"Primitive" Discourse: Aspects of Contemporary North American Indian Representations of the Irish and of Contemporary Irish Representations of North American Indians

Porter argues that Ireland's relationship with Native Americans and Native America's relationship with Ireland, particularly at the level of imagery and representation, is more complex than contemporary creative and critical work has tended to suggest. While the voices from Native America...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American studies (Lawrence) 2008-10, Vol.49 (3/4), p.63-85
Main Author: Porter, Joy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American Indians
Articulation
Colonialism
Creativity
Culture
Imagery
International relations-US
Irish culture
Irish famine
Irish history
Irish literature
Irish politics
Native American dance
Native Americans
Native North Americans
Postcolonial literature
Stereotypes
United States history
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Summary:Porter argues that Ireland's relationship with Native Americans and Native America's relationship with Ireland, particularly at the level of imagery and representation, is more complex than contemporary creative and critical work has tended to suggest. While the voices from Native America or Ireland that represent or refer to each other are small in number, their articulation is often powerful. Furthermore, they unlock a series of representational issues that are important to how each national entity or in the American Indian context, group of sovereign national entities, views itself within the postcolonial world. He presents evidence to show that both Irish cultures and American Indian cultures have tended routinely to see each other through a cracked mirror, one reflective of colonial stereotype rather than the historical record.
ISSN:0026-3079
2153-6856
2153-6856
DOI:10.1353/ams.2010.0020