Fighting Colonial Violence in “Indian Country”: Deconstructing racist sexual stereotypes of Native American Women in American popular culture and history

Abstract

Colonialism, its ingrained sexism and racism, and the consequential loss of tribal sovereignty through the elaboration by the American government of a complex legal system that has limited tribal jurisdiction, have had disastrous consequences on the bodily and social integrity of Native American women, past and present, in the U.S. This article analyzes problematic, stereotypical representations of Native Americans, men and women in contemporary mainstream American culture, focusing on stereotypes which promote violence against Native women, and deconstructs these representations through an analysis of the colonial (cultural and legal) history of racist violence perpetrated by non-Natives upon Native Americans in general and Native women in particular.

Keywords

• violence
• minority
• women
• Native American
• stereotyping
• popular culture