The rhetorical strategy of victimization in Sioux rhetoric from 1866 to 1883.
A popular image of the Native American in the minds of many white Americans from colonial times through the nineteenth century was that of an uncivilized and heathen inhabitant of the North American continent. As the American colonies expanded into the United States of America, the Native American was displaced and became the target of civilization programs which aimed to eradicate Native American culture, and replace it with the civilized and Christian culture of the Americans. The Sioux represent one example of the cultural genocide that faced all Native Americans. When informing white audiences about their cultural crisis, the Sioux presented themselves as victims of circumstance. Their strategy involved replacing the image of the Sioux as savages with an image of the Sioux as moral human beings who have been victimized by the ambitious, inhumane, and unjust actions of the white culture.
Dakota Indians -- Crimes against., Indians, Treatment of -- United States., Rhetoric.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations