The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture
First published in 1992, The Imaginary Indian is a revealing history of the "Indian" image mythologized by popular Canadian culture since 1850, propagating stereotypes that exist to this day.

Images of First Nations people have always been fundamental to Canadian culture. From the paintings and photographs of the 19th century to the Mounted Police sagas and the spectacle of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; from the performances of Pauline Johnson, Grey Owl, and Buffalo Long Lance to the media images of Oka and the Vancouver Winter Olympics-the Imaginary Indian is ever with us, oscillating throughout our history from friend to foe, from Noble Savage to bloodthirsty warrior, from debased alcoholic to wise elder, from monosyllabic "squaw" to eloquent princess, from enemy of progress to protector of the environment.

The Imaginary Indian has been, and continues to be—as Daniel Francis reveals in this book—just about anything the non-Native culture has wanted it to be; and the contradictory stories non-Natives tell about Imaginary Indians are really stories about themselves and the uncertainties that make up their cultural heritage. This is not a book about Native people; it is the story of the images projected upon Native people—and the desperate uses to which they are put.

This new edition, published almost twenty years after the book's first release, includes a new preface and afterword by the author.

Daniel Francis is an award-winning historian and the author of twenty books.


"1100626922"
The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture
First published in 1992, The Imaginary Indian is a revealing history of the "Indian" image mythologized by popular Canadian culture since 1850, propagating stereotypes that exist to this day.

Images of First Nations people have always been fundamental to Canadian culture. From the paintings and photographs of the 19th century to the Mounted Police sagas and the spectacle of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; from the performances of Pauline Johnson, Grey Owl, and Buffalo Long Lance to the media images of Oka and the Vancouver Winter Olympics-the Imaginary Indian is ever with us, oscillating throughout our history from friend to foe, from Noble Savage to bloodthirsty warrior, from debased alcoholic to wise elder, from monosyllabic "squaw" to eloquent princess, from enemy of progress to protector of the environment.

The Imaginary Indian has been, and continues to be—as Daniel Francis reveals in this book—just about anything the non-Native culture has wanted it to be; and the contradictory stories non-Natives tell about Imaginary Indians are really stories about themselves and the uncertainties that make up their cultural heritage. This is not a book about Native people; it is the story of the images projected upon Native people—and the desperate uses to which they are put.

This new edition, published almost twenty years after the book's first release, includes a new preface and afterword by the author.

Daniel Francis is an award-winning historian and the author of twenty books.


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The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture

The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture

by Daniel Francis
The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture

The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture

by Daniel Francis

Paperback(Second Edition)

$23.95 
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Overview

First published in 1992, The Imaginary Indian is a revealing history of the "Indian" image mythologized by popular Canadian culture since 1850, propagating stereotypes that exist to this day.

Images of First Nations people have always been fundamental to Canadian culture. From the paintings and photographs of the 19th century to the Mounted Police sagas and the spectacle of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; from the performances of Pauline Johnson, Grey Owl, and Buffalo Long Lance to the media images of Oka and the Vancouver Winter Olympics-the Imaginary Indian is ever with us, oscillating throughout our history from friend to foe, from Noble Savage to bloodthirsty warrior, from debased alcoholic to wise elder, from monosyllabic "squaw" to eloquent princess, from enemy of progress to protector of the environment.

The Imaginary Indian has been, and continues to be—as Daniel Francis reveals in this book—just about anything the non-Native culture has wanted it to be; and the contradictory stories non-Natives tell about Imaginary Indians are really stories about themselves and the uncertainties that make up their cultural heritage. This is not a book about Native people; it is the story of the images projected upon Native people—and the desperate uses to which they are put.

This new edition, published almost twenty years after the book's first release, includes a new preface and afterword by the author.

Daniel Francis is an award-winning historian and the author of twenty books.



Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781551524252
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press, Limited
Publication date: 04/17/2012
Edition description: Second Edition
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Daniel Francis is an historian and the author/editor of more than twenty books, including three others for Arsenal: National Dreams: Myth, Memory and Canadian History; Seeing Reds: The Red Scare of 1918-1919, Canada’s First War on Terror; LD: Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver (winner of the City of Vancouver Book Award); and Imagining Ourselves: Classics of Canadian Non-Fiction. He is also a regular columnist in Geist magazine.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition 5

Acknowledgments 13

Foreword Randy Fred 15

1 Introduction 17

I Taking the Image 27

2 The Vanishing Canadian 31

3 Writing Off the Indian 58

4 Red Coats and Redskins 75

II Presenting the Image 97

5 Performing Indians 100

6 Celebrity Indians and Plastic Shamans 122

7 Indians of Childhood 157

III Appropriating the Image 183

8 Marketing the Imaginary Indian 186

IV Implementing the Image 205

9 The Bureaucrat's Indian 209

10 Guns and Feathers 233

Afterword to the Second Edition 239

Endnotes 251

Photo Credits 265

Sources Consulted 269

Index 281

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