Diversity in American Culture Midterm

Hegemony

Means dominance or leadership of one group over others. It describes how powerful groups shape ideas, values, and norms so that their worldview becomes accepted as “common sense”. This allows them to maintain control not just through force, but through influence. This belief—that anyone can succeed through hard work—has been widely accepted and promoted in U.S. culture, politics, and media. It encourages people to see economic inequality as a result of personal failure rather than unfair systems. By spreading this idea, those in power maintain control without using force—people accept the social order because they see it as natural or fair.

Wounded Knee

Refers to two connected events in Native American history. In 1890, US soldiers massacred over 250 Lakota people at Wounded Knee Creek, marking the violent end of the Indian wars. Then in 1973, the AIM movement occupied the same site to protest broken treaties and poor living conditions on reservations. Both events symbolize the long history of settler violence and Indigenous resistance in the US. Wounded Knee remains a powerful symbol of survival and the fight for Natives. 

“On Being Brought from African to America”

Short poem by Phillis Wheatley, who was the first ever published African American poet, thanking the experience of being brought from Africa to America in the middle passage, because she found enlightenment. While the poem appears to be thanking her captors for bringing her to Christianity, it subtly challenges the racist belief that Black people were inferior. 

American Indian Movement (AIM)

The American Indian Movement began in 1968 in Minneapolis to fight police violence and inequality against Native people. Influenced by the civil rights and black power movement, AIM worked to protect treaty rights, support tribal independence, and build pride in native culture. AIM members took over Wounded Knee, South Dakota, to protest government corruption and broken promises. The protest gained national attention and helped revive Native activism. AIM is important because it changed how Native Americans were seen by the public and government. 

Semiotics

The study of signs and texts, and can be described in semiotic situations when we try to make sense of our surroundings or interpret one aspect of our surroundings based on the signs of texts we see. Within this, there are the signifiers (physical signs) and signifieds (meanings). We care about this because all cultures have signs and symbols that communicate meaning.

Trope of the Vanishing Indian

Belief or trope that Native Americans are a disappearing race, and are just artifacts of a “bygone era” who cannot exist in the Modern American world. This trope is used to justify colonialism, and supports the myth of victimless settlement, which is the false narrative that Native Americans disappeared on their own. the trope’s power hides ongoing Native resistance and prescencse, which the American Indian Movement challenges.

Settler Colonialism

Aims to displace a population of a nation (often Indigenous people) and replace it with a new settler population. Rather than just exploiting resources, it aims to permanently take over the land and establish a new society. This may be enacted out by a variety of different means, but is usually based on genocide, violence, displacement, and colonialism. An example is Christopher Colombus, who settled in America and brought upon the displacement of Native Americans. Another example is in Avatar.

Trope of the Noble/Ignoble Savage

The noble savage is the idea of a peaceful Native American figure who is very attuned to nature and is uncorrupted by human progress. The Ignoble Savage is a stereotype that conceptualizes natives as blood thirty “savages” or cannibals. They are depicted as being devilish and non human. These tropes are harmful because then Indigenous peoples are viewed through these extreme views, and never seen as complex individuals. 

Eugenics

A set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population, historically by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or promoting those to be seen as superior to reproduce. An example of this is through the Native American Boarding Schools and also through the forced sterilization of Native women. 

“Make the Familiar Strange”

Means to question the everyday assumptions and cultural norms that may feel natural or universal to a culture. It challenges cultures to view their own culture through an outsider’s lens. One example of this is through the text read in class, “Body ritual among the Nacirema”, where the author is actually just describing American culture in a very weird way. The main lesson in this text is that we shouldn’t judge other cultures as “weird” because our own culture can sound that way too. 

Revolution (Protest vs Riot)

The difference between a protest and a riot often depends on who holds power and how society chooses to label acts of resistance. A protest is usually seen as peaceful and legitimate, while a riot is portrayed as violent, chaotic, and unjustified, even when both are responses to oppression. This distinction matters because calling something a “riot” can dismiss the real issues behind it, while labeling it a “protest” gives it moral weight. 

Declaration of Independence

Written in 1776 by the founding fathers, and was a document that declared the colonies free from Britain. This document claims that “all men are created equally”, even though the same men/society who wrote that upheld slavery, Indigenous removal, and basically excluding anyone who wasn’t a white male in their new society. 

White Nationalism

An ideology that defines the US as a nation for white people, rooted in the fear of racial diversity. It typically includes the belief that white people should maintain control over a nation or society and may reject multiculturalism, immigration, or the inclusion of non-white groups. White nationalists often use myths or selective versions of history to claim that white people are superior or should be separated from others. Example: Colombus

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

Nat Turner was an enslaved black man in 1831 in Virginia who led an uprising/religious rebellion against his slave owners/white people in general. He recruited other slaves, and ended up killing 50-60 people, including women and children. The aftermath of this rebellion was a brutal retaliation by terrified slaveholders—slave laws became stricter, African Americans weren’t allowed to be educated anymore, etc. 

Colombus Day

A US holiday that commerates Christopher Colombus, an explorer who was credited on discovering America. This holiday was originally celebrated to celebrate national pride and help show that Italian immigrants were loyal Americans. The holiday became a symbol of unity and patriotism. Over time, though, people began to recognize Colombus differently. They now see it as a reminder of colonization, violence, and the suffering and displacement of Native Americans that began after Colomubus’s arrival. Today, Colombus Day is controversial because it represents both immigrant pride and the harm caused by colonialism. (Example: statues)

Normal Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms”

Artist Normal Rockwell painted the “4 Freedoms” series, inspired by Franklin Roosevelt’s speech outlining four basic freedoms: the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These paintings show idealizied, white, middle class Americans living out these values. It revealed who was excluded from that vision of patriotism and unity—> Black Americans, women, and the poor, minorities, etc. 

Reparations

Efforts to repair the harm caused by slavery, segregation, and other injustices through compensation or acknowledgement. The goal of reparations is not only to repay what was lost, but to also restore dignity, promote healing, and create a more just and equal society. However, reparations are hard to do because whites will argue that, “We didn’t do that, that was my ancestors”. Also questions like, “where will that money come from?” “how much do we give to these people” “how do we decide who gets the money”, etc. 

Structural Violence

Harm caused by social systemic systems or institutions that limit people’s access to resources, safety, healthcare, etc. It is often invisible, and is built into social, political, or economic systems. It shows up through inequality, poverty, racism, sexism, or lack of access to healthcare, education, or housing. These systems quiety cause suffering or shorten lives, not because of one person’s actions, but because the structure itself is unjust. (Example: underfunding of schools, slavery, unequal healthcare)