Exploring the images of Native American Women in film

M. Elise Marubbio, assistant professor of American Indian studies, spent hours in film archives in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, studying how Native American women were portrayed in Hollywood films. In her recently-published book, Killing the Indian Maiden: Images of Native American Women in Film, she analyzes the image that intrigued her the most—that of the young Native woman who falls in love or is connected with a white hero and dies for this choice.

Marubbio teaches Native American Women and Film, a course in American Indian Studies, Augsburg’s newest department. While Augsburg has previously had a major and minor in American Indian studies, the creation of a department strengthens the College’s commitment to creating a diverse community.

Department chair Erik Buffalohead says that an AIS major or minor is valuable for students preparing to work in a variety of human services—in business, health care, education, youth and family ministry, etc. “It’s all about cultural understanding.” Students can also study the Ojibwe language.

American Indian Studies is made up of Native and non-Native students, who often take several courses with the same professor. The department works closely with Augsburg’s American Indian Student Services program.

“In the Great American Indian novel, when it is finally written, all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts.” –Sherman Alexie, “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel.”

“Even through you and I are in different boats, you in your boat and we our canoe, we share the same river of life. What befalls me befalls you. And downstream, downstream in this river of life, our children will pay for our selfishness, for our greed, and for our lack of vision.”--Oren Lyons

What comes to mind when we see Indian people in traditional dress or pictures like the ones above? All too often it is a stereotypical assumption about ceremony, spirituality, and tribal culture. What the two quotes and the photographs present are the disconnects between what most people think of when they visualize American Indians and how American Indians think of themselves. And as Oren Lyons makes clear, the resulting gulf affects us all.

As with Alexie’s “ghosts,” American Indians are elided out of contemporary focus because popular cultural representations of them are so firmly entrenched in American culture.

American Indian Studies responds to these disconnects and the appropriation of Indianness, the telling of tribal histories, cultures, and worldviews from non-Native perspectives. American Indian Studies provides the Native voice in response to centuries of miscommunication, disinformation, and historical erasure.

Here in Minnesota and the Twin Cities we are constantly interacting with each other in our neighborhoods and in business, government, healthcare, and education. We need to understand each other’s stories.

What does American Indian Studies Offer?
The American Indian Studies Department offers students the opportunity to learn about the original, indigenous cultures of North America. It provides a multidisciplinary understanding of the history and present situation of American Indians. The Department emphasizes the interrelations among history, culture, language, literature, the arts, philosophy, religion, political and social forces, and the legal status and sovereignty of American Indians. A variety of courses expose students to the richness and beauty of North American Indian cultures.

The American Indian Studies Department nurtures in students an understanding of American Indian cultural diversity, spirituality and philosophical thought, major themes of Indian-White relations, contemporary issues in Native communities, and the implications of colonialism on Native peoples. The courses supply frameworks and tools for deeply exploring these areas and for rethinking how cultural assumptions about Native American peoples manifest in forms that influence both American Indian and non-Indians.

What is Unique About Augsburg College American Indian Studies?
The American Indian Studies Department presents students with the opportunity to work with and acquire knowledge of American Indian peoples and communities.

The Department offers a wide range of topics to study including Native American history, politics, and contemporary issues; oral traditions, story telling, literature, art, and film; religion and philosophical thought; and Ojibwe language.

Augsburg’s American Indian Studies Department makes available to students the unique opportunity to participate in the Native American Film Series, a Native American Writer’s Series, travel seminars, cultural excursions, and internships.

What American Indian Studies Offers Students
American Indian Studies prepares students for living in a multicultural and politically charged world. The historical and cultural base knowledge that you acquire about Native Americans lays the foundation for any job requiring cross-cultural and multi-cultural awareness.

The Department allows students to gain historical and cultural base knowledge of American Indians that is invaluable in areas such as social and political activism, law and politics, journalism, public relations, business or public administration.

The Department provides students with a strong liberal arts foundation from which to expand into a variety of careers, jobs, and fields of study.

For example:
- graduate study in American Indian Studies or other disciplines such as Basic or Applied research science
-professions in teaching and education
-entry level positions in business, medicine, or social work.