Colonized through Art explores how the federal government
used art education for American Indian children as an
instrument for the "colonization of consciousness," hoping to
instill the values and ideals of Western society while
simultaneously maintaining a political, social, economic, and
racial hierarchy. Focusing on the Albuquerque Indian School in
New Mexico, the Sherman Institute in Riverside, California, and the
world's fairs and local community exhibitions, Marinella
Lentis examines how the U.S. government's solution to the "Indian
problem" at the end of the nineteenth century
emphasized education and assimilation. Educational
theories at the time viewed art as the foundation of morality and
as a way to promote virtues and personal improvement. These
theories made the subject of art a natural tool for policy makers
and educators to use in achieving their assimilationist goals of
turning student "savages" into civilized men and women. Despite
such educational regimes for students, however, indigenous ideas
about art oftentimes emerged "from below," particularly from
well-known art teachers such as Arizona Swayney and Angel
DeCora.Colonized through Art explores how American Indian
schools taught children to abandon their cultural heritage and
produce artificially "native" crafts that were exhibited at local
and international fairs. The purchase of these crafts by the
general public turned students' work into commodities and schools
into factories.