Media Images of Native Americans

From the Pueblo land protests of the 1920s to the sports teams' mascot controversies of the 1990s, this book chronicles the depictions of Native Americans in the press. Weston shows how some images of Indians that date from the time of Columbus have persisted into the present, and she asks whether journalistic practices have helped or hindered accurate portrayals of Native Americans. Few books of this kind have given attention to both local and national press, or have dealt so extensively with the 20th century. Weston has incorporated a wealth of well-chosen examples, presenting an accessible account of this fascinating subject.

This study of the Native American in the western, romance, detective, horror, and science fiction genres examines how even historically accurate representations distort and bias the Native American figure to fit European-based traditions and modern agendas. The authors provide critical approaches for evaluating the literature. They argue that while popular fiction conventions determine and limit authentic portraits of Native American cultures, successful popular fiction writers approach literary quality by fusing authentic Native American culture with the standard genre conventions. Approximately 200 books are discussed and evaluated, and true Native American stories and writings are contrasted with mainstream versions of Indian culture.

The essays that comprise this volume examine the distortions and fabrications that white culture has imposed on historical and current events in its representation of American Indian culture over the last 150 years.

Selects topics from the 17th century to the present as examples of some commonly held but erroneous views on Indian-white relationships, including stereotypes of Indians as mascots.