Everyone knows the photographs of Edward S. Curtis–they are the “iconic” Indian pictures you see in coffee table books, on postcards, even on wall hangings at Ikea. They’re the images people most often associate with Natives: Indians on horses, Indians in headdresses, Indians riding off into the sunset never to be seen again… At the time he was working, Curtis …
Full Blood, Verifiable Native American: A Weird Experience at Trivia Night
(Jacoby Ellsbury via Boston.com) Every Wednesday (well, almost every Wednesday) for the past year and a half, a group of my cohort-mates and I have played trivia at an Irish pub in Harvard Square. It’s our weekly tradition, and we’re pretty good. Like we place first, a lot. But that’s just an aside. 😉 Anyway, in the course of our …
Miley Cyrus Enjoys Dream Catchers, Apparently.
(via StyleBistro) Â Miss Miley Cyrus was recently inked with her fifth tattoo, a dream catcher along her ribcage. It’s supposedly to protect her four siblings, or something like that. Honestly, dream catchers are probably one of the most appropriated and exploited Native images–you see them everywhere. So I’m not supremely bothered by the tattoo, but it is annoying. However, …
Lee Bogle and "Native American Love"
Happy Valentines Day everyone! Last year I posted a bunch of vintage valentines with Native imagery, and the Vintage Valentine Museum has a bunch more that are worth a click. This year I thought I would share the “art” of Lee Bogle, whose images have become synonymous with “Native American Love” (just google it, you’ll see). My friends apparently find …
Let’s Talk About Pendleton
(look from Pendleton’s new “Portland Collection” for Fall 2011. Source here.) Last night I was cold. So cold, in fact, that I had to pull out not one, but two, of my Pendleton blankets to add some extra warmth to my bed. As I shook them out and laid them on my bed, I thought about how special these blankets …
The Ubiquitous "Eskimo"
 (Hipster band One EskimO…they’ll get a whole post on their own soon. So many problems.) Hi Friends! Yes, I’m back. I have a litany of excuses, but you don’t care! So back to the Native Appropriations! Since Boston is on a record-breaking snow streak (already over 60 inches this season), I thought I would pull together a post about the …