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Cited by 5Fashion and Cultural TextilesIndigenous Health, Education, and RightsIndigenous Cultures and History

Indigenous Dress Theory in Canadian Residential Schools

Open access
Ottmann, Shawkay·2020·Fashion Studies
DOI 10.38055/fs030105
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Abstract

Indian Residential Schools were apart of Canada’s aggressive assimilative policy for Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis, Inuit), demonstrating the attempts to erase Indigenous people as a cultural and political entity. Ultimately, the schools were key to the “cultural genocide” that occurred. Upon arriving at the schools, Indigenous children would be stripped of their clothes, which was quickly replaced with foreign dress. The act of forcibly taking away and replacing the clothing of the children entering Indian Residential Schools is a direct result of the assimilative policy. This paper outlines Western dress and uniform theory. From there, an Indigenous dress theory is proposed based on Indigenous epistemologies, which emphasizes the differentiation between Western and Indigenous worldviews. Indian Residential School history is shared before examining the use of dress in the schools. Finally, Western and Indigenous dress theories are used in tandem to analyze the events and effects of stripping Indigenous children of their clothes. Understanding the individual experience is possible due to the voices of school. Survivors who shared their stories with the TRC and The Legacy of Hope Foundation, those who rote their own words down, and the voices found in the archival record.

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  • The appropriation of Native dress and design ideas was also related to contemporaneous federal and church policies that regulated Native dress.

    “The appropriation of Native dress and design ideas was also related to contemporaneous federal and church policies that regulated Native dress.”

    From Local Fabric: Mid-Century Modernisms, Textile and Fashion Design, and the Northwest Coast, 1940–1967 (2024) · cites this paper as Ottmann 2020

    The section “Indigenous Dress Theory and Dress in Canadian Residential Schools” describes government and church assimilation practices that stripped children of Indigenous dress and replaced it with Western-style clothing. It does not establish the claimed relationship between those practices and the appropriation of Native dress or design ideas. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • If culture is located on the body through dress and Indigenous culture is fundamentally linked to land, then land is also located on the body.

    “Ottmann (2020) shares: “If culture is located on the body through dress and Indigenous culture is fundamentally linked to land, then land is also located on the body” (p.8).”

    From Indigenous Fashion: A Genealogy of Material Brilliance (2025) · cites this paper as Ottmann (2020)

  • While the men who set up residential schools lacked a depth of understanding of Indigenous dress theory, they knew that letting Indigenous dress remain would mean a failure to completely 'civilize,' which is why dress was stripped from children entering these schools and replaced with Western-styled clothing.

    “Ottmann (2020) identifies that “[w]hile a depth of understanding of Indigenous dress theory was lacking amongst the men who set up the residential schools, they did know that by letting Indigenous dress remain, it would mean a failure to completely “civilize,” which is why dress was stripped from the children entering these schools and replaced with Westernstyled clothing” (p.8).”

    From Indigenous Fashion: A Genealogy of Material Brilliance (2025) · cites this paper as Ottmann (2020)

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Research works printed but not linked: 39

  1. Endnotes ¹ Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, A Knock at the Door (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2016), 3.
  2. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, A Knock at the Door (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2016), 3.
  3. Joanne Entwistle, "The Dressed Body" In Body Dressing, (Oxford: Berg, 2001), 41. 4 Entwistle, 33.
  4. Annette Lynch and Mitchell D. Strauss, Changing Fashion (Oxford: Berg, 2007), 14.
  5. Joanne Entwistle and Elizabeth Wilson, "Introduction." In Body Dressing. (Oxford: Berg, 2001), 4.
  6. Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky, "Enclothed Cognition." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology no. 48 (2012), 919.
  7. Jennifer Craik, Uniforms Exposed: From Conformity to Transgression (Oxford: Berg, 2005) 4-5, 52. 10 Craik, Uniforms Exposed, 68.
  8. Brett Bowden, The Empire of Civilization: The Evolution of an Imperial Idea, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 41-46. Georg Simmel argued that "primitive races" had no fashion because the desire for union negated the desire for differentiation, which drove change within dress. George Simmel, "Fashion," The American Journal of Sociology 62, No. 6, (May, 1957), 545-546.
  9. John S. Milloy, A National Crime (Winnipeg: The University of Manitoba Press, 1999), 43.
  10. Quoted in E. Brian Titley, A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Admin- istration of Indian Affairs in Canada, (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1986), 50.
  11. Sandra Niessen, "Interpreting 'Civilization' through Dress." In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: West Europe, edited by Lise Skov, 39-44. (Oxford: Berg, 2010), 39-44.
  12. Dale G. Miner and Jean Manore. (Vancouver; UBC Press: 2007), 92, 102-103. 19 Cajete, Native Science, 21, 25.
  13. Sherry Farrell Racette, "Looking for Stories and Unbroken Threads: Museum Artifacts as Women's History and Cultural Legacy," in Restoring the Balance: First Nations Woman, Community, and Culture. Eds. Gail Valaskakis, Dion Guthrie, Madeleine Stout, and Eric Guimond. (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2000), 287. An example in Anishi- naabe is amikwayaan, which is beaver skin, and waawaahkeshiwayaan, a deer hide, both of which are nouns, and yet still recognize the animate nature of the hides. This also extends to tanned hides, which is asekaan. Likewise, in Cree atihkowaya and apismoswayan are animate, which are caribou hide and deer hide respectively. 21 Farrell Racette, 286-7. 22 Farrell Racette, 287. 23 Entwistle, "The Dressed Body," 41. 24
  14. J.R. Miller, Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000), 64-5. 26
  15. J.R. Miller, Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), 133, 123-128. According the TRC it is unlikely a precise percentage or number of children who died will ever be developed due to the gaps in the historical record. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 1 Origins to 1939. (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015), 376. 30 Miller, Shingwauk's Vision, 133, 123-128.
  16. B. Neary, Memorandum to the Director, 29 November 1949, NAC RG 10, Vol. 8233, File 1/6-1 (1). MR C 14160, quoted in Milloy, A National Crime, 189.
  17. Miranda J. Brady and Emily Hiltz, "The Archeology of an Image: The Persistent Per- suasion of Thomas Moore Keesick's Residential School Photographs." TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 37, No. 37 (2017), 63, 68, 74.
  18. Keith D. Smith, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014), 183.
  19. J. Smith to Assistant Deputy and Secretary, 8 February 1918 NAC RG 10, Vol. 3918, File 116659-1, MR C 10161, quoted in Milloy, A National Crime, 105.
  20. Milloy, A National Crime, 124. 89 Nathan Joseph, Uniforms and Nonuniforms: Communication Through Clothing (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986), 65-9, 56.
  21. Bibliography Adam, Hajo and Galinsky, Adam D. "Enclothed Cognition." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology no. 48 (2012), 918-925.
  22. Bird, Louis and Bohr, Roland. "Views of a Swampy-Cree Elder on the Spiritual Rela- tionship between Hunters and Animals," in The Culture of Hunting in Canada edited by Miner, Dale G. and Manore, Jean. 89-104. British Colombia: UBC Press, 2007
  23. Bowden, Brett, The Empire of Civilization: The Evolution of an Imperial Idea. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
  24. Brady, Miranda J. and Hiltz, Emily. "The Archeology of an Image: The Persistent Persua- sion of Thomas Moore Keesick's Residential School Photographs." TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 37, No. 37 (2017).
  25. Craik, Jennifer. Uniforms Exposed: From Conformity to Transgression. Oxford: Berg, 2005.
  26. Entwistle, Joanne. "The Dressed Body" In Body Dressing. Oxford: Berg, 2001.
  27. Entwistle, Joanne and Wilson, Elizabeth. "Introduction" In Body Dressing. Oxford: Berg, 2001.
  28. Farrell Racette, Sherry. "Looking for Stories and Unbroken Threads: Museum Artifacts as Women's History and Cultural Legacy," in Restoring the Balance: First Nations Woman, Community, and Culture. Eds. Gail Valaskakis, Dion Guthrie, Madeleine Stout, and Eric Guimond. (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2000)
  29. Joseph, Nathan. Uniforms and Nonuniforms: Communication Through Clothing. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.
  30. Knockwood, Isabelle. "Out of the Depths, 2001." In Strange Visitors, edited by Keith D. Smith, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014), 177-186.
  31. Lynch, Annette and Strauss, Mitchell D. Changing Fashion. Oxford: Berg, 2007.
  32. Miller J.R., Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
  33. Miller, J.R., Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
  34. Milloy, John S. A National Crime. Winnipeg: The University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
  35. Niessen, Sandra. "Interpreting "Civilization" Through Dress." In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: West Europe. Edited by Lise Skov. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
  36. Simmel, George. "Fashion," The American Journal of Sociology 62, No. 6, (May, 1957), 541-558.
  37. Titley, E. Brian. A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Administration of Indian Affairs in Canada, (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1986).
  38. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. A Knock at the Door. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2016.
  39. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 1 Origins to 1939. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015.

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Authors
Ottmann, S.
Affiliations
Royal College of Art (GB)
Corresponding author
Ottmann, Shawkay
Venue
Fashion Studies
Publisher
Toronto Metropolitan University
Published
2020-11-27
Volume
3
Issue
1
ISSN
2371-3453 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.38055/fs030105
OpenAlex
W3107962515
Cited by
5
References
1
Citations by year
2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1
FWCI
4.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Fashion Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Museology › Fashion and Cultural Textiles
  • Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Cultures and History
Keywords
Indian residential schools, indigenous dress, cultural genocide, assimilation policy, Indigenous epistemologies, indigenous children, residential school survivors, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, First Nations, Métis, Inuit

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