In an effort to raise the SCAD student body’s interest in anthropology, Sara Brandon, Ph.D., presented a lecture April 23 on the stereotypes of American Indian women in Brazil.
“Images are very powerful,” she said at the beginning of the lecture. “Images usually can sum up a group of people and raise assumptions about them, in turn influencing the laws that are going to affect their lives.”
Brandon completed her doctoral research in Brazil at the University of Campinas, where she studied anthropology, indigenous studies and visual imagery. Upon returning to the U.S., she has devoted a large portion of her time to re-evaluating the identity of indigenous women.
The first portion of her lecture involves the examined the various indigenous women archetypes created by European colonizers. These archetypes include the princess, the mother figure, the amazon, the squaw and the witch.
Because the majority of colonial activities interacted with the male population, she said, women largely were typecast within these molds, along with superficial qualities of the single-minded, like virginal virtue or pagan danger and tormentors.
“These qualities could be seen in their skin tones,” Brandon said. “If the figure is a virtuous princess type who would want to have sex with the colonials, then she would be represented with fair complexion. If, and especially in Brazil, certain savage qualities are depicted, such as cannibalism, it would be the dark dangerous seducer females depicted that caused it.”
Brandon also discussed the Pocahantas and Irecema, both viewed a the model “mother figures” in various nations.
“They represent of course conquest, the untamed princess of the land, and their bonds with the settlers represented the identity of the new nation,” she said. “Pocahontas for America and Irecema for Brazil.”
Near the end of her lecture, Brandon presented several examples of the stereotypes of the American Indians in print media.
First was the generic pinup of a supposed American Indian damsel, Brandon pointed out. Then there was the Brazilian Playboy cover that featured a nude female Amazonian with body paints, which caused controversy within the American Indian communities. She also described a special division of Brazilian government that launches expeditions into native territories when the locals have not been productive.
“Images affect how they are viewed and the laws that control their lives,” Brandon said.
In a post-lecture interview, Brandon explained her reasons for giving the lecture.
“I chose to challenge the European-centric preconceived notion because of my mixed heritage,” Brandon said. “And after looking through the situation of the native population in Brazil, I realized that much of the way the government put forth bills is still based on the legacy of these constructed preconceived notions. I did my thesis on this topic because I wish to deconstruct, and accurately reconstruct these perceptions so these women wouldn’t be simplified.”