Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

2628

Date

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Art History

Concentration

General Art History

Committee Chair

Earnestine Jenkins

Committee Member

Richard Lou

Committee Member

Robert Connolly

Committee Member

Patricia Daigle

Abstract

Although nineteenth-century photographs of Native Americans were often created to portray romanticized images of a "vanishing race," they can also represent the agency of those pictured. In this paper, Ipresent research on a collection of photographs taken of Osage Indians by George W. Parsons in Pawhuska, Indian Territory, during the late nineteenth-century. In order to support my claim that the photographs in the collection are examples of silent resistance practiced by Native Americans, Idiscuss the history of representation of Native Americans and highlight elements of Osage culture illustrated by the photographs. In doing so, I demonstrate how the images illustrate the agency of the sitters to represent their Native identity and culture. I also discuss how contemporary artists re-appropriate images and narratives about Native peoples in order to reclaim and rewrite the history of the Native expeirneces, and therefore emphasize the continuous narrative of Native Amerian history.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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