Dances taught us all
Student group aims to stop American Indian stereotypesWhen Sam Spence watched the movie "Dances with Wolves," he said it taught him all about American-Indian culture.
"All Indians killed buffalo because back in that time, they could sell buffalo hide for a lot," the 8-year-old said.
Misconceptions like this one led the Native American Graduate Students Association to team up with the Mathers Museum of World Cultures to host the annual Celebrating Kids and Culture event Sunday. The groups put on the event with the help of the American Indian Student Association and First Nations, to help dispel stereotypes and focus on the true culture of today's American Indians. 
"All Indians killed buffalo because back in that time, they could sell buffalo hide for a lot," the 8-year-old said.
Misconceptions like this one led the Native American Graduate Students Association to team up with the Mathers Museum of World Cultures to host the annual Celebrating Kids and Culture event Sunday. The groups put on the event with the help of the American Indian Student Association and First Nations, to help dispel stereotypes and focus on the true culture of today's American Indians.
posted by Rob at 5:49 AM
5 Comments:
Writerfella here --
Interesting article but somewhat inconclusive in that, factually and logically stated, the specific film DANCES WITH WOLVES contained not a word nor scene nor sequence about the sale of buffalo hides by Indians. Therefore, the child did not learn such a misconception from DANCES WITH WOLVES and the child completely is mistaken about the film. By the same logic, any ostensible absolution of his school also is based on that same mistakenness. Indeed, if media collectively and alone taught and communicated racial biases and stereotypes and other cultural content, the actual result would be a uniform, homogeneous facet of American culture that contained identical concepts. As well, such a media-spawned cultural facet totally would be lacking in parochial idiomatics, dialectic patois, regional or geographic colloquialisms, and the like. Ipso facto...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Spence could've gotten "all Indians killed buffalo" from the movie and "they could sell buffalo hide for a lot" from another (media) source. And the selling part is a factual claim, not a common stereotype. That means the youngster was partly mistaken at worst, not completely mistaken.
Even if he misstated what he saw (he's only eight years old, after all), the movie contains a host of Native stereotypes. There's more than enough pseudo-information for Spence to conclude that "it taught him all about American-Indian culture."
Considering how many tribes there are and how many media sources are (mis)representing them, our stereotypes about Indians are uniform and homogeneous. Most schoolkids can reel off the most commonly held beliefs: Indians lived long ago. Indians were savages. Indians lived in teepees. Indians scalped people. Etc.
In this blog alone, I've presented dozens of media sources that influence what people believe. Mel Gibson's Apocalypto is just the latest example of one. In contrast, you haven't presented a single example of a parent, church, or community member transmitting a Native stereotype to other people.
I don't know about "media-spawned cultural facets," but your postings have lacked "parochial idiomatics, dialectic patois, regional or geographic colloquialisms." Again, show us the evidence that Native stereotypes vary from place to place. Your opinion that the above stereotypes aren't universal is just that, your opinion.
True, you can't conclude much from this one article. But when you've read a hundred such articles, you can start drawing conclusions. That's what I've done in The Harm of Native Stereotyping: Facts and Evidence.
I've said that parents, churches, and other parts of the community, especially schools, contribute to stereotypical thinking. But the media is by far the predominant source. Just about every expert and layperson says so, except you.
Writerfella here --
And perhaps Sam Spence indeed could have garnered his misapprehensions from any other number of media sources, except that any other number of media sources were not under discussion. The article was focused directly upon DANCES WITH WOLVES. Specificity rules, period...
writerfella did not say that DANCES WITH WOLVES was free and Simon-pure of stereotypes. I remember that quite well, because I read my post after I wrote it. And then, I read it again. In fact, I re-read it just this very minute and it STILL does not say the above.
Simplistically considered, there are core stereotypes but these are outnumbered by the trite conventions involving tribal people in separate regions of the nation. Per exemplum, one of them goes, all Oklahoma Indians have oil wells and are rich. This, despite the fact that our family lands likely all will be under oil leases by a week from now, is an untruth, especially known to be untrue in Oklahoma and among Oklahoma Natives. Per another, all Indians are drunkards and alcoholics. The first time my family attended the Crow Fair near Billings, Montana, we were appalled at the numbers of Native men, women, and young people all passed out on the grounds of a public park on a Sunday morning. Then we received surly service at best when we ate breakfast in a local cafe. My mother spoke to the manager and asked if she could post a sign for the American Indian Exposition that is held in Anadarko, Oklahoma. And he said, "Oh, you people are from Oklahoma? Please, please, I'm sorry, we didn't know!" He not only posted the sign but all of a sudden we got some of the best service received in any restaurant during our travels. And the reason was, we weren't from there.
If stereotypes were uniform and homogeneous, it wouldn't have mattered one bit to those people where we originated.
And I do not have to present a single example of a parent, a church, or a community transmitting a single Native stereotype to other people. In fact, the noting of such an ostensible lack is called 'parallel argumentative', such as when the mother says, 'Eat your cereal, Billy; there are children starving in Afghanistan.' And Billy replies, 'Name two, Mom.' I only have to ask, why do 'down East children speak like 'down Easterners, or British children speak like Brits, or Southern children speak like Southerners? Surely that must be because their parents are mutes and they only have TV to teach them.
And the reasons for no parochialism to myself or my writing quite are simple: as a writer and an actor, I am able to divorce mundane reality from my own voice, my own words, and my own writings because I do not think parochially, dialectically, or regionally. And certainly I do not think ritualistically or martially or even complacently, as I have a tested and rated Mammalian IQ of 147 and a Reptilian IQ of 12. Other people may sit on a rock and flick their tongues when the correct sets of stimuli walk into view, but writerfella happily is somewhere else, exploring the world...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
You said Spence was "completely" mistaken about Dances With Wolves even though the film depicted Indians killing buffalo, as Spence believed. So you were mistaken about Spence's being completely mistaken, at least. Dances could've been the source of every notion he holds about Indians except the one about selling hides.
I'd say just the opposite of "there are core stereotypes but these are outnumbered by the trite conventions involving tribal people in separate regions of the nation." There may be some regional stereotypes, but they're grossly outweighed by the ubiquitous national stereotypes: the savage warrior, the stoic chief, the teepee, etc.
For instance, people in Oklahoma may think Indians are rich from oil wells. But people around the country, including those in Oklahoma, think Indians are rich from 1) getting free government "benefits" 2) not having to pay taxes, and 3) owning casinos.
Nobody has done a study on this matter, so it's impossible to say for sure. But are you seriously arguing that more people think Indians are rich from oil wells than from casinos? If so, I have a bridge you may want to purchase.
Fact is, the national media dominates our perceptions and the national media has portrayed Indians as rich casino owners. If you disagree, let's ask people whether they think most Indians are 1) rich casino owners or 2) rich oil-well owners. I'm guessing they'll choose 1) over 2) by a factor of five or 10 to 1.
If stereotypes weren't uniform and homogeneous, for the most part, this test would fail. My money says this test would succeed. Shall we try it and learn just how uniform and homogeneous Native stereotypes are?
The notion that Indians are drunkards is a national one propagated by the national media more than a local one propagated by parents, churches, and the community. Proving the point, you can find innumerable references to Indians and "firewater" in the two-plus centuries of American media. Again, people around the country, including those who have never discussed Indians, link Indians and alcohol because of media-driven stereotypes.
You don't have to "present a single example of a parent, a church, or a community transmitting a single Native stereotype to other people" if you want to keep losing these arguments. It's fine with me if you think your occasional anecdote is equivalent to my reams of facts and evidence. Readers can judge for themselves whose claims are superior.
Writerfella here --
All that matters from your contrapuntal statements is that stereotypes evolve. However, that contrapuntally disagrees with your stand that stereotypes remain the same over time. You cannot have it both ways. Either stereotypes evolve or they remain unchanging; make up your mind as you likely thought you already had...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
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