"Queens Rule!" was directed, filmed, and produced by the students in Betsy Weiss' Spring 2008 Women Studies/Communication Feminist Documentation and New Media class at Newcomb College Center for Research on Women. The short film -- currently going through a second cut --  is a group project produced over the course of the semester as a service learning project affiliated with the Guardians Institute and the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame through the Katrina Warriors Network. Students spent time with women and girls of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition, documenting their busy season between Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest.  Their interviews detail the empowering nature of masking as women. The piece includes footage of the Young Guardians performing at the V-Day celebrations in New Orleans in April 2008, as well as footage from the first-ever reception honoring Mardi Gras Indian Queens Reception in February 2007 at the Newcomb College Institute.

Mardi Gras Indians are well known around the city of New Orleans, and are receiving more and more attention nationally and internationally. Their tradition of masking in elaborate beaded, feathered, and beribboned costumes originates with bonds created between African Americans and Native Americans during the era of slavery in the US.  Masking as Indians, African Americans of New Orleans pay respect to the help they were given during that time. Every Indian suit tells a powerful personal and historical story.

Many Mardi Gras Indians gangs mask and perform in New Orleans today, and their art and activism post-Katrina has been fundamental to the early stages of the spiritual and cultural recovery of the city. Indians spend up to a year, and sometimes more, sewing and beading their elaborate costumes in preparation for coming out on Mardi Gras Day, "Super Sunday" (St. Joseph's Day), and during Jazz Fest and other special cultural events throughout the year.  The music and songs of the Mardi Gras Indians  are part of the rich musical tapestry of New Orleans, the most famous being "Iko, Iko" and "Indian Red."

Traditionally, only men masked and paraded, but in recent years, women of the communities have started making their own costumes and masking alongside the men.  As Ms. Lidell Banister, Tribal Queen  of the Creole Wild West tribe, puts it,
"Now you know, without a Queen, there would not be a Chief.  There would not be a President.  Without a Queen, there would be none of this." 

If you missed "Queens Rule" at Jazz Fest 2008, you can check it out here on Sophie.


Click here to read an article by Cherice Harrison-Nelson about her role as a Big Queen in the Guardians of the Flame, a Mardi Gras Indians tribe in New Orleans (from In Motion Magazine).


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