Childhood Indians: Television, Film and Sustaining the White (Sub)Conscience - Paperback

by Raul S. Chavez (Author)

Using race theory, film studies, colonialist and post-colonialist literature, while studying a cross-section of cinematic Indian depictions in westerns aired over the past seven decades, Raul Chavez has sought to explain how the western film genre have influenced viewers, in particular the Baby-Boomer generation of the 1950s, '60s and '70s to internalize the misrepresented movie depiction of Indians as representative of the real "Indian." These Indian depictions, his "childhood Indians," sustain the subliminally accepted white supremacist imagery that deny Natives their rightful place in American society. The White (sub)Conscience allows Americans to continue to assault Native sovereignty and self-determination as a result of anachronistic misrepresentations of "Indian," Americans accept as genuine. The White (sub)Conscience has institutionalized the "childhood Indian" perception of Natives, ensuring that a subsequent generation of Americans will recognize the white supremacist concept of "Indian." This work will assist in developing a critical analysis of contemporary America, recognizing related institutionalized race themes, and raising more questions that can contribute to understanding the harmful effects of this behavior and forming concepts to remedy this harmful national canon.

Author Biography

The author holds a PhD in Native American History, from the University of California, Riverside, in addition to a Master's Degree in Chicano History from California State University, Los Angeles. The author is a professor of history at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California. He is the director of the Native American History program for the college. The memories of playing with his toy soldiers and Indians as a child and his inability let the Indians win play a role in is decision to research and write "Childhood Indians."