Pictographic Motifs: Memory and Mobility on the Upper Missouri

Abstract

In “Pictographic Motifs: Memory and Mobility on the Upper Missouri” I investigate a small surviving body of Indigenous painted robes, shirts, and drawings that represent mediated images of intratribal conflict. Indigenous men’s lived experiences shaped their visual expressions, influencing them to grapple visually with the threat of violence that unsettled their communities in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. I analyze the self-portraits of Nueta (Mandan) artists and leaders Mató-Tópe (Four Bears) and Síh-Xídä (Yellow Feather) to understand their martial ambitions: capturing enemies, stealing material goods to count coup, and celebrating victories. While my dissertation focuses on historic Nueta (Mandan) and Nuxbáagas (Hidatsa) territories, my final chapter migrates to Like-a-Fishhook village and the nearby Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. In 1906, Nueta artist Little Owl was commissioned by Orin G. Libby, director of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, to interpret sections of the Missouri River based on his geographic knowledge of the area. His map visually reflects critical links to his ancestral past and challenges settler narratives that continue to reverberate along the shores of the Upper Missouri.