Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: What Was Native American Literature?
- Part I Traces and Removals (Pre-1870s)
- Part II Assimilation and Modernity (1879–1967)
- Part III Native American Renaissance (Post-1960s)
- Part IV Visions and Revisions: 21st-Century Prospects
- 23 Native American Horror, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction
- 24 Charting Comparative Indigenous Traditions
- 25 The Global Correspondence of Native American Literatures
- 26 Indigenizing the Internet
- 27 Indigenous Futures beyond the Sovereignty Debate
- 28 The Leftovers
- 29 Can You See the Indian?
- Index
29 - Can You See the Indian?
from Part IV - Visions and Revisions: 21st-Century Prospects
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: What Was Native American Literature?
- Part I Traces and Removals (Pre-1870s)
- Part II Assimilation and Modernity (1879–1967)
- Part III Native American Renaissance (Post-1960s)
- Part IV Visions and Revisions: 21st-Century Prospects
- 23 Native American Horror, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction
- 24 Charting Comparative Indigenous Traditions
- 25 The Global Correspondence of Native American Literatures
- 26 Indigenizing the Internet
- 27 Indigenous Futures beyond the Sovereignty Debate
- 28 The Leftovers
- 29 Can You See the Indian?
- Index
Summary
The chapter argues strategic essentialism has become the prevailing mode of thinking among scholars in Native American discourse, and traces its development over the past few decades. I suggest this has produced a host of unintended consequences and is, generally speaking, a bad thing. Mainly because the scholars are reflecting and advancing ideas held by many Native Americans in the United States, not just those in the academy. I analyze this condition through a discussion of the HBO series “The Leftovers,” recent exhibitions at the National Museum of the American Indian, and the rise of the tea party movement in 2014.
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- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature , pp. 526 - 530Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020