Native Americans in the American Imagination

In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will examine the changing image of Native Americans in American popular culture from 1800-2000. Through novels, plays, films, photography, advertisements, amusements, sport-team mascots, and museum displays, we will trace and analyze how the American Indian has been defined, appropriated, and represented popularly to Americans from the early republic to the turn of the twenty-first century. We will consider how American popular culture has used over time the image of the American Indian to symbolize national concerns and to forge a national American identity. 3 hrs. sem.