Caddo Culture Club holds conference at UAFS

 

story and photos by Joel Rafkin
[email protected]

The 53rd Annual Caddo Conference was held March 25-26 at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

The event location changes annually and can be held in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana or Texas — the region of the Caddo tribe, said Tim Mulvihill, UAFS station archeologist for Arkansas Archeological Survey.

The primary function of the conference is to disseminate academic information through presentations of research from both archeologists and anthropologists. About 89 people paid a $20 registration fee to attended the event.

"We get together so we can discuss current research and we can visit with the Caddo people and they often have a good insight into what we’re finding based on what they know of their culture and what we may not know through our perspective because we didn’t grow up in that culture. So, It’s a good exchange between the researchers and the archeologists and the Caddo Nation themselves and the Caddo people," said Mulvihill.

The final three hours of the conference was open to the public for a session of Caddo music and dance by the Caddo Culture Club. The 50-member club was formed about 25 years ago as group to preserve the music and pass it on to future generations, said Phil Cross, a member of the Caddo Culture Club.

The group performed abbreviated versions of about six of their ten regular dances out of a repertoire of 20 dances. There are 200 songs that club members sustain.

"Performing them again, all of us say, just renews our spirit. Kind of like reaffirms our place on earth here in out homelands," Cross said.

For additional information on the Caddo Culture Club visit the club’s website.