Seminole Dolls, Seminole Life

This thesis explores the ways in which identity and culture can be expressed through tourist art, using a Seminole doll as an example of the connectivity of art. The Seminole doll, a quintessential Florida souvenir, is not just layered with trim and beads, but with meaning and significance for both the doll-maker, and the doll consumer. This meaning is not easily measured in terms of "value," but it is transferred during the exchange of Seminole dolls for sale, for gifts, and for display. The binding of Seminole identity to Seminole dolls impresses upon the tourist consumer and Seminole producer a sense of reflecting, knowing and understanding about Seminole lifeways. Each participant in the exchange is left with a glimmer of what it means to be Seminole. The Seminole in Florida have punctuated their survival in Florida with a fierce resistance to outside control of their daily lives. They remain "unconquered" and this status is a deeply held Seminole core value. The Seminole doll, because of its form and place in the Seminole participation in tourism stands as a link between the "unconquered" Seminole of Florida and the tourists who crave the exotic. This thesis examines how the Seminole doll can reinforce values greater than just its surface level souvenir worth; it is a cultural icon that conveys messages of tribal autonomy to both tourist and tribal member, and as such is a symbolic representation of the tribe's historical pathways.