This dissertation on African American quilts is framed within an Afrocentric perspective. It is an interdisciplinary study, incorporating art history, sociology, black studies, and anthropology. The primary aim of this dissertation is to provide an in-depth interpretative analysis of fabric arts created by African American quilters in Kansas City.

My methodology includes ethnographic fieldwork, where data was collected using photography, audiotapings, and videorecordings. Semiotics is used as a method for analyzing and interpreting the signs, symbols, and encoded images, and ethnography's emic perspective is used to understand how those symbols are used to create meanings for the artists who use them. The complexity of these fabric arts, however, requires an even deeper analysis. In order to link the artists' interpretations and experiences to larger issues related to womanhood, gender, race, class, and identity, I employ critical race theory, black feminist theory, and womanist theory.

This study concludes that Kansas City African American fabric artists draw upon a complex system of symbols and encoded images that address theoretical issues related to feminism, identity, and empowerment. I believe that by bringing together theories from art history and the social sciences, a new art criticism can be established; one that includes a deeper, more nuanced analysis of the fabric arts that places the insights provided by the arts' maker on an even par with the perspective of the art historian. Through this study, I have sought to provide a method of analysis that might be useful for future research on African American quilts.