Valuable Materials, Invaluable Relationships: Exploring Indigenous Culture and Sovereignty Through Moose and Caribou Hair Tufting in the NWT

Abstract

Moose and caribou hair tufting is an important Subarctic women's artform in the Mackenzie Valley, Northwest Territories. However, tuftings and tufters have historically been identified following non-Indigenous ideologies rooted in colonialism and capitalist values, resulting in labels such as "craft", and "artisan", that are difficult to change. This practice has undervalued, if not dismissed, Indigenous artists, their artistry and by and large their art.This dissertation takes a multi-sited approach using archival records, museum objects, and interviews and conversations with tourism shop employees, and especially with tufting artists to elucidate the complex ways artists have employed their art to traverse cultural borders. In tracing the history of tufting, I discuss how women have used their artistry as acts of agential resistance to re-assert their own cultural and place-rooted relationships and meanings in the face of centuries of colonial violations.The central objective of my research is to make clear the dimensions of significance engaged with in hair tuftings by Dene, Métis, and Inuvialuit artists. I show how important values such as skill, landscape, and culture are a connected whole that is embodied within each tufting.A second objective is to uncover how important Indigenous values were and continue to be impacted by colonization. In my early chapters, I explain how Western values were imposed on Indigenous peoples and livelihoods. Thus, the Indigenous values attached to artistic making were regarded as inferior as viewed through Western critics' lenses. Third, I discuss the ways tufters have used their creations as sites of sovereignty to continuously negotiate and challenge colonial endeavors and carry these vital knowledges and values into the future. pillars of support throughout this journey and to whom this thesis would not be possible without. First and foremost, I am so thankful and forever indebted to Tania Larsson, Elsie Canadien, Georgina Fabian, Carmen Miller, and the other amazing artists who shared their knowledge and their stories with me. I will forever cherish the conversations that were had and the relationships forged. I would also like to thank the community members of Yellowknife, Hay River, and Inuvik for welcoming me and sharing their thoughts, ideas, and work with me.I must also express my gratitude to the staff of the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre. To Joanne Bird, Ryan Silke, Susan Irving, and Robin Weber who shared their space with me and allowed me to camp out at the PWNHC.To my dad, George Wenzel, thank you exposing me to the beauty and power of the North. To my mom, Ann Wenzel, thank you for teaching me the value and importance of listening and learning from those around me. This journey would have been much more difficult without your endless love, support, and open ears. I must also extend my deepest thanks to Emmet Austin for your patience, the early morning lifts to the airport, and taking care of Beau-Bennett.My friends have been an important system of support. To ...