The study of how stereotypes and attitudes concerning Native Americans influence discrimination remains a relatively under-explored area. One prominent example of contemporary discord involves the appropriation of Native American imagery, logos, and names by sports teams, highlighting the ongoing sensitivities surrounding this topic. This article delves into existing research, examining the nature and impact of these stereotypes.
To truly grasp the impact of stereotypes on prejudice, discrimination, and racism directed at Native Americans today, it’s essential to understand the historical context. These issues are the culmination of centuries of oppressive and dehumanizing social relations and policies, driven by the hostile attitudes of European Americans. Scholars like Barrett (2003), Berkhofer (1979), Collier (1947), LaDuke (1999), and Venables (2004) have extensively documented this history, highlighting the deep-seated roots of contemporary biases. The keyword, Studies on Native American Stereotyping, is central to this examination.
As Berkhofer (1979) insightfully suggests, a complex and almost self-perpetuating relationship exists between the images and stereotypes of North American indigenous peoples and the policies and relations between Native Americans and White Americans. These images and stereotypes have shaped government policies and interactions, while those very policies and interactions have, in turn, reinforced and perpetuated the stereotypes. This cyclical dynamic has created a persistent and often insidious form of prejudice.
Even individuals with minimal direct contact with Native Americans invariably hold some image or opinion of them. In recent years, there has been growing critical scrutiny of traditional depictions of Native Americans, particularly those carrying overt or implied racist connotations. Much of this misleading and flawed imagery originates from stereotypical portrayals in various forms of media, including comic books, films, literature, history books, television programs, and even casual hearsay, as noted by Trimble (1988).
Manifestations of Stereotypes
Native American stereotypes permeate numerous facets of American culture, manifesting in sports, art, literature, mass media (movies and television), and education. Several analyses have specifically examined these stereotypes within literature, novels, and textbooks used in history classes throughout the United States. Trimble’s (1988) research cites a 1975 analysis that revealed that reviewed books often relied on traditional and historical images of Native Americans as either the "dirty, drunken, cruel and warring savage" or the "glorified but naive native" (p. 189). Further analyses have indicated that Native Americans are portrayed as "noble savages" when assisting non-Native Americans, but as "treacherous or filthy savages" when opposing them (Trimble, 1988, p. 189). The effect of these stereotypes on people is the central question in Studies on Native American Stereotyping.
A comprehensive review conducted by the American Indian Historical Society (AIHS) examined over 300 books related to Native American history and culture that were then in use in schools across the country (Hansen & Rouse, 1987; Trimble, 1988). The reviewers concluded that not a single book could be considered a reliable or accurate source of information about Native American history and culture. On the contrary, most books were found to contain misinformation, distortions, omissions, and derogatory statements towards Native Americans. Frequent references described Native Americans as "primitive, degrading, filthy, warlike, savage, hostile, fugitives, runaway slaves, riffraff, and bold" (Trimble, 1988, p. 189).
The mass media, especially the motion picture and television industries, has played a significant role in perpetuating Native American stereotypes. These industries have produced a vast number of films that convey a distorted version of Native American culture and history, often biased, unflattering, or simply inaccurate. Vrasidas (1997) argues that for many individuals, movies and television serve as their primary sources of information. Consequently, many contemporary negative attitudes and stereotypes about Native Americans persist because television and film have played a crucial role in internalizing and eternalizing these misconceptions.
In Westerns, Native Americans were frequently depicted as brutal and evil, engaging in raids, scalping settlers, and uttering stereotypical war cries (Aleiss, 1995; Trimble, 1988). The narratives often concluded with the Native Americans being defeated and vanishing from the landscape (Aleiss, 1995; Churchill, Hill, & Hill, 1978). When Native American characters were portrayed as "good guys," they typically served as scouts, helpers, or sidekicks to the non-Native characters, reinforcing a sense of inferiority (Trimble, 1988). Furthermore, earlier films often failed to identify specific tribes accurately, and when they did, the representations were frequently inaccurate.
Native Americans in these movies were almost invariably depicted wearing feathers or war-bonnets, cloth headbands, riding horses, and communicating through nonverbal signals like smoke signals, birdcalls, or drumming (Churchill et al., 1978; Trimble, 1988). These characteristics are specific to only a few Plains tribes, yet they were generalized to represent all Native Americans. Additionally, when Native American characters spoke, they often used a fabricated language or broken English (Churchill et al., 1978; Trimble, 1988), further contributing to the distortion.
Adding to the misrepresentation, non-Native actors, often of Hispanic, Greek, or Italian descent, were cast in these roles, such as Iron Eyes Cody, Sal Mineo, Robert Blake, Charles Bronson, and Barbara Carerra. This practice further obscured authentic Native American representation.
Evolution and Persistence of Stereotypes
Following World War II, the film industry began to portray Native Americans somewhat more sympathetically, shifting from the "hostile warrior" stereotype toward an image of interracial harmony. Vrasidas (1997) acknowledges that television and film have, in recent years, presented Native Americans in a more realistic light, but contends that Hollywood still has a long way to go in rectifying four centuries of misrepresentation.
Edgerton (1994) analyzed the film The Last of the Mohicans, often cited as a step in the right direction, but found that it still endorsed many Native American stereotypes. These included tensions between Native Americans and Europeans and the paradoxical portrayal of Native Americans as both "good Indians" and "bad Indians." While one could argue that good and bad individuals exist in all cultures, the "good Indian," Hawkeye (played by Daniel Day-Lewis), is only half-Native, possessing qualities of being in harmony with nature, noble, brave, and sensitive. Conversely, the "bad Indian," Magua (played by Wes Studi), is depicted as savage, brutal, and barbaric. Edgerton concluded that the composite of good and bad character types and traits was deeply conflicted and contradictory, a common feature of racial and ethnic stereotyping. The importance of this topic is why Studies on Native American Stereotyping are important.
Empirical Studies on Attitudes and Stereotypes
Tan, Fujioka, and Lucht (1997) investigated whether television portrayals, along with personal contact, influenced stereotypes towards Native Americans. They surveyed 191 Euro-American students at two northwestern universities located within 30 miles of a Native American reservation. The authors hypothesized that greater contact with Native Americans would correlate with less negative attitudes. This contact could be either personal or vicarious (through television). Furthermore, they hypothesized that positive information would lead to positive attitudes, while negative information would lead to negative attitudes (Tan et al., 1997).
The study employed a survey addressing racial images, asking respondents to rate Native Americans on a 7-point scale between polar adjectives, such as wealth, work ethic, intelligence, dependency, patriotism, crime, trust, drugs, family ties, tolerance of other races, and alcohol use.
Tan et al. (1997) concluded that frequency of contact consistently predicted stereotyping of Native Americans. Frequent personal contact, in particular, led to more positive stereotypes. The data offered limited support for the influence of vicarious contact. Specifically, positive TV attributes led to positive attitudes, and negative TV attributes led to negative attitudes, but these effects were weak, each predicting only one stereotyping factor out of four. The authors suggest that the scarcity of television portrayals of Native Americans, as reported by the subjects’ recent recall, may have diluted the possible effects (Tan et al., 1997).
Trimble (1988) examined the hypothesis that stereotypes of Native Americans are changing over time. A series of studies conducted in 1970, 1973, and 1976 sought to determine if differences in stereotypes of Native American traits existed across a seven-year period. Both Native Americans and non-Natives were asked to list as many words as they could to describe Native Americans.
From these lists, a 38-word list was compiled, and a separate group of subjects were administered this list of traits. Subjects were asked to choose 15 words from the list and rank them from 1 (most typical) to 15 (least typical). The 1970 study found that non-Natives rated words differently than the Natives and perceived Native Americans in a stereotypical manner.
Traits endorsed by non-Natives included distrustful, drunkards, ignorant, lazy, proud, and suspicious. Native Americans saw themselves as defeated, mistreated, proud, drunkards, and quiet. The most commonly selected traits from the 1970 study were compiled into a 15-word list. In 1973, this list was used, and subjects were asked to add more traits if they wished. Another group of subjects were then asked to rank the 15 traits. This time, non-Natives tended to view Native Americans as defeated, drunkards, ignored, mistreated, and poor. Native Americans endorsed themselves as ignored, mistreated, faithful, and proud.
The same procedure was followed in 1976, and non-Natives saw Native Americans as mistreated, militant, and stubborn. Native Americans also saw themselves as militant but also as ignored and faithful. Words that consistently appeared on the list at all three points in time were artistic, defeated, drunkards, lazy, mistreated, and shy. While the results of the three studies suggest that stereotypes can change over time, certain stereotypes have persisted. This is a key observation in Studies on Native American Stereotyping.
Additional research investigating stereotypes and attitudes towards Native Americans has yielded mixed findings. For example, Hansen and Rouse (1987) conducted a study examining Native American stereotyping, involving 226 college students enrolled in sociology and anthropology courses at a large southwestern university. Seventy-five percent of the participants were European American, 9% African American, 7% Hispanic, and 1.3% Native American.
The study consisted of three sections. The first section presented subjects with a list of 10 positive/negative pairs of adjectives, asking them to choose which were characteristic of Native Americans. Subjects were also given the option of indicating that Native Americans were not characterized by either pair, choosing a neutral option. Overall, 50% of the subjects characterized Native Americans with the positive term, 24% with the negative term, and 26% chose the neutral option.
The second part of the study gathered background information and questions pertaining to exposure to Native Americans, with the final section consisting of a 40-item opinion and knowledge survey about Native Americans. Results showed mixed support for concepts conceived as traditional cultural stereotypes, such as simple, primitive, traditional, warlike, hunters, and "as the past." More subjects saw Native Americans as part of the past and as more traditional. When examining personal stereotypes, the majority of subjects did not view Native Americans negatively but saw them as strong, hardworking, and patriotic. Subjects also tended to reject homogenous lumping of Native Americans in favor of a more heterogeneous perception. However, subjects believed that Native Americans should be bicultural and reported receiving most of their information about Native Americans from television, movies, and books.
Ancis et al. (1996) examined college students’ attitudes towards Native Americans in various social and educational situations, finding an overall positive attitude except in the case of a Native person receiving free health care. The authors suggest that the overall positive attitudes may be indicative of the increased attention recently given to the historical and current conditions of Native Americans (Ancis et al., 1996).
Sandefur and Lam (1985) randomly sampled residents of Oklahoma City to assess their stereotypes of African Americans and Native Americans. Using a Likert scale format, subjects read five statements about Native Americans and five statements about African Americans, completing a social distance measure for each group. The results indicated that Euro-Americans in Oklahoma City perceived greater social distance between themselves and African Americans than between themselves and Native Americans, and stereotypes of African Americans were more negative than stereotypes of Native Americans.
Conflicting Findings and Methodological Considerations
Bennett and Simons (1991) studied attitudes towards Native Americans in the Upper Midwest, where negative perceptions existed. The authors cite the aforementioned studies and suggest that the inconsistencies in findings are due to the diverse methodologies employed in each study. Consequently, comparisons with studies of stereotypes and attitudes towards other ethnic groups are challenging.
To address this issue, Bennett and Simons (1991) used a well-established stereotype measuring methodology previously conducted on three generations of Princeton University students (e.g., Katz & Braly, 1933; Gilbert, 1951; Karlin, Coffman, & Walters, 1969). This method consists of an adjective checklist in which subjects rate how descriptive an adjective is for both European Americans and some other group.
Bennett and Simons (1991) administered this checklist to college students with a permanent address within the boundaries of a reservation. The hypothesis was that living on a reservation would provide subjects with a more realistic impression of Native American people than what is seen in the media, thus obtaining a more valid measure of stereotypes and prejudice existing through actual intergroup interaction.
The results, using the adjective checklist methodology, revealed a distinct, negative stereotype of Native Americans. Moreover, this negative stereotype was comparable to those held towards African Americans in the late 1960s (Bennett & Simons, 1991). This discrepancy in findings regarding attitudes towards Native Americans may be attributed to the nature of the studies. For example, social psychological theories suggest that ethnocentrism is more likely to occur in the Bennett and Simons (1991) study than in the other studies.
For non-Natives living on a reservation, ethnic biases are more salient based on a cultural perspective. The conflict over real and tangible resources has persisted for generations in and around Native American reservations. Attitudes held by participants in the studies by Ancis et al. (1996) and Hanson and Rouse (1987) may have been based on images presented through media, where participants had not had real contact with Native people. In other words, there was no real conflict or history of personal conflict between participants in the studies and Native Americans; therefore, any ethnic biases were not salient. The diverse perspectives and the complexity of research is why Studies on Native American Stereotyping are so interesting.
In recent decades, blockbuster Hollywood productions such as Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, and Geronimo have, for the most part, presented romanticized accounts of Native American people and their struggles. However, in areas where Native people constitute the largest minority group, conflict over real-life issues continues to exist, maintaining stereotypes and prejudice.
In conclusion, while some progress has been made in challenging and dismantling negative stereotypes, much work remains. A deeper understanding of the historical context, the pervasive influence of media representations, and the complexities of intergroup relations is crucial for fostering a more accurate and respectful perception of Native Americans.
