Identity politics & Powwow Highway
Identity politics are front and center in Powwow Highway as we watch Redbow's violent reactions to any perceived slight by a white person (e.g. trashing the electronics shop after and struggling against being forcibly removed from the New Mexico police station). Redbow most overtly challenges the dominant and oppressive white culture and is visibly angry with the way Native Americans have been treated historically and in recent years, while Philbert takes pride in their Cheyenne heritage (as seen through his repeated proud pronouncement that "We are Cheyenne") and takes to heart the folklore and traditions of the tribe. Yet while Redbow is the visible rebel, Philbert also challenges white dominance and conventions--he, not Redbow, breaks Bonnie out of jail and steals enough money from the police to replace Rabbit's $2000 and the money given to Redbow for livestock. Identity politics play a role in getting Redbow and Philbert on the road, as well--the federal authorities who are "after" Redbow arrest his sister in order to get him off the reservation during an important vote and perhaps to arrest him, as well. As our two heroes travel, the people and places they encounter along the way highlight their Native American heritage and the hardships that came from interaction with whites. Even within reservation communities, like the one where Redbow's fellow activist lives (before leaving for a nondescript housing development), dissention seems to be based in identity politics. The (white) government's involvement in reservation life is a contentious point for Redbow and others, and one that Redbow can't escape by leaving his own reservation. As Redbow, Philbert, Bonnie, Rabbit, and Bonnie's children flee the police and the feds at the end of the film, they drive Philbert's dilapidated "war pony" as fasy as it will go while the white authorities chase them with a ridiculous amount of manpower for catching a group of unarmed people, two of whom are children. Their escape reveals a moment where they are free from the dominance of the white culture--but only because the white pursuers presume they are dead.