Missouri State University’s Dr. William Meadows has published a new book exploring the culture and history of the Native handgame tradition.

Meadows is a professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology.

“The Handgame of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache: Spirited Competition on the Southern Plains,” is an ethnic study that documents a previously unexplored topic, Meadows explained. “I’ve played this game off and on for a little over 30 years, but always with the goal in mind of doing an ethnography on it. It is a subject that no one has taken the time to deal with.”

The subject interested him theoretically because handgame is not just a “game of chance.” It requires “keen observation” of human behavior, psychology, mathematics and spiritual belief, he argues,

“The handgame constitutes its own arena of social activity in tribal communities,” Meadows writes in his book. “It is just as important and traditional as other Native cultural institutions such as the powwow or sweat lodge ceremonies.”

From observer to player

As part of his broader research on Indigenous cultures, Meadows conducted field work from 1993-2023. He interviewed individuals from the Kiowa, Comanche, Plains Apache, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Ponca, Wichita, Delaware and Fort Sill Apache communities.

During this period, Meadows interviewed Bill Koomsa, Jr., who introduced him to the game.

“They were hosting the Crows, and he invited me to one of the games to look on, enjoy it and everything,” Meadows said. “Once you see it, it’s such a lively, peppy game, it’s really addictive.”

After that, Meadows continued to play so frequently, one family invited him to join their team.

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