Title
Mardi Gras Morning: A Family Affair
Files
Interviewee
Zohar Israel
Description
Niya Zulu and her family are key figures in the New Orleans marching and parading culture. Niya’s father, Shaka Zulu, is Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas Tribe. He and Ziya’s mother Na’imah Zulu run the Golden Feather Mardi Gras Indian gallery and restaurant. At a young age Niya began touring with her family’s performing arts groups, learning the stilt dancing tradition, and photographing Mardi Gras Indian parades. Niya’s grandfather, Zohar Israel, is the second Chief of Northside Bone Gang, and she interviewed him to learn more about his masking experiences. Israel discusses Mardi Gras Indian traditions and songs, the origins of the Northside Skull and Bone Gang, the politics of urban space in Tremé, and the preservation of parading culture.
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
1-1-2017
Publisher
Neighborhood Story Project
City
New Orleans
Keywords
African Americans; Race; African diaspora; Mardi Gras; Mardi Gras Indians; Carnival; Northside Skull and Bone Gang; Super Sunday; Yellow Pocahontas; Masking; Performance; Folk Art
Location
New Orleans, Louisiana; Tremé
Disciplines
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Zulu, Niya. “Mardi Gras Morning: A Family Affair.” A Guide to South Louisiana: Stories of Uncommon Culture, edited by Rachel Breunlin, Neighborhood Story Project, 2017.
Comments
The ethnographies in Guide to South Louisiana were created by students in Rachel Breunlin’s “Storytelling and Culture” course for the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Orleans in the Spring of 2017.