AIS 1121 - Seeing Red: American Indian (Mis)Representations

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grade only.

K. W. Mauer and J. Mt. Pleasant.

What images come to mind when you think of American Indians? Do these images come from history lessons, movies and TV, personal experience? This course will address historic and contemporary (mis)representations of Indians in a variety of media. Through films, photographs, comic books, advertising, and literature including works by prominent Native writers and scholars, the class will consider a range of issues including ethics, power, authenticity and identity, and the tension between self-representation and representation by non-Natives. Assignments will include informal and formal writing assignments such as journaling, visual analysis, argument, and synthesis. Ample time will be devoted to in-class workshops in which students will explore various modes of writing and pre-writing, review and edit each others’ drafts, and address questions about the writing process.