Native America Persists

Pocahontas versus Trump

Bibliographic Data

ID12890233
AuthorsEllen W Gorsevski (0000-0001-6793-1211, Bowling Green State University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume13
Issue2
Pages160-175
Publication date2018-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Multicultural Discourses (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-7143 • E-ISSN: 1747-6615
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17447143.2018.1493112
OpenAlexW2844157468
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

This essay explores Pocahontas as a polysemic symbol of multiculturalism in the US. Such critique supports decolonizing by illuminating normalizing processes refashioning Indigenous people past and present within masculinized whiteness narratives that dominate the US's current political climate. President Trump's repetition of Pocahontas as slur presents an opportunity to theorize possible ways white supremacist memes invoke colonial myths, inviting intersectional silencing through associatively equating Pocahontas, via synecdoche, with Senator Warren as representative of women in progressive politics. I problematize my standpoint as a white scholar with a matrilineal family narrative linkage to Pocahontas. Indigenous histories, bodies and voices may be variously represented by synecdoche in simultaneously positive and negative ways through polysemy. Exploring her mythic role as peacebuilder and multicultural heroine indicates possibilities for agency of those identified with her within multicultural discourses

Agency (philosophy · Art · Indigenous · Linguistics · Literature · Multiculturalism · Mythology · Narrative · Patriarchy · Political science · Politics · Postcolonialism (international relations · Social science · Sociology · Synecdoche · White (mutation · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gender Studies · Law · Modern American Literature Studies · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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