Modoc War photos: How Native Americans Represented National Anxieties

This talk will broadly explore how Native Americans were depicted in nineteenth century American photography, and the function of these photographs as sites of anthropological study, as well as their documentary and illustrational uses. Using the Modoc War photographs as a case study, the talk will also address how photographs of Native Americans represented national anxieties and debates about race, democracy, and expansion in the post Civil War era.

Makeda Best is an Assistant Professor in Visual Studies at the California College of the Arts. Her current book project is on American photography of the Civil War era.