Approaching Whiteness
Acknowledging Native Americans as Scholars of Reversal in 19th Century Autobiographical Writings
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1. Edition, 2020
293 Pages
ISBN: 978-3-8253-7941-4
Product: Ebook
Edition: PDF
Subject: Anglistik/Amerikanistik
Series: American Studies – A Monograph Series, Volume No.: 307
Available: 13.08.2020
Keywords:
Amerikanistik, amerikanische Literatur, U.S.A., 19. Jahrhundert, Whiteness Studies, Indigenous Studies, Reconciliation Studies, indigene Literatur, autobiographisches Schreiben, life writing, Stereotype, Ethnographie, Critical Race Theory, Sozialwissenschaften, Kanada, Winnemucca, Sarah, Zitkala-Sa, Eastman, Charles A., Perspektivenwechsel
Since the 19th century indigenous writers have been challenging their missing cultural, political and literary invisibility. Yet, stereotypical misconceptions of “the inferior Indian” continue to exist. This “study of reversal” unfolds an unseen perspective of Native Americans in which they emerge as ethnographers of whiteness and indigeneity.
Rereading the autobiographical accounts of Charles A. Eastman, Sarah Winnemucca and Zitkala-Ša results in a framework which allows us to reimagine native culture, while it simultaneously reverses and completes our understanding of white identity. This new approach investigates how these native writers create a counterimage of the “Indian’s White Man,” by creating their own study of “races.” By emerging as scholars of reversal ‘avant la lettre’, their works may additionally be read as testimonies of reconciliation.
