​Julia Hamer-Light's dissertation will focus on the influence of Native art and the participation of Native artists in the studio craft movements of the 1950s through the 1970s. After World War II, U.S. nationalism ensnared the concept of “craft” as part of a project to create a distinctly “American” art. At the same time, Native artists were making new work in fiber, clay, wood, and other media that contributed to radical artistic and educational movements but are rarely included in the history of modern art. She considers how the ideas and work of Native artists were central to the aesthetics and ideologies of postwar studio craft movements.​