A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Seeing Indian in Chicago: Photographic Resilience in an Urban Indigenous Community, 1958-1980;




AuthorsHumalajoki, Reetta

PublisherCBS Open Journals

Publication year2026

Journal: American Studies in Scandinavia

Volume58

Issue1

ISSN0044-8060

eISSN0044-8060

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.22439/asis.v58i1.7792

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.22439/asis.v58i1.7792

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/526465630

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY NC ND

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

In the summer of 1985, the Newberry Library hosted a photography exhibition titled Seeing Indian in Chicago featuring photographs taken by members of the American Indian Center’s camera club. Pairing these photographs with archived oral history interviews of the photographers, this article explores the multiple meanings and interpretations vested within these images through their exhibition for audiences visiting the Newberry Library. Taken between the late 1950s and the early 1980s, the photographs capture life in the decades following the conclusion of the federal relocation program, which was geared towards assimilation, moving Indigenous individuals and families away from their homelands to work in urban areas. The photography exhibition, then, worked to display the adaptation and resilience of this community as both Indigenous and familiar mainstream Americans while also subtly challenging stereotypes of “Indians” that visitors to the exhibition likely held. As such, this article contributes to the growing scholarship challenging victim narratives of Indigenous urbanization.



Keywords:
cultural memoryIndigenous People and Local Communitiesphotographysovereignty

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Last updated on 17/06/2026 09:54:14 AM