Some art has been read’ thoroughly’ to notice’ cultural biases coming through,’ U. A teacher from North Dakota says
A professor of history at the University of North Dakota who studies the American West thinks that monuments that depict the explorers “reinforce light supremacy.”
In an interview this week with KJZZ Phoenix, Cynthia Prescott ( pictured ) discussed her research on pioneer monuments, including a book that argues the artwork promotes” white cultural superiority” and “gender stereotypes”.
Much like with Confederate statues, the doctor said America may re-examine painting honoring American colonists.
” Many people have mentioned Confederate monuments in certain as being statues constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to enshrine a racist order. And through my work, I make the case that American pioneer landmarks were producing very similar social work,” she told KJZZ.
Prescott, who is in charge of the department’s background and American Indian reports, claimed that the purpose of forerunner monuments was to “increase white power over people of color.”
” And they, in particular, were addressing so-called light society in contrast to native’ cruelty’, and seeing white as being superior to the aboriginal individuals they were displacing in the American West”, she said.
A few of the figures have been taken down, but many more exist, she said.
For instance, there was a San Francisco example that showed a Spanish preacher towering over a seated African man who appeared to be in a very submissive position. And a number of people found that picture to be very troubling, so the city decided to take down that section of the monument in 2018,” she said.
In some cases, but, she said the issues with such monuments may be simple and their goal must be read” properly” in order to see the” social prejudices coming through”.
Such is the situation with the 1990 memorial” Spirit of the Frontier” in Prescott, Arizona, she said.
According to what I can tell from written records, the author’s intention was to make this portrayal of both white colonists and the Yavapai people good.
” But, if you look closely, … the pioneer family is gazing forward, style of preparing to move forward into the future. She and her younger brother, and there’s a wagon wheel behind them, once, reinforcing this idea of progress and moving forwards, moving west.
” In contrast, the Yavapai lady is depicted gazing upward at the girl in her hands, which makes her appear less engaged in the future,” the doctor said.
At the University of North Dakota, Prescott’s key research emphasis is” sex in the American West, “according to her history.
She also is developing a” Reacting to the Past “role-playing classroom game to enable students to think about” whether to protect, travel, or eliminate San Francisco’s questionable Pioneer Monument, and how to reimagine that monument, “her biography states.
The pioneer monuments are just one more thing that academics have recently labeled as racist.
The College Fix recently published a list of 103 things higher education institutions declared as racist, including Dolly Parton’s free book program, evolutionary biology, and milk.
MORE: Liberal scholars provide a more frank discussion of what constitutes “racist” and” sexist.”
IMAGE: University of North Dakota, University of Oklahoma Press
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