The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies

401 Pages·1990·54.61 MB·English

by  James A. Clifton

THE INVENTED INDIAN

THE INVENTED INDIAN
Cultural Fictions and
Government Policies
Edited by
James
A. Clifton
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1990 by Transaction Publishers
Published 2017 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 89-20676
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Invented Indian: Cultural fictions and government policies / James A.
Clifton, editor,
p. cm
ISBN-13: 978-1-56000-745-6
1. Indians of North America—Public opinion. 2. Indians of North
America—Government relations. 3. Public opinion—United States. 4.
Stereotype (Psychology)—United States. I. Clifton, James A.
E98.P99I58 1990
305.8'97—dc20 89-20676
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-1-56000-745-6 (pbk)
IN MEMORY OF
Lynn Ceci (1930—1989)
John A. Price (1933—1988)
Absent Friends, Lost Colleagues,
Resolute Scholars
"Next, then," I said, "make an image of our
nature in its education and want of education,
likening it to a condition of the following kind.
See human beings as though they were in an
underground cave-like dwelling with its
entrance, a long one, open to the light across
the whole width of the cave. They are in it from
childhood with their legs and necks in bonds so
that they are fixed, seeing only in front of them,
unable because of the bond to turn their heads
all the way around. Their light is from a fire
burning far above and behind them. Between
the fire and the prisoners there is a road above,
along which we see a wall, built like the
partitions puppet-handlers set in front of the
human beings and over which they show the
puppets."
"I see," he said.
"Then also see along this wall human beings
carrying all sorts of artifacts, which project
above the wall, and statues of men and other
animals wrought from stone, wood, and every
kind of material; as is to be expected, some of
the carriers utter sounds while others are
silent."
"It's a strange image," he said, "and stranger
prisoners you're telling of."
"They're like us," I said, "for in the first place,
do you suppose such men would have seen
anything of themselves and one another other
than the shadows cast by the fire on the side of
the cave facing them?"
—Plato's Republic,
Book VII,
Allan Bloom, trans.
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xi
1. Introduction: Memoir, Exegesis 1
2. The Indian Story: A Cultural Fiction 29
James A. Clifton
3. Pride and Prejudice: The Pocahontas Myth and the
Pamunkey 49
Christian F. Feest
4. Squanto and the Pilgrims: On Planting Corn "in the
manner of the Indians" 71
Lynn Ceci
5. A Sweet Small Something: Maple Sugaring in the New
World 91
Carol I. Mason
6. The United States Constitution and the Iroquois League 107
Elisabeth Tooker
7. Mother Earth: An American Myth 129
Sam Gill
8. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Was the Indian Really
Egalitarian? 145
Leland Donald
9. Their Numbers Become Thick: Native American Historical
Demography as Expiation 169
David Henige
10. Primal Gaia: Primitivists and Plastic Medicine Men 193
Alice B. Kehoe
11. A Legacy of Misperception and Invention: The Omaha
Indians in Anthropology 211
R. H. Barnes
12. Validity Is Not Authenticity: Distinguishing Two
Components of Truth
Richard de Mille
13. Ethical Advocacy Versus Propaganda: Canada's Indian
Support Groups
John A. Price
14. Inside BIA: Or, "We're Getting Rid of All These Honkies"
Stephen E. Feraca
15. When Fictions Take Hostages
Allan van Gestel
16. Europe's Indians
Christian F. Feest
17. White Ghosts, Red Shadows: The Reduction of
North-American Natives
Jean-Jacques Simard
Appendix: Criticisms of Nonconformers
About the Authors
Index
List of Illustrations
3.1. Pocahontas Saving John Smith 62
3.2. Pamunkey Indians at Yorktown Centennial 63
3.3. Pocahontas-Smith Play Handbill 64
3.4. Deerfoot 65
3.5. Pamunkey Costumed for Play 66
3.6. Pamunkey Paying Tribute, 1930 67
3.7. Pamunkey Pottery School, 1932 68
3.8. Pictographic Account of Pocahontas-Smith Story 69
3.9. Pottery Vessel with Pictographic Story 70
12.1. Categories of Truthfulness 237
13.1. Native People in the 1981 Canadian Census 256