American Indian Stereotypes Subject Guide
Labriola Center
The following bibliography lists reference material dealing with stereotypes relating to American Indians. These include books and other resources found in the Labriola National American Indian Data Center in Arizona State University Libraries, websites, and other research facilities. This subject guide is also located on the Labriola Center website at: www.asu.edu/lib/archives/labriola.htm
Ecyclopedias and Reference Books; Books; Theses and Dissertations; Journal Articles; Videos; Ephemera; Online Resources
Encyclopedias and Reference Books
American Indian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Contemporary Issues , Dane Morrison, ed. New York: Peter Land Publishing, Inc., 1997. This collection of essays is meant to introduce issues that American Indians face while promoting the importance of having Native American studies in higher education. Serving the general interests and questions that people have about Indians, this book covers a broad range of topics. Chapter six, “Images and Icons,” focuses on stereotypes in T.V., film, and sports.
Native America In the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia , Mary B. Davis, ed. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994. This useful encyclopedia briefly discusses stereotypes of Native Americans from many different perspectives. The different viewpoints come from the Civil Rights Movement, museum exhibits, role of anthropologists, media, photographs, and sports.
Native American Issues: A Reference Handbook , William M. Thompson. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1996. This reference book contains information on such topics as sovereignty in relation to contemporary issues of land rights, water rights, hunting and fishing rights, sacred sites, and religious practices. In addition, a chronology, biographical sketches, court cases, a directory of organizations, and selected print and non-print resources are included. One section in the introduction discusses stereotyping.
Native America Today: A Guide to Community Politics and Culture , Barry M. Pritzker. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999. This guide covers contemporary issues in arts and crafts, economic development, education, gaming, health, identity, media, mining, sacred sites, and sovereignty. One section titled, “Representation,” explores stereotypes in relation to spirituality, Thanksgiving, and mascots.
Teaching American Indian Students , Jon Reyhner, ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. The book discusses the importance of culturally relevant teaching and multicultural education as it relates to Indian students. Recommendations for teaching Indian children’s literature and social studies are provided along with other resources like journals, curriculum materials, and a list of audio-visual distributors.
Books
A Race at Bay: New York Times Editorials on “the Indian Problem,”1860-1900 , Robert G. Hays. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997. This collection of editorials published by the Times covers four decades of public opinion and commentary on what was thought to be “the Indian problem.” The underlying moods of Manifest Destiny and American conquest are expressed throughout chapters titled: “The Status of the Indian”and “The Chiefs” and “Corruption”.
American Indian Stereotypes in the World of Children: A Reader and Bibliography , Arlene Hirshfelder, Paulette Fairbanks Molin, Yvonne Wakim. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1999. This text emphasizes the diverse history that Indians have experienced and acknowledges that stereotypes of American Indians have confined the conception of what people think about American Indians, especially American Indian children. Topics discussed vary from: mascots, Pocahontas, tipis, and certain national holidays. In additon, a 50-page bibliography about the stereotyping of American Indians is included for further research.
American Indians in World War I: At War and at Home , Thomas A. Britten. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997. This book is useful for research on American Indians in World War I. A couple of chapters relating to stereotypes include the segregating of troops and terms like “Doughboys,” “instinctive” soldiers, or “blood-thirsty warriors” used to describe American Indians.
American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities , Devon A. Mihesuah. Atlanta: Clarity Press, Inc., 1996. Created as a tool to promote discussion and clarification, this book confronts the various stereotypes about American Indians that are commonplace in today’s society and academia. With an easy to understand format, Mihesuah presents the stereotype and confronts it with the “Reality.” Also, at the end of each section, recommended readings are shared for further research for each particular stereotype.
Going Native: Indians in the American Cultural Imagination , Shari M. Huhndorf. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001. Organized thematically and chronologically, this book discusses the phenomenon of going native by “forming ‘tribes,’ participating in ‘traditional Indian’ rituals, and emulating Indian practices in other ways” and how this process has affected Indian and non-Indian relationships throughout history. Huhndorf references other works in her examples of how “going native” regenerates the ideas and justifications of European-American hegemony.
Indian Images in Commerce , Gregory A. Reinhardt. Weston, CONN: Pictures of Records, Inc., 2000. This collection of slides was used as a material-culture essay about how conventional images of Indians have been used commercially throughout the world. The slides illustrate how non-Indians have exploited Indian images to sell or advertise products by depicting Indians in various contexts, re-enforcing stereotypes that have and continue to denigrate Indians. Themes used in describing Indian images range from “The Respectable Indian” to “The Enigmatic Indian.”
“Indian” Stereotypes in TV Science Fiction: First Nations’ Voices Speak Out , Sierra S. Adare. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005. This book examines episodes from a number of popular T.V. science fiction shows. Interviews with Native American individuals and focus groups discuss how negative stereotypes impact religious beliefs, culture, traditions and sacred objects. Some T.V. series analyzed include: Star Trek, Quantum Leap, and The Adventures of Superman.
Native American Representations: First Encounters, Distorted Images, and Literary Appropriations , Gretchen M. Bataille, ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. A collection of essays by Indian and non-Indian scholars that has resulted from a 1997 symposium, “Theories of Representations in American Indian Literatures: European and North American Perspectives.” These essays discuss the mis-representations of Indians in relation to film, literature, cultural property, cultural sovereignty, and cultural appropriation.
Native Americans in the Saturday Evening Post , Peter G. Beidler and Marion F. Egge. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2000. This resource is very useful for those researching the perceptions of American Indians through the eyes of popular American culture as it was published in the Saturday Evening Post. Types of materials include: editorials, feature columns, photographs, poetry, short stories and serial fiction, cartoons, and general nonfiction articles. This collection is a less time consuming alternative to reviewing many rolls of microfilm.
Plains Earthlodges: Ethnographic and Archaeological Perspectives , Donna C. Roper and Elizabeth P. Pauls, eds. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2005. This text focuses on Plains earthlodges from ethnographic and archaeological perspectives. One chapter titled, “Confounding Stereotypes: Building an Earthlodge for Fun and Edification”, discusses the different obstacles faced in re-building a Hidatsa “village” for an event in Minnesota called Farmfest ’76. This project was intended to acknowledge the contributions of American Indians to American agriculture.
Playing Indian , Philip J. Deloria. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. This book examines the ways in which imagining Indians has been used to shape national American identity. Some examples studied are the Boston Tea Party, Campfire Girls, Boy Scouts, and Grateful Dead concerts. Deloria explores these identities throughout American history and how each era has appropriated and deprived Indians of their identity for the sake of constructing an American one.
Selling the Indian: Commercializing & Appropriating American Indian Cultures , Carter Jones Meyer and Diana Royer, eds. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2001. This book of essays discusses the commercialization of American Indian cultures by non-Indians in the twentieth century and implications of cultural imperialism through this process. Issues of economic need, cultural integrity and self-determination are integrated with the discussion of marketing the Indian. Stereotypes mentioned include the “casino Indian,” the “environmentalist Indian,” the “Indian Princess,” and the “wise Indian elder.”
Shadows of the Indian: Stereotypes in American Culture , Raymond William Stedman. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Stedman discusses the different images of Indians that white America has imagined from past to present. Along with a contemporary take on images of Indians, Stedman discusses how white America’s images of Indians never accounted for the modernity factor that contemporary American Indians experience today.
Stereotypes, Distortions and Omissions in U.S. History Textbooks: A Content Analysis Instrument for Detecting Racism and Sexism, Supplemental Information on Asian American, Black, Chicano, Native American, Puerto Rican, and Women's History . New York : Council on Interracial Books for Children, Racism and Sexism Resource Center for Educators, 1977. This book serves as a guide on how to analyze the content in U.S. history textbooks as they pertain to Asian American, Black, Chicano, Native American, Puerto Rican, and women populations. Quotes written in textbooks about each group are commented on, analyzed, and referenced for future readings. A checklist at the end of each section enables the reader to grade the content and accuracy of books written by a certain population.
The Insistence of the Indian: Race and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century American Culture , Susan Scheckel. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. This book examines what the “Indian Problem” was and how it relates to national identity. American Indians are analyzed within the context of American nationalism, American citizenry, and American identity from a historical perspective. Pocahontas and Indians as the subjects of American history are some topics covered in this six-chapter book.
The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies , James A. Clifton, ed. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1994. This compilation of essays was written by scholars with the intentions of reconstructing the current understandings of Indians from past to present, countering the “cultural fictions” that have become Indian policy. A variety of topics include: Pocahontas, Squanto, the Iroquois League, Primitivists and Plastic Medicine Men, and Authenticity. A total of seventeen essays.
Unlearning “Indian” Stereotypes: A Teaching Unit for Elementary Teachers and Children’s Librarians . New York: Racism and Sexism Resource Center for Educators, a division of the Council on Interracial Books for Children, 1977. Put together by the Council on Interracial Books for Children, this book is more of an aid on how children should be taught about Indians. An examination of different children’s books, lessons, and games are reviewed and appropriately addressed. Classroom do’s and don’ts and a list of picture books used in the study are included.
Theses and Dissertations
“ The Attitudes of Selected Educational Groups in Arizona Toward Indians ,” Timothy Francis Shaunessy.
A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy, Arizona State University, December 1976. The different educational groups selected for this paper are administration faculty members, school board presidents and superintendents in Arizona.
Journal Articles
“Smoke or Signals?: American Popular Culture and the Challenge to Hegemonic Images of American Indians in Native American Film,” John Mihelich, Wicazo Sa Review 16:2 (2001) 129-137. This article explores how popular culture has been incorporated in shaping perceptions about American Indians. The whole issue of this journal is about film and video making it very useful in researching stereotypes discussing different movies like Smoke Signals, Thunderheart, Powwow Highway, Lakota Woman and television documentaries.
“The Need for Textbook Reform: An American Indian Example”, James P. Charles, Journal of American Indian Education, 28:3 (1989) 1-13. The article is an analysis of the form and content of literature, oral and written, in a South Carolina high school. Four stereotypic categories are explored: noble savages, savage savages, generic Indians, and living fossils. Useful references are listed.
Videos
“In whose honor?” [videorecording]: written and produced by Jay Rosenstein. Champaign , IL : Jay Rosenstein, 1996.
Discussion of Chief Illiniwek as the University of Illinois mascot, and the effect the mascot has on Native American peoples. Graduate student Charlene Teters shares the impact of the Chief on her family. Interviewees include members of the Board of Regents, students, alumni, current and former "Chiefs," and members of the community.
Images of Indians Series [videorecording] : a co-production of KCTS-9 in cooperation with the United Indian of All Tribes Foundation; directed by Phil Lucas and Robert Hagoplan. Lincoln, NE: Distributed by Native American Native American Broadcasting Consortium (NAPBC), 1979.
The five-part series analyzes how Indian stereotypes are portrayed in movies and examines how the Hollywood images of Indians affect Indians’ own self-image. Each 30-minute movie covers a different identity that Hollywood has misappropriated toward Indians through historical inaccuracies, romanticized story lines, misrepresentations of Indian religions and values.
Part 1: The Great Movie Massacre
Part 2: How Hollywood Wins the West
Part 3: Warpaint and Wigs
Part 4: Heathen Injuns and the Hollywood Gospel
Part 5: The Movie Reel Indians
Ephemera
Included are small manuscripts, informational brochures, museum publications, photographs (including slides), radio transcripts, articles, and poetry. To find ephemera related to sovereignty, search the American Indian Index and the Arizona and Southwestern Index, which are accessed from the University Libraries home page under “Find: Specialized Collections” or click on the link from the Labriola website: http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/labriola.htm. Examples of subjects are: stereotypes and/or American Indians, mascots.
Rethinking Columbus: Teaching About the 500 th Anniversary of Columbus’s Arrival in America. Rethinking Schools, 1991. The whole issue of this magazine discusses Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of this country and how stereotypes and historical inaccuracies have been carried on through the institution of education. Issues relating to elementary and secondary schools issues, contemporary issues, and terminology in the classroom are just a few topics covered.
Online Resources
Caution: Before using the information from any web pages in your paper, be certain that your source is legitimate and accurate.
Retire the Chief website exists to give a voice, create dialogue, and to advocate a change in policy that would extinguish the use of Chief Illiniwik at the University of Chicago. This website also provides updates, news, pro/con opinions about the use of Indians as mascots.
www.retirethechief.org/Essays/stereotype0503.html
This website provides a detailed bibliography titled, “Native Americans: Stereotypes vs. Reality.” The list is a good starting point for those who wish to do research on stereotypes. An easy link is provided that allows the user to email the list to themselves. The Smithsonian Institute provides the list.
www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmai/naster.htm
This site administered by the American Museum of Natural History provides a lengthy list of resources available on-line, in print and film. Charlene Teters’ exhibit on mascot stereotypes is also accessible with public commentary from people of all ages.
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/programs/teters/index.html
The Media Awareness Network has created “Common Portrayals of Aboriginal People” in their “Media Issues” section discussing representations of Indians. Romanticism, historical inaccuracies, stereotyping by omission, and simplistic characteristics are a few misrepresentations discussed. Links to more relevant articles are easily accessible.
The University of Minnesota has created a library resources guide of representations of American Indians in American film and culture. Large compilations of resources available in their library and on-line are provided. This site has tons of resources and databases that are definitely useful to any reseacher.
http://www.lib.umn.edu/libdata/toc23877
The Tulsa City-County Library has an American Indian Resource Center on-line. This site is most useful for educators who evaluate materials like picture books and posters before presenting it to their students. A list of do’s and don’ts when teaching Indian children is given.
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/airc/do.htm
Ecyclopedias and Reference Books; Books; Theses and Dissertations; Journal Articles; Videos; Ephemera; Online Resources
Emilia Morgan, Library Aide IV
Labriola National American Indian Data Center
University Libraries, Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona 85287 Fall 2005
Page last modified: August 22, 2007
