Exploring the Myths
After a long semester of writing in "Masterworks of American Lit," a writing class was not what I had in mind for my fall semester. Nevertheless, I took RHE309K, and although I learned many valuable writing skills, I emerged with a greater understanding of not only Indian stereotypes, but the nature of stereotypes in general. Upon entering Rhetoric of the American Indian, I was already somewhat aware of the way that Native Americans were being stereotyped in our culture. After all, they are an oppressed people and are considered a minority. That is perhaps what enticed me to take the class. I did not, however, understand where the stereotypes came from, or even what they really were. That is what I have learned and valued most from the class.
It is my firm belief that our preconceptions about things foreign to us come from stories. Before the media, there was "word of mouth," but either way, we are getting our information from the same type of source. Over the course of their brief history, film and television have managed to misrepresent just about every ethnicity, religion, faction or culture on the planet. The Native American people are a perfect example of this stereotyping.
The role of the Indian in the narrative has evolved from one image to another, to leave us with a complex stereotype that has multiple (if not opposite) meanings. Our idea of what is "Indian" has followed this same evolution, which can be traced back to the Old Hollywood westerns.
site updated 27. March 2002