Native American Media

Overview

The history of media produced by Native Americans is much longer than the national history of the United States. Songs, dances, and games all preserve and convey cultural history and knowledge. Textual media have been produced by Native American artists, journalists, and writers, some of these texts have been collected by Lobo, Talbot and Carlston (2016) in a compilation that celebrates the many different types of writing by Native American authors.

A great deal of media is generated for consumption by Native Americans, produced by the government, by health and social service officers, by missionaries, and other groups with special interest in Native American communities. Native Americans have long been a feature in non-Native literature, and white artists, such as Jamake Highwater, have even been known to adopt Native American personas to be perceived as Native writers, actors, and so on. Native Americans generally find the way they have been portrayed in historic and contemporary mass media to be problematic and often objectionable. Dependent on cultural stereotypes and historical inaccuracies, such portrayals are frequently deeply insulting to Native American histories, traditions, and communities. There are many Native American communities in the United States, some living on reservations and some in other areas away from reservations. These communities speak a wide range of languages and possess a variety of traditions, and media produced by Native Americans are as various and distinct as the regions, tribes, and life experiences of the individual artist.

There are many examples of media produced by Native Americans for the communities. Some early examples of this media are boarding school newspapers. For example, Emery (2017) has studied the way that Native American women editors and writers working in 1880 published monthly newspapers at reservation boarding schools in Oklahoma. According to Emery’s research, Native American girls attending these boarding schools provided critical assessment of their school, their opinions, and the changes their communities were undergoing. These newspapers have since been archived and provide an important body of literature and insight into the experiences of Native American students, families, and communities.

Examples exist across the spectrum of artists, radio producers, television channels and authors from Native American communities. There are several platforms and conglomerations that work to publish these authors’ and producers’ work. For example, The Native Public Media collects and links coverage about many communities across the United States and Canada. They also provide training under the title “media justice” to encourage citizens to participate in community journalism as a way to differentiate from the mass media of American society at large and produce more relevant coverage. Similarly, the Native American Journalists Association works to support and empower journalists from across many different Native American communities. In addition to providing resources for journalists, they give annual awards for the best journalism in a range of publications from student newspapers to professional reporting. These organizations support the development of Native American journalists as a way to overcome the biases of mass media. Establishing local journalists is also a way to ensure that Native American issues are covered in the media. Often mass media outlets will not cover local news, especially local news for communities that are deemed to be too small or too remote to be worth covering. Major mass media outlets often ignore these communities because reporting on them will not generate revenue or enough consumer attention. However, local journalists are already interested in local events, and are often engaged in reporting about the changes, difficulties, and successes that their communities are experiencing.

Further Insights

The many difficulties that Native American communities face in regards to media and representation have prompted a diversity of attempts to address and respond to both immediate problems and the cultural or political circumstances that lead to those problems. For example, in Alaska, teachers and mental health facilitators have worked with focus groups of students to discuss problems and concerns regarding discussion on social media. These facilitators are primarily concerned with the ways that teenagers are encountering negative portrayals of Native Americans on social media platforms, and the effects of those negative portrayals on the mental health of community teenagers (Gritton et al. 2017).

One way in which communities have attempted to work with the teenagers, and build their confidence is through role playing video games (Schlag, 2018). These games aim to educate students about their traditional cultural, respect for the community, lessons that can be learned from elders, and give hope for the future. Many of these lessons were traditionally transmitted through Native American communities through sets of games, rituals, events, and family traditions. While some of these practices continue, others have been lost, often by force as children were required to attend boarding schools which prohibited the speaking of traditional languages and the practicing of community rituals and religions. Through cultural lessons and games, it is hoped that children will feel more comfortable and confident in their culture and grow into more successful and happy adults. For example, the game Never Alone has been designed for Iñupiaq to better understand the culture. This game is based on traditional stories and follows a young girl and her fox through a series of adventures, discussions about the environment, and engagement with natural spirits. This game hinges on the interest in video games which has already been established among community teenagers. The script and musical score for the award-winning game were created with the help of community members, including elder storytellers, musicians, songwriters, and artists. Since its release in 2014, this game has been referenced as an example of community made media that positively and accurately represents the traditions of Native Alaskans while also utilizing new media and technology.

Some community programs work with elders to compile texts, interviews, and documents that discuss the hardships and successes of Native American communities. Day (2014) provides a detailed account of the need for this type of work, but also the problems inherent in the recording and transmission of histories. According to Day, many communities value the transmission of information from elders directly to community members, often choosing to give information or tell stories at precisely the right moment in order to have a lasting effect, teach a lesson, or resolve a debate. These transmissions almost always occur face to face, allowing the elder to frame the message and story to directly meet the needs of the listener. Elders hold great power and respect in this role as community historians and gatekeepers to community information. Publishing community histories and information, therefore, disrupts the traditional practice of information transmission. It also allows members of other groups to have unfettered access to community information. For these reasons, many communities have resisted attempts to produce written records of their histories, or they have produced written records but will not share those with people from outside the community.

Some information, however, is actively sought from Native American authors and scholars. For example, it is argued that for educators, social service providers, and others working in and with Native American communities to do their jobs effectively, they must have access to some information regarding the history. Sarche, Tafoya, Croy and Hill (2017) indicate that there are few articles discussing child rearing and early childhood education among Native American communities. These authors suggest that producing this type of information would allow doctors to better work with families to assure the health of their children. Additionally, researchers have discussed the need to record the recent history of Native American communities. Much of this information relates to the ways that children were treated in boarding schools and the traumas that they faced at that time. Only recently have books and museums begun to address these issues. For example, Lomawaima and Cantley (2018) reviewed the exhibit at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. They found that the exhibit, which first opened in 2000 prompted discussion of boarding schools and demonstrated the importance of engaging in more and deeper discussions and publications in the future. This exhibit also worked to educate members of the local community who are not Native Americans about the traumas experienced by Native American schoolchildren. This conversation is hoped to have wide-ranging implications, from ensuring that contemporary schools work better to ensure safe conditions for and respectful treatment of Native children, to helping provide services needed by adults who suffered traumatic childhoods in these schools.

Issues

Portrayals of Native American communities and individuals in the wider mass media remain problematic. As Leavitt, Covarrubias, Perez, and Fryberg (2015) argue, Native American communities are often portrayed as being frozen in time. These portrayals occur when Native Americans are shown wearing old-fashioned or tattered clothing, are only featured speaking in slightly non-understandable ways, are shown having difficulty using contemporary technologies, or otherwise depicted as not fully fitting into contemporary society. Such representations are disheartening to Native American communities that view them as demeaning and know them to be false. Further, viewers who are not Native American and have no personal experience with Native communities may be mislead by such stereotypical depictions. Officials who are accustomed to such tropes as Native Americans being frozen in time, may expect that those images are true and acquire the biases embedded in mass media. All of these problems may result in challenges such as poor social services, inferior treatment in a doctor’s office, or difficulty pressing cases in court.

In 2018, a white parent visiting the Colorado State University reported two Native American teenagers, who were part of the same tour group, to campus police, because the teens looked “creepy” to her. No specific fault was found with their behavior, except that they were “quiet,” but the reason given for calling the police was the caller’s conviction that the boys “did not belong” on the campus. This example of racial profiling finds its roots in both racism and in the expectation that Native Americans are frozen in time and do not belong on university campuses. In response to events such as this, schools and universities are tasked with educating their students about the complexities of Native American culture, history, and the portrayal of Native American communities in contemporary media.

Native American media asserts Native voices against a mass media backdrop in which prejudiced, unfounded, and hostile tropes and stereotypes are deeply rooted and even cherished by generations of Americans. As part of this, Native American communities are demanding that they be informed about and equal participants to media that informs on environmental problems facing their communities. Often, reporters will write about Native American communities, but will not bring copies of those reports back to the community. Or, they will report from a distance and not consult with any members of the community. A report that does not include any Native American consultants in the footnotes or credits calls itself into question, especially when it fails to recognize the omission. This omission perpetuates two harmful misconceptions: that Native American community members need not be consulted, and that Native American communities do not care about or do not have the skills to evaluate environmental problems. For example, More and Lathorn (2017) found that Native American communities in Washington State are often not consulted in media coverage of environmental problems, thus excluding Native experts and stakeholders from the process of finding effective and equitable solutions to problems that significantly affect them.

Bibliography

Baldwin, D. W. (2022, October 10). Analysis: How Indigenous languages can be preserved, and why those efforts help revitalize culture. Public Broadcasting System. www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/analysis-how-indigenous-languages-can-be-preserved-and-why-those-efforts-help-revitalize-culture

Day, P. A. (2014). Tradition keepers: American Indian/Alaska Native elders. Social Issues in Contemporary Native America: Reflections from Turtle Island, 143.

Emery, J. (2017). Mining boarding school newspapers for Native American women editors and writers. American Periodicals: A Journal of History & Criticism, 27(1), 11–15.

Gritton, J., Rushing, S. C., Stephens, D., Dog, T. G., Kerr, B., & Moreno, M. A. (2017). Responding to concerning posts on social media: Insights and solutions from American Indian and Alaska Native youth. American Indian & Alaska Native Mental Health Research: The Journal of the National Center, 24(3). Retrieved January 1, 2019 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=126781468&site=ehost-live

Keene, A. (2015). Representations matter: Serving Native students in higher education. Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity, 1(1), 102–109.

Leavitt, P. A., Covarrubias, R., Perez, Y. A., & Fryberg, S. A. (2015). “Frozen in time”: The impact of Native American media representations on identity and self‐understanding. Journal of Social Issues, 71(1), 39–53. Retrieved December 23, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=101557335&site=ehost-live

Lobo, S., Talbot, S., & Carlston, T. M. (2016). Native American voices. (3rd ed.) Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Lomawaima, K. T., & Cantley, J. (2018). Remembering our Indian school days: The boarding school experience: A landmark exhibit at the Heard Museum. Journal of American Indian Education, 57(1), 22–29. Retrieved January 1, 2019 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=131535593&site=ehost-live

Moore, E. E., & Lanthorn, K. R. (2017). Framing disaster: News media coverage of two Native American environmental justice cases. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 41(3), 227–249. Retrieved January 1, 2019 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=123662372&site=ehost-live

Nielsen. (2020, Nov. 20). Invisible no more: The rise of Native American power in media. www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/infographic/2020/invisible-no-more-the-rise-of-native-american-power-in-media/

Sarche, M., Tafoya, G., Croy, C. D., & Hill, K. (2017). American Indian and Alaska Native boys: Early childhood risk and resilience amidst context and culture. Infant Mental Health Journal, 38(1), 115–127. Retrieved December 23, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=120660180&site=ehost-live

Schlag, J. (2018). Surviving the colonial blizzard: The Alaskan Native game never alone as a walkthrough in cultural resistance. Virtual Dark Tourism: Ghost Roads, 247–264.