Prevalence of Caricatures
The sources within this page examine the prevalence of Indigenous caricatures and distortions in different aspects of modern American society. In the first source, the Sins of Omission and Commission research lab through the College of Social Science’s Social Science Scholars Program, under the instruction of Dr. John Waller, display their own research data and analysis of racial caricatures present in United States history textbooks for high school. Within this, the students (and myself) conclude that Indigenous caricatures are over-represented across the three textbooks; experience high levels of cultural distortions in their portrays; and the majority of caricatures present throughout are Indigenous caricatures. To top it off, their preliminary data shows the vast majority of caricature representations are not acknowledged by the textbooks’ publishers.
The second source Reel Injun focuses particularly on how Indigenous peoples are mis-represented in film and pop culture in mainstream American media. Throughout the documentary, the featured interviewees ranging from Indigenous political activist John Trudell to notable Dog Creek Saulteaux actor Adam Beach thoroughly deep dive into dozens of representations and inaccurate representations throughout American film. Cheyenne/Arapaho film director describes several Indigenous archetypes portrayed in film. In it, he states, “You don't always have to make great representations of Native people. We're not asking for that. We're not asking to be, you know, nobles or righteous or good all the time. We're asking to be human.”
In the third source, historian Donald Fixico leads his discussion in addressing the need for Indigenous history as a discipline to have a more solidified definition. He leads this discussion in, essentially, asking the audience/reader how Indigenous studies should be defined. For example, he poses the question, “Is American Indian history also called Native American History and is this acceptable” (1996, 85). Later and throughout the article, Fixico rejects the widely held belief in the broad historical research community that all historical research is objective (85) and calls for the deliberate removal of ethnocentrism in the study of American history and Indigneous histories. Additionally, Fixico asserts that Germ Theory and Turnerism-loving historians intentionally neglect, ignore, and exclude Indigenous histories within the American experience, which positions itself as a common theme and basis for the study of American history. He rejects these popular theories and ultimately advocates for the prioritization and utmost inclusion of Indigenous historians, knowledge bearers, and oral history/traditions, stating that “For at least a century, scholars, writers, and historians have neglected Native Americans within the writing of the history of America” (Fixico 199, 85).
References:
Fixico, Donald L. “Ethics and Responsibilities in Writing American Indian History.” American Indian Quarterly 20, no. 1 (1996): 29. https://doi.org/10.2307/1184939.
Reel Injun. Tubi. Canada: National Film Board of Canada, 2009. https://tubitv.com/movies/667966/reel-injun?https://tubitv.com/home?utm_source=_dsa_null_broad_legacy_null_films&utm_medium=adwords_cpc&utm_campaign=null-null-us_nb_variable_search_desktop_google_null_biddable_en_titles&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6cKiBhD5ARIsAKXUdyYtJaPfSvtvqBNenXt_yNbo7dWukeUBmP61tse9xiVKCoUOqLPMYiYaApP9EALw_wcB.
Sprowl, Roxy, James Ferris, and Jade Elder. “MIS(Taken) History: A Visual Analysis on Racial Caricatures in U.S. History Textbooks: UURAF 2022.” YouTube, March 31, 2022. https://youtu.be/unNQFRt-xh8.