>Are you interested in in info only regarding times after
>the "indian wars" or times before that?
I am covering everything, from prehistoric America through the
present. My main subject areas are entitled: Pre-Contact America;
The Age of Exploration; Columbus and First Contact; Pestilence;
Population; Ecological Impact; Geopolitical Impact; Indian and
Colonial Relations; The Indian Wars; and the 20th Century.
I was especially interested in the 20th century because it receives
the least amount of coverage in the textbooks. However, I am interested
in all time periods.
>Also, what has your study shown about other tribes besides the ones
>in the west?
>It seems to me that most people identify indians as: All chasing buffalo,
>living in nomadic houseing, wearing feathers and on horse back with a
>bow and arrow. That is they all look like Lakota/Apachie/Hopi type
>indians. How many history books talk about the tribes of the
>east that were farmers, lived in huts, had orginized trade and social
>lives.. Books I've seen tend to make all indians look like the
>hollywood type..
They are getting better about covering Indians from all of the major
groups. In addition to analysing the currently used textbooks, I am also
looking at textbooks going back to 1965. The older textbooks do not cover
the different groups and tend to start with Columbus. However, the
currently used textbooks usually devote at least one chapter, sometimes
more, to pre-contact America. They all discuss farming, but then often
fail to mention the geopolitical impact that Indian crops had on the
world after the 1492 encounter. Almost all of the textbooks do devote
more coverage to Plains Indians, and the "hunting buffalo on horses"
aspect of the culture, than to any other group.
Alison Clement
clementa@guvm.georgetown.edu