Interdisciplinary re-examination of American flag imagery in late nineteenth cenutry Lakota beadwork

Abstract

This thesis reexamines the deployment of American flag imagery in in late nineteenth century Indigenous Lakota beadwork. The profusion of flag imagery by Lakota women artists is well documented as a phenomenon, yet despite the depth of scholarly attention the previous examinations have resulted in patronizing and unsubstantiated conclusions portraying the Lakota as blindly expressing patriotism in these works. Utilizing contemporary womanist/Indigenous frameworks is a more productive exercise and re-centers these artworks as visual evidence of complex identities in settler colonial spaces, both material and intellectual. These works are a record of the creative and fraught borrowing of symbols of power, an exercise in resistance and survival, and the balanced role of women in Lakota culture prior to colonial pressures. Contemporary theories on settler colonial power dynamics can better illuminate the aims of the Lakota women artists and the very real world results this borrowing brought upon the wearers and makers of beaded flag motifs.