Texte remanié de: Diss. / Bibliogr. p. 227-243. Index.

My dissertation, "The Princess Production: Locating Pocahontas in Time and Place," critically evaluates the succession of representations of Pocahontas since her death in 1617. Pocahontas has become the prototypical "Indian Princess," through which the indigenous "other" is mapped onto Eurocentric constructions of gender and race, and subsequently transformed into the object of desire to be colonized. Chapter One begins with an introduction to the Pocahontas myth, and continues with an overview of the representation of Native Americans in cinema. Given that Native Americans have been the subject of the romanticization of the passing frontier, then the image of Pocahontas, standing in for the gendered "virgin" frontier, has been problematically used to represent American nationhood. In the second chapter, I investigate the commodification of the image of Pocahontas, by way of a critical assessment of Disney's Pocahontas (1995). Due to its extreme popularity and plethora of commercial tie-ins, this animated film was able to cement mainstream attitudes of Native Americans and especially of indigenous women. Critical discussion, however, was ameliorated through "politically correct" associations of Indians with ecological balance and moral purity versus European decadence. I analyze the symbolic association of Pocahontas with nature in Chapter Three, particularly in Terence Malick's recent film The New World (2005), where this association is most blatant. Malick has been heavily influenced by such philosophers as Martin Heidegger, and his resulting romantic and pantheistic vision clouds gender difference and racial antagonism. The image of Pocahontas in The New World, therefore, simply becomes a signifier for the grand impersonal workings of Nature. Finally, in Chapter Four, I discuss attempts by indigenous writers and groups to reappropriate Pocahontas for Native Americans, and I conclude that this is of strategic importance for transforming Indian identity. Since the image of Pocahontas has played such a large role in the shaping of mainstream attitudes and government policy toward Native Americans, then retrieving it from its colonial legacy will go a long way toward preserving Indian culture and identity in the future.

Pocahontas High School, the smallest of four Tazewell County high schools, is presently located in the historic town of Pocahontas, Virginia. From the school's establishment in 1908 until 1955, the high school was located at the top of Water Street within the town limits. In 1955, students were moved to a new building at its present site just inside the town's corporate limits. The school today serves the communities of Abbs Valley, Boissevain, and the Town of Pocahontas, Virginia. This study included an examination of the role of the school in the mining community, and the relationship between the coal company and the school. Thus, the researcher reviewed literature-surrounding life in mining industrial towns to determine whether Pocahontas conformed to the conventional interpretations of such mining-industrial communities. The researcher also considered the life of the school and community following the cessation of mining operations in Pocahontas. An examination of the reasons for the school having remained open despite declining enrollment and the importance of the school to its communities was examined through the eyes of local community leaders, residents, and graduates of Pocahontas High School. This study employed conventional historical research methods in order to document the history of Pocahontas High School. The data collected from documents and interviews were handled qualitatively, with some data appearing in the form of numbers and graphs. Data gathered for this study were derived from both primary and secondary sources. This study used written, pictorial, and oral sources. Oral materials included oral history interviews with local historians, public officials and individuals involved with Pocahontas High School during the period of study. Triangulation verification techniques were used to accurately describe the impact of coal mining and the closing of the mine on the development, growth, and decline of the school and community. / Ed. D.

Both the natural and civilized worlds establish a context within which I may understand my own existence. My search for “self” and the emotive qualities of life within these contexts provides the impetus for my work. I create juxtapositions: from found art assemblages to, more recently, intimate experiences in public park environments. Within these curated experiences I challenge myself to open up to unknown experiences derived from my relationship to the landscape and the life forms found within. My videos are a kind of self-surveillance fostering absurdly promiscuous behavior when I am alone, in front of a camera. These conjured “secret acts” appear to exist within a realm of magic, science fiction or spirituality. They are sincere attempts at socialization, which more accurately convey the ineffective, naive and pathetic tenderness of a rookie’s efforts.

This thesis details the labors of research and judgment that informed the writing of Matoaka, a Play in Three Acts. Specifically, the thesis explores the historical puzzles surrounding the life of Pocahontas and justifies the decisions made in dramatizing her life in the aforementioned play. Non-fictional works of the last four hundred years are considered, as well as popular dramatic performances of the nineteenth century. These works are examined closely in order to reveal the Pocahontas story as a point of contact between many concurrent social discourses. Reflections are also offered on the production of the aforementioned play and its reception in Petersburg, Virginia, in April and May of 2007. Finally, the production script of the play itself is offered as an appendix

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Washington State University, May 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-192).

Historical narratives and anecdotes concerning Captain John Smith have been told and retold throughout the entire history the United States of America, and they have proved to be sacred, influential, and contested elements in the construction of the individual, sectional, regional, and national identity of many. In this thesis, I first outline some of the history of how narratives and discourses surrounding Captain John Smith were directly connected with the identity of many Americans during the 18th and 19th century, especially Virginians and Southerners. Then I outline how these narratives and discourses from the 18th and 19th centuries have continued and evolved in the 20th and 21st centuries in American scholarship and popular culture. I demonstrate how Captain John Smith went from being used as a symbol for regional and sectional identity to a symbol for broader national American identity, and how he has anachronistically come to be considered an American. I then show how Captain John Smith has continued to be constructed, to a seemingly larger degree than previous centuries, as a hero of almost mythic proportions. Finally I demonstrate how this constructed American hero is used as a posterchild for various interest groups and ideologies in order to legitimize the places of certain discourses and behavior within constructed and contested American identities.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka förändringar som har skett mellan VirginiaWatsons bok, Indianprinsessan Pocahontas (1925) och Disneys utgåva av Pocahontas(1995). Det jag kommer att undersöka djupare är vad som tagits bort, respektive lagts till iromanen och bilderboken. Jag kommer även att jämföra böckernas karaktärer, miljöer ochgenrestruktur för att se vad som skiljer dessa åt. Studien kommer även att ta upp böckernasteman, där jag undersökt likheter och skillnader. Slutligen kommer studien även beröra endidaktisk del där jag diskuterar böckernas olika användningsområden i en undervisning. Idetta avsnitt berör jag de för- och nackdelar som skulle kunna förekomma vid användadet avdessa böcker inom utbildningssyfte.Jag har valt att göra en komparativ studie där resultatet har visat att Disneys utgåva(Pocahontas, 1995) valt att inte ta med delar av händelserna som är inkluderade i WatsonsIndianprinsessan Pocahontas (1925). En av de primära skillnaderna mellan böckerna ligger iatt den nyare utgåvan av Disney förvandlats till en kärlekshistoria där huvudkaraktärernadelar en mera intim relation. Medan det finns en stark relation mellan karaktärerna i Watsonsbok är den kärleksfulla sidan mellan parterna tämligen vag i jämförelse och en bidragandefaktor till detta ligger troligtvis i det faktum att det finns en stor ålderskillnad mellan dem.Eftersom böckerna är olika, kan de ha olika användningsområden i skolan. Disneys bilderbokkan ha betydelse då elever behöver utveckla sin analys och fantasiförmåga.Studien visar att Watsons bok stämmer in på vad forskare antyder om Pocahontas vid mångatillfällen, detta gör att boken skulle kunna användas i utbildningssyfte, för att få lär- ochkännedom om vem Pocahontas var.

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