisa Meeches (Ojibway). Cheers erupt like an earthquake as the duo reads the name of the woman who will become the next Miss Indian World.

For the past 29 years, one Native woman each year has experienced this moment with all eyes on her at the Gathering of Nations Powwow in Albuquerque, N.M. The next winner will take the spotlight the evening of Saturday, April 26, when GON crowns its 30^th Miss Indian World after five days of pageantry.   

“I remember it vividly. They said my name and the crowd went very crazy,” says current Miss Indian World Kansas K. Begaye (Diné). “It was such an emotional time for me, I worked so hard for something and it paid off for me and my family to be proud.”

What started in 1984 as a modest-sized mentorship and leadership program has grown into a large display of culture with dozens of contestants. It’s also become one of the most attended events at the annual spring gathering branded as the world’s biggest powwow. It’s normal for people to show up three hours early to attend one of the five tiers of competition. “I’ve seen all ages – men and women, Native and non-Native – standing in line,” says Melonie Mathews (Santa Clara Pueblo/Navajo). She has coordinated the Miss Indian World program for 20 years and says the high attendance shows a heightened interest in Natives wanting to know more about other tribes. The other elements of the competition include an essay, public speaking, personal interview and a dance competition. All of this happens in front of 25 judges and is broken down into five judges per element.

“It’s not a beauty pageant and it never has been,” Mathews says. She calls the competition a cultural pageant where young women from across North and South America, as well as the Caribbean, are judged on their cultural knowledge. Many contestants are college students. “We’re looking for someone who can truly represent Native people in an intertribal way,” she says. “The Miss Indian World title grows and changes with each contestant. What she puts into is what’s going to come out at the end and it’s what is carried on to the next one and the next one.” Winners are awarded cash and gift prizes for their respective titles and special categories.

With the Gathering bringing together many tribes, Mathews also says the pageant places attention on individual nations in a way that doesn’t happen during the remainder of the two-day event. The pageant currently spans five days and wraps up during the powwow, where it gives Native women the public spotlight.

Once the competition ends the pageant contestants are reenergized, Mathews says, and they go back to their tribes set on maintaining their cultures. The winners embark on their yearlong journey as the new Miss Indian World. Native Peoples Magazine spoke with several past winners about each of their experiences as Miss Indian World.

LoVina Louie (Coeur d'Alene/ Okanagan & Lakes Band of the Colville Confederated Tribes)

Miss Indian World 1990 – 1991

It helped me pave a solid path

For LoVina Louie, one of the most moving moments of the night she was crowned Miss Indian World in 1990 was seeing herself in the young girls who surrounded her soon after she received the crown. “I could see my dream in their eyes,” she says. Louie long looked up to national Native title-holders as role models and decided one day she wanted to be like them.

The reason she entered the competition was to bring inspiration back to her community. She remembers the ride to Albuquerque that year and her father’s words: “I don’t want you to do this for yourself. I don’t want you to do it just for our family but, for the tribe … I want you to do this for our people we need something good to happen for our tribe.” Louie says that at the time her nation was split on a major decision. Her dad felt her participation could bring some unity. “I told him I’ll do my best,” she recalls with a laugh. “He said ‘OK, you have the whole tribe on your shoulders.’”

So, going home with the title was a reward for all. “I was well received and it really brought some positive back to our community,” she says.

Her year as Miss Indian World helped lead her to her chosen career with Rock’n the Rez, a program that works with youth to express themselves through the performing arts, culture and their tribal languages.

“I felt like whenever I did my speeches (that year) I gave kids hope,” she says. Some of her talks emphasized picking up after failing. As Miss Indian World, you learn “who you are and what you stand for,” she says. 

     Past winners (from left): Megan Young, Brooke Grant and Marjorie Tahbone.

Megan Young (Porch Band of Creek Indians)

Miss Indian World 2007 – 2008

It was my moment to introduce the world to my tribe

The pageant was on Megan Young’s mind since age 16, but she never imagined she would win. Remembering the moment her name was called as the winner, she says she was shocked. She had met her goal just being in the competition and introducing her tribe in front of thousands of other peoples at the powwow. That alone was a positive boost for her tribe. “My goal for being there was to educate people,” she says.

At the time, she felt there weren’t a lot of people who knew there was a federally recognized tribe in Alabama. When it comes to tribal knowledge beyond tribal borders, she says most people only know about Western and plains tribes. “They have this Hollywood image in their minds and fail to recognize that Native Americans cover the United States and aren’t limited to just one area,” Young says. “I felt this competition was an opportunity help raise awareness of Southeastern tribes.”

She said this role also has another way of chipping at stereotypes. “It lets people know there’s more to being Native American than being a character in a book or a movie and that we don’t fit into a cookie cutter image. We’re like any other race where people come in all shapes, forms and fashions.

“It’s empowering for people to understand and break away from that ignorance,” she says.

The pageant also brought opportunity to broaden her knowledge of other tribes. “I knew the ladies going into this competition have a strong sense of who they and their people are,” she says.

She became a part of Miss Indian World history as its 25th title-holder, knowing the competition’s legacy. “The Miss Indian World pageant has created this very strong sector of women role models for young girls to look up to and maybe even for grown women too,” she says.

Brooke Grant (Hoopa Valley/Yurok/Karuk/Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa)

Miss Indian World 2009 – 2010

It allowed me to get closer to my heritage

Brooke Grant used these words to describe her experience as Miss Indian World: empowering, humbling and inspiring. When asked how her time with this title changed Native American history, she shared this: “For that short period of time that I had the honor of being Miss Indian World I feel like I communicated the importance of education to the people with whose paths I have crossed.” For Grant, education is a crucial issue to Native communities. 

She decided to take an active approach to always speaking about the importance of education, staying in school and having goals. She says the title inspired and further emboldened her to take an active role in education policy. “It showed me how incredibly passionate I was about the subject.”

The advice of an elder led Grant to compete for the title, which she says brings a crucial and empowering position for young women. After finishing her term as Miss National Congress of American Indians, her Hupa grandfather Mike Ferris asked her to run. “My grandfather is a quiet one, so when he asked, I did not hesitate to jump at the opportunity,” she says. “It was a great honor for me to fulfill a dream he had for me.”

She became the first contestant to bring the Miss Indian World title back to California after being crowned. Brooke says her time with others during her pageant year also allowed her to put more value on her role as a Hupa Native. For her, it was an invitation to deepen her knowledge of her own culture. She says she wishes her desire to know more happened earlier in life because of the broader perspective it gave her    .

Marjorie Tahbone (Inupiaq/Kiowa)

Miss Indian World 2011 – 2012

It changed the way I look at the world

Majorie Tahbone used much of her time as Miss Indian World to visit the many reaches of the Indigenous world. Her travels gave her a stronger understanding of Native life and cultures. “I’ve always wanted to learn about other people’s cultures,” she says, and winning the title became her opportunity to do so.

She traveled to several U.S. states, Canada and New Zealand, home of the Maori. “It was inspiring to see how strong their culture was and how it’s a part of their everyday life,” she says.

She also witnessed on her trips how the positive and the negative are woven daily into life. Some people she met told of the harsh realities of drugs and sexual abuse, and other challenges. “I also saw how these issues are impacting things in my village and other (Alaska) communities. I really saw how we are all going through these things together.”

Her year as Miss Indian World motivated her to give back to her own community. After graduating from college with a degree in Alaska Native Studies and a minor in her Inupiat language, she moved back to the village of Nome, in southwest Alaska, and became a community wellness coordinator.

Her title also brought hope to her community. “No one ever won a title like that before,” she says. As Miss Indian World, she heard from younger generations, too, as youth greeted her saying, “I want to be like you. I want to run for Miss Indian World. I want to learn how to Eskimo dance and traditional sew.

“Unfortunately we don’t always hear about the positive things. We hear a lot about high suicide rates, high rates of alcohol and substance abuse and sexual violence. All these negative things that aren’t really true to who we actually are,” she says.

Kansas K. Begaye (Diné)

Miss Indian World 2013 – Present

It’s a role model’s chance of a lifetime

Kansas K. Begaye (Diné) first witnessed the Gathering of Nations from perspective of a young dancer, prancing across the arena in the “tiny tots” dance division. Last spring, she gained a new view as Miss Indian World. Growing up with a front row seat and learning what the pageant was all about, she knew how much honor it brought. That’s why she spent a lot of time preparing to enter the arena to compete for the title. “I had to humble myself and be ready mind body and spirit,” she says. “I was working on all that beforehand. Competing is not just something you decide overnight. It’s a prestigious title you should take humbly and it’s a great honor that you bring back to your tribe. You have to be ready to represent everybody in a good way.”

Begaye says the past year has brought memories to last a lifetime. “I met so many wonderful people this year and learned a lot about different cultures.” She says she made it a point to celebrate each nation she visited with words from their languages. “When I go to a tribe, I like to learn how to say hello to have at least one foot in their door to be able to greet them in a way they’ll be able to understand.”

One thing that will stick with her about her reign is how proud people are of being Native. As she set out on her yearlong journey, she wanted to stress the importance of higher education while keeping culture alive. She says it’s been her goal to inspire individuals to further their education while not leaving their Native cultures behind.

Soon, Begaye will hand the title over to the next woman, who will define her own experience. “The title goes to who it’s needed to go to,” she says. “I know it’s going to go to someone great and wonderful in their own way.”

Tara Gatewood (Isleta Pueblo/Navajo) works with Koahnic Broadcast Corporation’s Native America Calling and has written for Native Peoples in the past, as well as The Boston Globe, St. Paul Pioneer Press and Aberdeen American News.