Presentation Of Traditional Arts And Crafts In The Choctaw Apache Community Of Ebarb PDF Download

This dissertation is an ethnographic exploration of the myriad meanings that underpin Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians traditional arts production. In its presentation, it centers Choctaw voices and ways of knowing. Based on 14 months of Tribal government-approved fieldwork in central Mississippi (2017-2018), the chapters explore how individual experience, communal expectations and relationships, and the influence of regional and global forces all fundamentally shape how Choctaw makers bring their works to life. While a diverse array of material culture types are discussed, the genres that receive the most attention are basketry, traditional clothing, and beadwork. This dissertation explores the importance of change, vibrancy, and emergence in these practices. Chapter 1 presents a reconceptualization of how the process of gathering can be understood as a creative activity, one that is shared across all material types. It also explores how a unique combination of group and individual factors influences makers' growth in their practices. Chapter 2 analyzes the importance of a maker's access to experienced teachers through familial and community connections, but it also emphasizes that a maker's patience and dedication to their craft is central to their skill development. Chapter 3 explores the role of individual makers' creativity in bringing about change and innovation in material culture over time. It takes a close look at some of the technical variation present in contemporary Choctaw arts practices, and examines how people learn or take inspiration from the world around them to develop their personal styles. Finally, Chapter 4 centers Choctaw makers' actions as, in part, expressions of group, individual, and intergenerational cycles. Moreover, it argues that these cycles and art making practices are co-constructed, and give each other meaning.