INDS207: Indigeneity in the Contemporary World

MODULE TWO: “OBJECTS OF FASCINATION AND FEAR”

Key Concepts

1. Representation

§ What do we mean by “representation”? § What are “regimes of representation”? Why are they significant? § What are “paradigms”? § What key paradigms have shaped our representation of Indigenous people?

2. The Concept of “Essentialism”

§ What is “essentialism”? § Why do you think colonial discourses relied and perpetuated essentialisms? § What are some of the “essentialist” ideas that have, and continue, how Indigenous

people are depicted?

3. Stereotypes

§ What are stereotypes and why are they significant? § Is there are difference between “typing” and “stereotyping”? § How is the stereotyping of Indigenous people “essentializing”; “reductionist” and

“naturalising”?

4. Edward Said and “Orientalism”

§ What is the central theme that underpins Edwards Said’s Orientalism? § What is “Orientalism”? § What does Said say about the nature of Western representations of the non

Western world?

§ What are some of the underlying assumptions of Orientalist discourse?