Of White Bread and Miracles (Jiggy)

One Book One Northwestern, 2024–25

This artwork was selected in response to themes in Northwestern’s community-wide reading of The Night Watchman (2020) by Louise Erdrich.

An athletic male body with the head of a bison is immortalized mid- dance. In the series Of White Bread and Miracles, artist Chris Pappan challenges the limits of archives. Pappan copied the drawing’s central figure from a manual of the Boy Scouts of America titled Here is Your Hobby... Indian Dancing and Costumes, in which Native American dances are stripped of their sacred power, reduced to a badge to be collected. Pappan adopts the form of ledger art, originated in the nineteenth century by Indigenous artists of the Plains, by drawing the reappropriated figure on a page from a 1924 Evanston municipal ledger. The contrast between bright green and royal purple behind the figure as well as the map of the southwestern United States that spans the bottom of the page imbue the static figure with movement, restoring the spiritual power of dance to "undo an erasure," in Pappan’s words.

In The Night Watchman, a work of historical fiction, Louise Erdrich similarly imagines beyond archival limits. Senator Arthur V. Watkins, a historical figure who sought to end federal recognition of Native American tribes through House Concurrent Resolution 108, shares scenes in the novel with Thomas Wazhashk, a fictional counterpart to Erdrich’s grandfather Patrick Gourneau, who fought the Congressional resolution. Erdrich draws from transcripts and letters to depict the understudied fight Gourneau organized against the termination of his tribe, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

We are happy to provide a shareable pdf booklet and downloadable images for teaching and engagement. You can schedule a class visit to discuss these works in person in our study center by contacting Essi Rönkkö at essi.ronkko@northwestern.edu.