Feather 'tis nobler in the mind: a case study in featherwork, indigeneity, and the West at the Nasher Art Museum

This thesis attempts to identify a feathered coat offered to the Nasher Museum of Art for acquisition in January 2010. Each chapter explores a major method of identification: materials, taxonomy and construction techniques, and design elements. These methods will be used to place the Nasher coat in the contexts of Amazonian and Peruvian featherwork. Though this thesis ultimately will not be able to offer a firm identification of the coat, it will both critically engage Western concepts of indigeneity and suggest directions for further study