from stereotype to archetype

200 Pages·2015·19.95 MB·English

FROM STEREOTYPE TO ARCHETYPE
AMERICAN INDIAN IDENTITIES IN ART AND LITERATURE
by
Scott Bryson Vickers
B.A., University of Colorado at Denver, 1991
A thesis submitted to the
Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Colorado at Denver
in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Humanities
1994
© 1994 by Scott Bryson Vickers
All rights reserved.
This thesis for the Master of Humanities
degree by
Scott Bryson Vickers
has been approved for the
Humanities
Program
by
Charles Moone
Vickers, Scott Bryson (M. H.)
From Stereotype to Archetype: American Indian Identities in Art and
Literature
Thesis directed by Professor Bradford K. Mudge
ABSTRACT
This thesis follows the development and perpetuation of certain
stereotypes of the American Indian from the moment of contact by
European colonists in 1492 up until the present, with special emphasis on
the period between the 1880s and the 1940s. A premise of the thesis is that
these stereotypes have had the cumulative effect of dehumanizing and
deracinating Indians in the causes of Manifest Destiny and Christian
hegemony, posing critical survival and identity crises for Indian cultures
and individuals. The thesis discusses the way stereotypes evolve from racist
ideology, from colonial imperatives, and finally from within the religious
myths of both traditional Indian lore and Christianity. On a national level,
it shows how stereotypes were conceived and perpetrated by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs as part of a national policy to void Indians of their historical
Indian identities as a pretext for cultural and actual genocide.
In contradistinction, this discussion then attempts to show how
certain writers and artists helped bring about a humanizing re-vision of
Indians as significant human entities, formed from an archetypal context
of traditional tribal mythology and individual characterization. Writers
Helen Hunt Jackson, Oliver La Farge, and Frank Waters are cited as helping
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to create both a new national consciousness about Indians and unique
fictive Indian characters who belie stereotypical notions. In addition,
artists William R. Leigh and members of the Taos Society of Artists are
examined for their contributions toward more deromanticized images of
Indians that attempt to portray them "as they really are." Bringing the
discussion into the present, the thesis then focuses on three modern Indian
artists, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Edgar Heap of Birds, and Diego Romero,
who bridge the gap between stereotype and archetype in their distinctive
works.
The thesis concludes that, although significant progress has been
made in literary and artistic representations of Indians by both Indians
and non-Indians, the legacy of using racial detenninants to define the
authenticity of Indian identities continues to plague both Indian-white and
Indian-Indian relationships.
This abstract accurately represents the content of the candidate's thesis.
recommend its publication.
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Dedicated to my human and animal allies
Mark, Alexander, Fanny, Luke, and Molly;
and to the Power of Indians
everywhere.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The inspiration for researching, writing, and compiling this
manuscript has come from many diverse sources and people whose
contributions I would like now to acknowledge. I hope this work will repay
in some part their financial, professional, and emotional support. My
parents, Bill and Adelle, have given me immense encouragement and
support during all of my academic career, and I hope they are at last
thankful that I have finished something I started. Professor Kent Casper
and the Humanities Department at the University of Colorado at Denver
have been generous enough to award me two tuition grants toward the
completion of this thesis, as well as showing genuine concern for my
academic livelihood. I am indebted to my thesis advisors, Professor Brad
Mudge, Professor Charles Moone, and Professor Kent Casper for their
advice and reading of this manuscript during its various manifestations,
for which they have received no compensation but for its completion. I
would also like to thank Tom and Marilyn Auer of The Bloomsbury Review
for introducing me to the rich world of modem multicultural literature and
for ideas and resources they have provided during my research. Bob
Nauman, a doctoral candidate at the University of New Mexico, was
instrumental in helping me find a focus for this thesis and has been a
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consistent inspiration and resource on Indian artists and the history of
Indian art. Foremost, I would like to thank my longtime companion Mark
Waddell for making immense personal and financial sacrifices that I might
reach this watermark in my life. I say with all humility that I could not
have done it without all of the aforementioned's support, encouragement,
and love.
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CONfENTS
CHAPTER
1. ~lRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
What Constitutes a Stereotype? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5
What Constitutes an Archetype? • • • • • • • 8
Authority, Authorship, and Authenticity • • • • • • • • • 13
2. NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF RE~VE~'TION • .15
Meet Your Maker: A Semiological View • • • • • 27
Puritan Projection: A Psychological View • • • • • • • • 35
3. WROUGHTEN SCOtJNDREIS • • • • 40
The Bad Indian, Hollywood Style • • 46
Good Indians Can Be Bought Here •• 51
4. PORTRAITS OF DISHONOR • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 58
Father Salvierderra's Dream • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 59
5. A RECAPITUlATION OF INDIANNESS ••••••••••••• 71
6. THE ENCHANTMENT OF THE DISENFRANCHISED • •• 85
William R. Leigh • 89
Bert Greer Phillips ••••••••••••••••••••1 02
joseph Sharp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1()9
ix
Walter Ufer • • • • • • . • . . • 115
7. THE GROL1'.TUS FOR MYTHIFICATION • 123
The Book of the Hopi • • • • • . • • • . . 127
The Man 'Who Killed the Deer • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 132
Pumpkin Seed Point • . • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • 142
8. FROM STEREOTYPE TO ARCHETYPE •••••••••••••• 151
A Brief History of the "Indian Artist" • • • • • • • • • • . 155
Three Indian Artists Close-Up • • • • • • • . • • • • • . • 163
9. CONCLUSIONS 176
BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 184
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