comes from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning "spiritual leader; (also spelled powwow, powaw, pawaw, powah, pauwau and pawau); social gathering, ceremony, or celebrations held in different Native American communities that can be spiritually symbolic in nature, involve dancing and regalia, and involve months of planning with hundreds of people in attendance; colloquially is culturally appropriated and used to mean "to meet" (verb) or meeting, working session, or gathering (noun).

Issue

Non-Native/non-Indigenous people using pow-wow outside of the context of its Native American meaning and significance is culturally appropriation through terminology.

Using culturally appropriative language while Native American and Indigenous people are systematically harmed reinforces settler colonial oppression.

Impact

Cultural appropriation is problematic because it robs the culture from the people without their consent, while the people behind the culture are left behind and systemically excluded from the spaces using their culture.

Using Native and Indigenous culture outside of its intended meaning also demeans its value to the culture. Connoting that your five-person meeting about making an app is somehow the same as culturally significant event minimises what powwows are.