Visualization of Colonial Assimilationist Policies: What?

Finally, the What factor corresponds to the specific details of the photograph itself. As Curtis notes, "documentary photographs [result] from a photographer’s ability to capture a compelling scene, whether by arranging subject matter or experimenting with alternate compositions". [1]

In several of the photographs depicting Metis individuals, there are numerous cultural symbols or markers that stand out. For men, it is predominately the arrow sash, also known as the Ceinture fléchée or L'Assomption sash, which is traditionally brightly coloured and tied at the waist with the fringe hanging in the front, as well as wide-brimmed hats and one of three different coats traditionally: the Capote, Red River Coat, or Buckskin Jacket. [2] In contrast, for the women of the Metis culture, the traditional attire was often a European-style dress with a high collar and a shawl wrapped around the shoulders. [3]

Of course, not all Metis wore these specific forms of attire and conversely, simply by wearing these pieces of traditional clothing does not automatically make an individual 'Metis'. As Macdougall asserts, "a degree of Indian blood in [one’s] veins or number of Indians in the family tree…does not make one Metis". [4]

Alternatively, the ‘Half-Caste’ photography tends to depict children in plain European-style dress, with the boys wearing buttoned shirts, pants with belts or suspenders and occasionally a wide-brimmed hat, while the girls wear dresses or blouses with skirts. This is evident in the photographs below — images 7 and 8 — that depict children at 'The Bungalow' in 1920 and then in 1924. In respect to the first photograph, there seems to be a wide range of decorative elements within the clothing and hair accessories of the 'Half-Caste' girls, ranging from high neck collars, front buttons on dresses, bows or ribbons in hair, and a visible diversity in the colour, style and fabric of the attire overall. In comparison, the following photograph (image 8) was taken only four years later, in 1924 and yet the female 'inmates' appear to be far more uniform in both their dress and stature or behaviour. This apparent change in the attire may be due to the fact that 'Half-Caste' girls and young women were the primary targets of the assimilation project in the Northern Territory, especially once Dr. Cook was appointed Chief Protector of Aborigines in the late 1920s. [5] Scholars Tony Austin and Katherine Ellinghaus respectively argue the 'Half-Caste' assimilation centred predominately on girls and young women because of numerous unsettling reasons, one of which was the female reproductive ability and the contemporary belief that assimilation by way of interracial marriage would naturally led to the gradual purification of blood over several generations, until there was not a visible trace of aboriginality left. [6]

In this case, the images help us to visualize the history of assimilation in the Northern Territory, and how it differed from the Canadian context, in which Metis had a greater ability to retain cultural symbols and ties to community.