Going Native: Indians in the American Cultural Imagination

by Shari M. Huhndorf

Since the 1800's, many European Americans have relied on Native Americans as models for their own national, racial, and gender identities. Displays of this impulse include world's fairs, fraternal organizations, and films such as Dances with Wolves. Shari M. Huhndorf uses cultural artifacts such as these to examine the phenomenon of "going native," showing its complex relations to social crises in the broader American society—including those posed by the rise of industrial capitalism, the completion of the military conquest of Native America, and feminist and civil rights activism.

Huhndorf looks at several modern cultural manifestations of the desire of European Americans to emulate Native Americans. Some are quite pervasive, as is clear from the continuing, if controversial, existence of fraternal organizations for young and old which rely upon "Indian" costumes and rituals. Another fascinating example is the process by which Arctic travelers "went Eskimo," as Huhndorf describes in her readings of Robert Flaherty's travel narrative, My Eskimo Friends, and his documentary film, Nanook of the North. Huhndorf asserts that European Americans' appropriation of Native identities is not a thing of the past, and she takes a skeptical look at the "tribes" beloved of New Age devotees.

Going Native shows how even seemingly harmless images of Native Americans can articulate and reinforce a range of power relations including slavery, patriarchy, and the continued oppression of Native Americans. Huhndorf reconsiders the cultural importance and political implications of the history of the impersonation of Indian identity in light of continuing debates over race, gender, and colonialism in American culture.

Genres: History, Indigenous, Nonfiction, Academic, Native American

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 15, 2001

Reviews

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD!

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an academic work, and as such, a much slower read than I was anticipating at the outset. A lot of literary criticism and film criticism were involved, on works that I was unfamiliar with. I still found it interesting and learned a great deal, but it was but no means an easy read.

I think the best part of the book for me was the final chapter, the conclusion, which really brought home in the current day how little has changed. That maybe had more impact with its brevity than the much longer, more researched and analyzed chapters, not to diminish their merits. An interesting work, but not to be embarked on lightly.

[teagan]

i’m not going to lie- i didn’t read the whole thing (just most of it). but for the hours i’ve lost to the densest book i’ve ever encountered, this is going on the read shelf.

[Erin Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minus one star for being too drawn out but sooo good otherwise, read for amst

[Glen Retief · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of intelligent cultural criticism here, and a sharp and well-founded critique of exploitative cultural appropriation, from Dances With Wolves to New Age dreamcatchers.

Maybe I wanted too much from this study, but I found the argument ultimately dogmatic, in that it seemed to presume that almost any attempt by white people to learn from or be inspired by indigenous cultures was doomed to be dehumanizing, which then in turn seems to imply that if as white person you want to respect indigenous peoples' humanity, make sure you never make the mistake of admiring, or God forbid learning from, any of their traditions! But to me, cultural learning and mutual influence seem inevitable in a multicultural, globalized world, so it is important to not just skewer all the negative examples of cultural exchange, but also to offer a vision for how collaboration and partnership can be undertaken more respectfully.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huhndorf's analysis of the phenomenon of "going native" relies on literary criticism and the explication of both high and popular culture. Although her argument is never particularly original, and she does make one or two glaring factual mistakes, she writes so insightfully and eloquently that her study more than makes up for any small faults. I loved it!

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise ... that there is a longstanding tradition of white people either literally "Going Native" or fantasizing about doing so. The book is academic but not jargony.

[Jah-psalm Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where to go, where to go...