Proposal for History Extension Project
Genevieve Heggarty
- Preliminary research
- Topic area
- Conducted research
- Enquiry questions
- Process
- Proposed research question
- Subsidiary questions
- Research intentions
- Reading list
- Methodology
- Methodology
- Issues
- References
Preliminary Research
Topic area
Since the exploratory journey of Lewis and Clark, myths of the “opening” of America have shaped a culture, built off nationalism and pride - born from Dutch sailors, cowboys, and all things heroic. However through this determination of building Great America, based on the ideals of personal freedom, those who already had it were lost and the American Indian was subject to restriction.
This oppression echoes today.
In my essay I will be investigating the impact of the emotional work of history Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee brown who aims to dispel the myth of how the west was really won.
Conducted research
Interested in the current debate in America over the Dakota pipeline, the issue Native American depiction throughout history took my interest and my major work began.
Focusing on native american representation, I had a discussion regarding my direction. With my intention reminiscent of Dee Brown’s, to expose the false history of Indian Americans, it was suggested I look at his book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee.
Before reading the work, I conducted some preliminary research regarding how the book was received. This gave me two significant pieces of information. The first was the context of when the book was written which is linked to Brown’s intentions and demonstrates the book’s impact. Months before its publication, a group of Native American activist, self-proclaimed as the ‘Indians of all Tribes’ demanded that the former prison outpost, Alcatraz, be deeded back to them by the United States government. Brown's publication was explosive during a period
where native americans were voicing their view on their oppression and mistreatment under the United States government.
Secondly, I found an alternate view to Brown’s, published in response to the book 46 years later was Peter Cozzens’ The Earth Is Weeping. Cozzens aims to balance out the one sided
perspective offered by Brown, writing from an army point of view about the same era. In response to Brown's work he stated “that so crucial a period of our history remains largely defined by a work that made no attempt at historical balance”. Using this alternate source I will be assessing BHWK’s approach to constructing history.
With the prior research conducted I began to read Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee. Looking at the structure and ways of constructing history I noticed that the book was divided into chapters which each explicitly describes the different periods and events where the relationship between Native Americans and settlers resulted in deceit, massacre or humiliation. I focused on three main areas, the introduction which outlines his aims and purposes, and two major accounts in the book - chapter 6: Red Cloud’s War, and chapter 19: Wounded Knee, which I decided will be researched in detail later.
After reading the focus book I needed to understand the responses of the audience in more detail. I found both Time magazine and New York Review posted an article in 1971, which I am yet to purchase and read. This was added to my reading list which I created along with the plan or methodology of my essay.
Lastly my preliminary research concluded with a small analysis template I conducted. This outlines Brown's intentions with evidence from both the book and other historians.
Enquiry Questions
Process
To arrive at my proposed focus question I first devised a list of possible questions and drew from them the similar features. For example:
- ‘Assess the impact of Dee Brown’s Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee in relation to the representation of native indians in american culture over time’
- ‘Analyse the significance of Dee Brown’s Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee as a historical account of Native American representation.’
While these two focus on different aspects, with recurring themes in all my draft questions, I have decided to link both the significance of Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee as a work of history and its impact on American culture.
Proposed research question
“Assess the importance of Dee Brown's Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee as a work of history and its impact on American culture.”
Subsidiary questions
- What was the common attitude towards native americans and the settlement of america prior to 1970?
- What accounts of native american history were prevalent prior to Dee Brown’s Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee - what was american culture?
- Why did the approach to recording and constructing history change in 1970?
- What were Dee Brown's intentions for Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee?
- How are literary techniques and methods of representing used to communicate his intentions?
- What were the responses of the audience at the time?
- How did the attitude towards native americans change post publication?
- What were other influences in changing the representation of native americans in 1970?
- Does the book hold any relevance today?
Research Intentions
Reading list
There are a variety of texts which will need to be examined in order to understand the impact of brown's work on American culture, and in analysing its significance as a work of history.
Including:
Impact on american culture at time
- Time magazine archives: The forked tongue syndrome
- New york review: Indian corn
Impact on american culture on going
- Economist: Brown obituary
- The New York Times: Brown obituary
- The Guardian: Brown obituary
- Sun Sentinel: Brown obituary
Other figures/ works/ events impacting continuity and change in 1970
- Article on Hollywood impact
- Peter cozzens The Earth is Weeping
Methodology
Methodology plan
My historical work falls under two losted categories
- Critical analysis of a major historical work, and
- A historian’s or archaeologist‘s work
To fulfil the requirements of these categories, an extensive analysis of Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee needs to be conducted.
Brown will be accessed in historiographical terms, regarding debates such as: the job of a historian, the role history, and the place of perspective and personal motive in writing history. Likewise, his work will be analysed under his construction, how he locates and selects evidence, how well he uses sources, if it is entertaining, and if it is organised well.
Furthermore, the impact on Dee Brown's work will not only be investigating how popular the work of history was, but how groundbreaking. I will locate other works of history regarding native americans prior to the release to understand if Brown’s work offered a new perspective to the audience and how well he truly carries out his intentions.
Lastly, the majority of my resources are text based and now that I have concluded the focus question and subsidiary questions, I can begin to analyse these articles and sources with intention and a historiographical approach of analysis.
Issues
Throughout the course of my investigation, I have encountered and are yet to deal with a number of issues regarding my work. However, I found the main problem so far to be the limited accounts of native american perspective of the book. While there are articles of its popularity and significance on the ‘white’ american attitude, due to the scarcity of national native american figures, little is recorded about their interpretation and how it affected their lives, which further emphasises their restriction in american culture.
References
- Brookeman. C, Native american peoples of the united states, 1990, (website), http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/brookman.htm, (accessed 9th February 2017).
- Brown. D, Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, Great Britain, Barrie and Jenkins Ltd, 1971.
- Cozzens. P, The Earth is Weeping, Atlantic Books, 25 Oct. 2016, Available from: Google books (accessed 9th December 2016)
- Farb. P, ‘Indian Corn’, The New York Review of Books, 16 december 1971, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1971/12/16/indian-corn/, (accessed 09.02.17)
- Hartmann. C, 1969: ‘Indians of All Tribes’ group occupies Alcatraz Island, [website], 2011, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/520.html (accessed 08.12.16)
- Martin. D, ‘Dee Brown, 94, Author Who Revised Image of West’, The New York Times, 14 december 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/14/arts/dee-brown-94-author-who-revised-image-of-west.html, (accessed 29.03.17)
- Reed. C, ‘Writer who exposed the myth of the American west’, The Guardian, 17 december 2002, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/dec/17/guardianobituaries, (accessed 29.03.17)
- Sheppard. R.Z, ‘The forked tongue syndrome’, Time Magazine, 1 February 1971, http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909793,00.html?iid=sr-link5, (accessed 09.02.17)
- Woo. E, ‘Dee Brown, Historian Of American West, Indians’, Sun Sentinel, 14 december 2002, http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-12-14/news/0212140149_1_american-indians-american-west-troops-and-indian, (accessed 29.03.17)
- ‘Dee Brown, historian of the American west, died on December 12th, aged 94’, The Economist, 19 december 2002, http://www.economist.com/node/1503288#print, (accessed 29.03.17)
