Settler Colonialism in U.S. Popular Media as Influencing Perceptions of Material Culture and Museum Ethics

The everyday person living in the United States does not first encounter ethics of material culture and collecting solely by visiting a museum. This MA Thesis seeks to look at how action-adventure "treasure-hunting" media introduces people to fields such as archaeology, anthropology, and museum studies through entertainment media. Frameworks of settler colonialism are used to understand the intentionality behind and subsequent impact of these films in a US-based context. Media effects theories of cultivation, framing, and agenda setting are also applied to understand how messages are facilitated through media such as the Indiana Jones (1981-2024), National Treasure (2004-2023), and "Outer Banks" (2020- ) franchises. The core aim for future thought and research is to understand how museums and filmmakers alike may more ethically and equitably represent people and material culture.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Material Culture and Public Humanities

Department dc:contributor.department

Material Culture and Public Humanities

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Patrick, Cara Rose

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Polanco, Dominique Elise

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ansell, Aaron
• Baniya, Sweta

• indiana jones
• settler
• colonialism
• national treasure
• cultivation
• outer banks

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:40850

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/119424