Department of Sociology 2010 Reitman/DeGrange Lecture Series Vincent J. Roscigno "Cultural Disjun...

Location:
Silsby 119

Contact:
Anne Ivey, 603-646-3995

Description:
In one of the most well-known episodes in American and Native American History, Wounded Knee, military troops converged and killed nearly 200 Sioux. Captured in newspaper coverage from New York to California, the Wounded Knee Massacre reflected decades- long hostilities and political and military repression of Native Americans in the U.S. and the confinement of indigenous people to life on reservations and/or Indian territories. In this talk, Vincent Roscigno takes the Wounded Knee Massacre and the Ghost Dance Movement that preceded it as a case in point to address fundamental sociological concerns pertaining to (1) the disjuncture between oppositional culture and hegemonic culture, and (2) the implications of such disjuncture for political repression and violence. His analyses, drawing from letter correspondence from the National Archives, centers on interpretations by the Sioux, military personnel, and politicians who interpret the oppositional culture they were witnessing first-hand. These materials and Roscigno's analysis of them contribute not only to historical understandings of the Native American experience, but rather and more broadly to fundamental sociological concerns centering on culture and inequality, and how political repression is legitimated. Originally submitted by: Anne F. Ivey