Major shifts in gender roles were among the transformations that came to American Indian cultures with colonialism and American domination. Although a great number of scholars have explored these changes, explanations have typically been sought in mimetic performances of Western gender relationships among native communities and hegemonic restructuring of attitudes by outside agents. Material objects, however, were perhaps as powerful as human agents in driving these ideological shifts because they are capable of representing layers of cultural values even when actors are absent. By examining material objects as active social actors during focused social interactions, this article describes one of the many avenues by which new Euro-American attitudes were slowly introduced to the rhythms of Pawnee life.
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