Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Louisiana Coushatta Basket Makers: Traditional Knowledge, Resourcefulness, and Artistry as a Means of Survival

Louisiana Coushatta Basket Makers: Traditional Knowledge, Resourcefulness, and Artistry as a Means of Survival

Bates, Denise E.
Langley, Linda
Williams, Heather

Hardcover

Native American HistoryBasketsRegional: South

ISBN10: 0807171247
ISBN13: 9780807171240
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: Apr 21 2021
Pages: 220
Weight: 0.94
Height: 0.63 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English

Louisiana Coushatta Basket Makers brings together oral histories, tribal records, archival materials, and archaeological evidence to explore the fascinating history of the Coushatta Tribe's famed basket weavers. After settling at their present location near the town of Elton, Louisiana, in the 1880s, the Coushatta (Koasati) tribe developed a basket industry that bolstered the local tribal economy and became the basis for generating tourism and political mobilization. The baskets represented a material culture that distinguished the Coushattas as Indigenous people within an ethnically and racially diverse region. Tribal leaders serving as diplomats also used baskets as strategic gifts as they built political and economic allegiances throughout the twentieth century, thereby securing the Coushattas' future.

Behind all these efforts were the basket makers themselves. Although a few Coushatta men assisted in the production of baskets, it was mostly women who put in the long hours to gather and process the materials, then skillfully stitch them together to produce treasures of all shapes and sizes. The art of basket making exists within a broader framework of Coushatta traditional teachings and educational practices that have persisted to the present.

As they tell the story of Coushatta basket makers, Linda P. Langley and Denise E. Bates

Also in

Native American History

View All