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For more than a hundred years, outsiders enamored of the perceived strengths of American Indian cultures have appropriated and distorted elements of them for their own purposes--more | "Sophisticated insights on complex cross-cultural phenomena, demonstrating the disciplinary convergence characteristic of the best cultural studies about Indians . . . Anyone interested in the complex intercultural contexts of twentieth-century Indian arts and representations should read Selling the Indian." — Journal of American History |
often than not ignoring the impact of the process on the Indians themselves. This book contains eight original contributions that consider the selling of American Indian culture and how
it affects the Native community. It goes beyond studies of "white shamanism" to focus on commercial ventures, challenging readers to reconsider how Indian cultures have been
commercialized in the twentieth century.
Some selections examine how Indians have been displayed to the public, beginning with a "living exhibit" of Cocopa Indians at the 1904
Louisiana Purchase Exposition and extending to contemporary stagings of Indian culture for tourists at Tillicum Village near Seattle. Other chapters range from the Cherokees to Puebloan
peoples to Indians of Chiapas, Mexico, in an examination of the roles of both Indians and non-Indian reformers in marketing Native arts and crafts.
These articles show that the
commercialization and appropriation of American Indian cultures have been persistent practices of American society over the last century and constitute a form of cultural imperialism
that could contribute to the destruction of American Indian culture and identity. They offer a means toward understanding this complex process and provide a new window on Indian-white
interactions.
Carter Jones Meyer is Associate Professor of History and Convener of the American Studies Program at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Diana Royer is Associate Professor of English at Miami University.
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May 29th - June 1st, 2013  The conference theme, "Towards a New Social Contract?," will explore inequality in Latin America. In the first decade of the 21st century, income inequality has gone down in a substantial number of Latin American countries. This is the first time that inequality has declined on such a broad scale since we have had reasonably reliable data on income distribution. Beginning in the 1990s educational reforms have expanded the percentage of the population with secondary and tertiary education. The governments of the left that came to power after 2000 implemented a number of other reforms to improve life chances for the underprivileged, such as increases in the minimum wage, social assistance programs, and health care coverage. Are these trends likely to continue, or are they conjunctural and easily subject to reversal once economic growth rates decline? Learn More
June 13th - June 15th, 2013 The NAISA Council invites scholars working in Native American and
Indigenous Studies to submit proposals for: Individual papers, panel sessions, roundtables, or film screenings. All persons working in Native American and Indigenous Studies are invited and encouraged to apply. Proposals are welcome from faculty and students in colleges, universities, and tribal colleges; from community-based scholars and elders; and from professionals working in the field. Learn More
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