Assess the validity of Dee Brown's Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee as a work of history and its impact on American culture.
- Introduction
Dee brown has often been credited with dispelling the myth of the american west, however, this growing interest in past settlement and mistreatment of native americans was a continuingly growing interest in a post colonial revival period. “Curiosity” How is it then that brown takes this title? His work os history is not a page turner and yet through this book the past was able to come to a discourse. The construction of red history is delicate not only for social relations but in its construction there are many cultural and historical implications regarding the sources. The way brown sues these sources leaves an impression on the audience and impact american culture.
- Aims and intentions of brown - purposes of history
Brown explicitly states in his original publican of bury my heart at wounded knee the intentions for writing this red history. He expresses his concern regarding the lack of historical alternatives in the colonisation of the west and stresses the value of a native american perspective to influence current ideology and prejudice in america. Brown explains the reasoning for the previous bias in history, “the indian was the dark menace of the myths and even if he had known how to write in english, where would he have found a printer or a publisher?” and from this insight he attempts to fill this gap in history and to balance the one sided perspective of the american west. The necessity of revising history is a concept based upon discrimination and dogma, Robert Hughes pertinently advises a constant reconsideration of events, specifically regarding european conquest of north america, “After the myth sank from the histories deep into popular culture, it became a potent justification for the plunder, murder and enslavement of peoples”. The implication of a set history integrated into the culture of a nation forms current attitudes and prejudices, brown sums up this issue by stating that “history has a way of intruding upon the present”. However, he addresses the myths of america's past in a uniquely though focusing on the native indian culture throughout in the 1830s-50s, hence educating his audience to what he calls the ‘hopelessness and the squalor of the modern indian man” and demonstrating the cause and effect relationship.
- Writing style focus on two chapters idea 1 -construction reflect purpose?
To fulfil his intentions, brown constructs his history by using his background knowledge as a librarian to find sources and meticulously interpret the findings. He also states he is a "very, very old Indian, and I'm remembering the past.. I'm looking toward the Atlantic Ocean.'' this is why his writing has the quality that an indian american wrote it. This reflects his perceptive when wiring bury my heart, he takes the point of p=view of a native american, and victim as they understand the colonisation of america from the beginning of lewis and clark while he is a anglo saxon born in the 20th century. sources are derived from accounts by native american interpreters who attended treaty sessions, meetings with US army officers and other proceedings, and eyewitness accounts of battles.
He adopts a style of writing that is unconventional, adding photos and song lyrics and chords. This employment of sources which is scattered throughout his book humanises the victims of the massacres as real people with real emotion and a culture which has been close to being eradicated. This disconnection which stills continues. However the reasoning for adding these sources can also be towards his perspective, the indian culture has their own way of presenting history, therefore the story which is least connected with white culture is to be communicated in their own mode of poetry, songs and symbolism. For white americans this way of history is seen as fabled and its validity is diminished which a struggle faced by native americans. Dee brown exposes their culture by appropriating their style of history which his own white version to create a unified whole which aims to appease both sides.
- Writing style focus on two chapters idea 2 -construction reflect purpose?
The sympathy brown has towards the native americans is exemplified in his chapter Red cloud's war where they are still represented as victims of the settlers regime in a context where they are the persecutors of the settlers. He constructs this through a commentary on the outcome of the fetterman massacre in regards to colonel carrington impression who saw the bloody vicious mutilated committed by the native indians as savagery. Brown states that this impression of disgust that carrington had seen from the massacre was also conducted two years prior by the whites on the indians in the sand creek massacre. The use of this hypothetical situation dedicates to the reader the innocence of the native americans even in times where they committed two murders, he states the indians “were only imitating their enemies” therefore emphasising the brutality of the settlers as conducting this mutilation prior to the indians. This method of constructing history with a motive to support the native american rights movement and to highlight the injustices of the past has negative implications. Choosing to dictate a history which focuses on the victimization of native americans may reflect his audience, this issue is discussed by turner who asks whether turner bluntly asks whether liberal whites are sincerely interested in knowing about all of red history or “only about the good indians”. In judging the sources to put in his book, he woul dhave to judge what as propaganda by the whites and hwt was an accurate depiction of events, is it questionable that brown only emphasises the good hence eleimitinating all ements of bad injudgands as roaganda.
- Criticisms in writing style -construction reflect purpose? Narrative from
One of the criticism of brown's book it's is construction, from an academic point of view it lacks sophistication and adopts a narrative form. The use of this construction reflects his intentions of widely spreading the story of the native americans into popular culture. The lack of footnotes and the literary style of his writing allows for a greater flow within the book and gives the impression of a narrative form. This detracts from the validity from a scholarly perspective as the style of writing, reads like story. However from this the book still is cursed for not being a page turner, this could be due to the heavy content rather than his literary style. End notes
- Why has the construction changed overtime -AIM growing awareness
Constructed in the postcolonial context of america, the 1960s and 70s saw a resurgence in indigenous issues, brought to attention by native american activist across the country. Groups were actively organized to “promote the renewal of tribal heritage and awareness of the government mistreatment of native americans.” Amongst these groups were the most influential American Indian Movement, AIM’s occupation of alcatraz in 1969 created a discourse in america which focused on the rights of native americans. Browns timing deepened the understanding and informed the modern view of the conflict between native american and the united states government brinkley states “dramatically succeeded in changing the attitudes of the generation of the 1970s”.
- Why has the construction changed overtime -hollywood
One of the main problems that added to the continuity of native american prejudice was the impact of the stereotyped figure of the native american in american cultural representations. In hollywood cinema, two variations were depicted; “the idealised noble savage, or the treacherous, cruel defiler of captured white women” . However as the 60s and 70s progressed and the emergence of the past injustices were developed into our minds a new reductive stereotype was produced and this attempt to undo the effects of this pernicious mythology saw the indian as the tragic, eternal victim. Dee brown rejects the hollywood version of the past, his interest in native history and portrayal developed from his childhood friend telling him they weren't real indians. However his consistent emphasis on the wrongs of the whites and victim of the indians demonstrates his sympathy and highlights the subjectivity when choosing the evidence for his work. Chris schluep highlights this flaw in brown's work by stating, “Very simply, the Indians weren’t all good and the white people weren’t all bad”. The hollywood myth was a main source in delivering this false version of history brown fought against. it burnished he Eurocentric point of view. "bury my heart was a rebuttal of decades of hollywood fantasy about the west"
- Why has the construction changed overtime - historians
Browns apparent revolutionary attempt at change has been rejected as merely him catching the “revisionist mood about westward expansion” hence emphasizing the already revising public and discrediting brown for the impact. Other historians were also aiming to change the public mood about native americans and understand the past injectives. A time magazine review from 1971 assesses each of the main versions of history including browns. A number of issues arise when understanding the construction of red history through the mean of a white historian. Firstly the sources of the past have limited reliability as the indian americans didn't possess means of communicating history and it is all dominated by white 'victory' accounts. These accounts portray the reds as savage and is seen as a justification of their the white brutality inflicted upon them, however fail to mention that "the savage the whites conquered was a being of their own manufacture". Yellow Wolf of the Nez Perce Indians stated, "the whites told only one side. told it to please themselves. only his own best deeds, only the worst of the indians has the white man told". therefore the historian attempting to reverse this history will have difficulty determining what is fact or prejudice.
Another issue is the person constructing history usually has the context of a white american, such as brown, a common problem is that even in today's society the 'red' man has not been able to take part in the business of writing, editing and publishing his own history. therefore in the books, the whites serve as collaborators. As a result they all "intruding upon the very history that they are attempting to recover." Therefore, the collaborator has the responsibility of judging the sources available to them and since all the native speeches have been transcribed by whites who has no linguistic training, the majority of sources are contained with errors.
Relating to this, the indian culture has their own way of presenting history, therefore he story which is least con termined with white culture is to be communicated in their own mode of - poetry, symbolism etc. which makes it incomprehensible to the white trying to interpret. finally the main issue relating to all historical primary sources - how accurate is it? how authentic? memory may have failed them or lies may have been said to undermine or exaggerate his role. Farb criticises the other authors for inflicting white prejudices or unsuccessfully translations, Brown however escapes these judgements but received another; as a sole author he had an obligation to remain "scholarly objective" however subjectively sympathises with native americans.
dee brown was not the first to note the victims indians past, several others around the time also were growingly concerned with this false history however brown is often credited for opening up public conscious. None of his other books attracted such attention.
- Received popular -positive impact evidence for change, new historians new discourse, relationship
Brown's obsession with setting straight the past and exposing the injustices towards native american people continued to the new wave of historians in understanding her past history of america. This led to a resource for america which embedded into popular culture, aided by the various political events of the time and group activities. “While Brown's work, from the scholarly point of view, leaves something to be desired, its impact has been phenomenal in raising the consciousness of white Americans about the past history of Indians and whites in America.” - wilcomb washburn. Its significance in american culture is seen through its revelatory qualities, “it presented information that was both little known and contradictory to the general public's idea about the west's” - encyclopedia furthermore, Brown's interpretation of the past and his understanding of added to a global movement which wanted to understand the construction of our past challenging orthodox views. "Wounded Knee opened the way for the modern school of revisionist historians, who have largely confirmed Brown's perception that, rather than a triumph of pioneers, the west was subdued by a bloody, military conquest of native Americans that amounted to genocide." during the following decades, bury my heart opened the door for th native american voice and launched a generation of american indian studies in academia - encyclopedia. It persuaded a generation to listen to the voice of native americans.
- Relevance today why still studied - purposes of history
today conflicts continue in native american culture with the government its significance is still apparent in our culture to help as brown states, “understand what the indian man is by understanding what he was.” The dakota pipeline is one recently that sparked the resurgence of political issues. Today bury my heart is still studied and discussed as a revolutionary book that changed the understanding of the past. While bury my heart had many issues involved with its construction and since its publication many factual errors have been pronounced, it represents a major concept in historical thinking as stated by hughes, “Revise we historians must. There is no such thing as the last word”. The significance of his work is not about his content but rather about his intention, the changing attitudes reflects our world that is understanding the consequences of past actions and acknowledging the lies in our history . which needs to be constantly revised and reconstructed.
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