The Politics of Indigenous Representation In American and Canadian Physique Photography of the 1950s and 1960s

This thesis examines the racial, social and gender politics present in the Indigenous representation of the golden era of Physique photography during the 1950s and 1960s. It explores themes such as: the romanticization and sexualization of Indigenous men, links between Indigenous imagery and homoerotic imagery in Physique photography, what it means to "play Indian," and, the semiotic relationship between cowboys and "Indians." This collection of photographs originates primarily from Western Physique magazines of the 1950s and 1960s and is taken from the Thomas Waugh Collection, which is housed within the Sexual Representations Collection at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, TheArQuives - Canada's LGBTQ2+Archives and The Gale Database Archives of Sexuality and Gender.