ABSTRACT
The intersection of religion and the visual takes a highly particular form in the case of South Dakota reservations around 1890. Some attention has also been paid to the mission history of Dakota reservations. But one of the greatest symbols of that era is the Lakota Ghost Dance itself. If the cultural binaries are held in suspension for a moment, one finds that the Ghost Dance actually held great potential in crossing boundaries. However, still very much lacking is sufficient attention to the images of the Ghost Dance and images deriving from the dance. Photographers who stole shots of Ghost Dancers were generally unaware that their dominant culture wasn't the only way from which to view the world. Indeed, genuine pictures of the Ghost Dance at any Dakota or Lakota reservation are extraordinarily rare. Thus, pictures of other dances were often passed off as a either a Ghost Dance or a War Dance.
