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Social Science Native American Studies

The Imaginary Indian

The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture

by (author) Daniel Francis

Publisher
Arsenal Pulp Press
Initial publish date
Jan 1992
Category
Native American Studies
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780889782518
    Publish Date
    Jan 1992
    List Price
    $21.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781551524252
    Publish Date
    Oct 2011
    List Price
    $23.95

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Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 15
  • Grade: 10

Description

Now entering a seventh printing, and with over 18,000 copies sold, The Imaginary Indian is a fascinating, revealing history of the "Indian" image mythologized by popular Canadian culture since 1850, propagating stereotypes that exist to this day.
Images of the Indian have always been fundamental to Canadian culture. From the paintings and photographs of the nineteenth century to the Mounted Police sagas and the spectacle of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; from the performances of Pauline Johnson, Grey Owl, and Buffalo Long Lance to the media images of Oka and Elijah Harper--the Imaginary Indian is ever with us, oscillating throughout our history from friend to foe, from Noble Savage to bloodthirsty warrior, from debased alchoholic to wise elder, from monosyllabic "squaw" to eloquent princess, from enemy of progress to protector of the environment.
The Imaginary Indian has been, and continues to be--as Daniel Francis reveals in this book--just about anything the non-Native culture has wanted it to be; and the contradictory stories non-Natives tell about Imaginary Indians are really stories about themselves and the uncertainties that make up their cultural heritage. This is not a book about Native people; it is the story of the images projected upon Native people--and the desperate uses to which they are put.
The Imaginary Indian is an essential title for aboriginal studies in Canada.
Now in its 7th printing.

About the author

Daniel Francis is an historian and the author/editor of more than twenty books, including five for Arsenal Pulp Press: The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture , National Dreams: Myth, Memory and Canadian History, LD: Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver (winner of the City of Vancouver Book Award), Seeing Reds: The Red Scare of 1918-1919, Canada's First War on Terror and Imagining Ourselves: Classics of Canadian Non-Fiction. His other books include A Road for Canada, Red Light Neon: A History of Vancouver's Sex Trade, Copying People: Photographing British Columbia First Nations 1860-1940, The Great Chase: A History of World Whaling, New Beginnings: A Social History of Canada, and the popular Encyclopedia of British Columbia. He is also a regular columnist in Geist magazine, and was shortlisted for Canada's History Pierre Berton Award in 2010. Daniel lives in North Vancouver, BC.

Daniel Francis' profile page

Editorial Reviews

Francis has done an amazing job of tracing down through Canadian history the perceptions . . . that the dominant culture had and has of this country's Aboriginal people.
-Drew Hayden Taylor

Books In Canada

Librarian Reviews

The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian In Canadian Culture

A scholarly but very readable work, The Imaginary Indian examines the image of the Canadian Aboriginal as constructed by non-Aboriginals. The author examines the product of the white imagination as it is (mis)represented in art, literature, history, film and advertising. Photographs and other archival material accompanying the text enhance the author’s arguments. This book provides a much-needed balance to well-meaning but stereotypical views of Aboriginal peoples. There are interesting insights on the work of such painters as Paul Kane, Edmund Morris and Emily Carr, as well as noted photographer and filmmaker Edward Curtis. The book also provides much biographical data on well-known Canadians, including the most famous imaginary Indian of all, Archie Bellamy, alias Grey Owl.

Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools. 2007-2008.

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