Who has the right to represent history, who has a story that is considered worth telling, and what does that mean for our culture as a whole right now?

Drawing directly from their own family’s history, authors Lara Neel and Lisa Neel critique the misrepresentation and erasure of Native American history. Exploring the intersection of womanhood and identity in the Cherokee Nation, Representing the Fashion of Our Nineteenth Century Cherokee Ancestor: Culture Not Costume follows Lara and Lisa’s investigation into the life and murder of their maternal ancestor and the misrepresentative discussions that have followed. By using academic research to unravel deeply ingrained historical contradictions and construct a woman-focused Native American history, Lara and Lisa make a case for the importance of perspective and representation in the modern living history community, and the lasting effects misrepresentation has on one of the largest Native American tribes in the United States.

Providing an invaluable critique into incomplete depictions of Native American communities and their women’s stories, this book is ideal reading for students of Indigenous Studies, Women’s History, Gender Studies, Textile History, and Ethnic Studies.

Lara Neel holds a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College in Physics and a Master of Arts from Ohio University in Visual Communication. She is the author of several non-fiction books, including Sock Architecture, an exploration of sock knitting techniques.

Lisa Neel holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and a Master of Public Health from George Washington University in Maternal and Child Health. Her independent research focuses on exploring textile history through making.