Good Words
Chief Joseph and the Production of Indian Speech(es), Texts, and Subjects
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2733653 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas H Guthrie, Thomas Guthrie (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 509-546 |
| Publication date | 2007-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnohistory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0014-1801 • E-ISSN: 1527-5477 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00141801-2007-005 |
| OpenAlex | W2156690011 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 38 |
Chief Joseph, who gained fame during the Nez Perce War of 1877, is one of the best-known Indian orators in American history. Yet the two principal texts attributed to him were produced under questionable circumstances, and it is unclear to what extent they represent anything he ever said. This essay examines the publication history of these texts and then addresses two questions about the treatment of Indian oratory in the nineteenth century. First, given their uncertain provenance, how and why did these texts become so popular and come to represent Indian eloquence and an authentic Native American voice? Second, what was the political significance of Indian speech and texts of Indian oratory in the confrontation between Euro-Americans and Indians over land? I argue that the production and interpretation of Indian speech facilitated political subjugation by figuring Indians as particular kinds of subjects and positioning them in a broader narrative about the West. The discursive and political dimensions of the encounter were inseparable, as Indian "eloquence" laid the way for Indian defeat. I conclude by advocating a disruptive reading of Indian oratory that rejects the belief that a real Indian subject lies behind these texts in any straightforward sense. To make this argument, I draw on linguistic anthropology and critical theory, analyzing firsthand accounts, newspaper reports, and descriptions of Indian speech and Nez Perce history
Argument (complex analysis · Art · Direct speech · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Sociology · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History · Law · Media, Communication, and Education · Philosophy · Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Eloquence is power
Democratic eloquence
The Voice in the Margin
Declaring Independence
The Spoken Word and the Work of Interpretation
On Ethnographic Allegory
On Ethnographic Allegory
The white man's Indian
Orality and Literacy
Literature of the American Indian
The Sixth Grandfather
Literature of the American Indians
The White Man's Indian
Indian Oratory
Nez Perce Summer, 1877
For those Who Come after
The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest
Contemporary Reinvention of Chief Seattle
Recovering the Word
Native American Verbal Art
The White Man's Indian
I Have Spoken
The Sixth Grandfather
Remembering Chief Seattle
Answering Chief Seattle
Children of Grace
Paradise and the Noble Savage in Jeffersonian Thought
I Will Fight No More Forever
The Noble Eloquent Savage
Good Words
Chief Joseph, Yellow Wolf and the Creation of Nez Perce History in the Pacific Northwest
For Those Who Come After
In vain I tried to tell you
Poetics and Performances as Critical Perspectives on Language and Social Life
An Approach to Native American Texts
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,16 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2025 (19) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |