Proposal for Sabbatical Research on Images of the "Indian"

September, 1997

I propose two projects: (1) to engage in a brief inquiry into the nature of Micmac Catholicism; (2) to carry out an extended inquiry into the genealogy and use of the image of the "Indian".

(1) [I have since scaled this part of my research way back, postponing it until I am back in New Brunswick.]

(2) During my last sabbatical leave I researched and wrote a majority of Weaving Ourselves Into the Land: Charles Leland, "Indians", and the Study of Native American Religions, (SUNY Press, 1997). In that work I identified an image or stereotype I called the "Indian." This image, I argued, is used by mainstream culture in disparaging and approving ways. I showed that in the "popular" as well as the more academic texts I was working with, the "Indian" was prevalent and that, when used disparagingly, was (and is) most often used to justify the well documented attempts, usually involving land and resources, to colonize First Nations peoples. Conversely, when used approvingly, the "Indian" was often linked to our need for what I called Place, a religious need for belonging to the landscape in which we find ourselves. I have come to believe that this image and its use requires further investigation. I propose, then, to carry out an extended inquiry into the genealogy and use of the image of the "Indian."

(2) The "activities to be undertaken" as part of the extended inquiry into the genealogy and use of the image of the "Indian" are necessarily more detailed and more tentative. As of this writing, over a year before I will be able to pursue this inquiry with my full attention, I see myself investigating the following:

under the genealogy of the "Indian":

• Ernest Thompson Seton,
• Edward S. Curtis,
• Archie Belaney / Grey Owl;

under the use of the "Indian":

• the Woodcraft League and the North American summer camp,
• the use of Edward S. Curtis' photographs,
• Grey Owl and the conservation movement,
• the activities of "Indian hobbyists" or "Indianists" of England.

"Genealogy" and "use" are obviously not discrete categories, but are rather intertwined.