Mediated encounters: native Americans in Swedish-American newspapers and processes of cosmisation, 1857–1889

ABSTRACT

Much is known about Swedes in America, but little is known about the portrayals of Native Americans in Swedish-American newspapers. Considering their centrality in Swedish American settler communities, this article explores newspaper portrayals as processes of boundary construction. By utilizing the Eliadean concept of cosmisation it is shown how and argued that newspapers served as canvases for Swedes to articulate, contest, and negotiate the boundaries of valorized social orders. Therein, religion, civilization, and race were predominant themes. Processes of cosmisation also highlight mythological motifs manifested in the newspapers. Specifically, settlers and missionaries were mediated as culture heroes and initiators of cosmisation and cosmogony.

KEYWORDS:

• Boundary construction
• cosmisation
• Native Americans
• Swedish-American newspapers

Introduction

Swedes in America and their images of the New World constitute a multifaceted history; from Vikings arriving in “Vinland” and the myths thereof to the establishment of New Sweden on the Delaware in the seventeenth century; from early nineteenth-century travelogues to literary genres such as Indianböcker (“Indian books”) during the latter half of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth – not to mention a recently resurgent interest in the Kensington Runestone, propagated by Swedish actor Peter Stormare.¹ Historically, as well as contemporarily, America has occupied the Swedish imaginaire. Before the 1840s, however, the imagined possibilities of America did not pervade Sweden’s collective mentality. This started to change when early travellers and settlers sent letters home, depicting experiences and offering informative and encouraging material for the future prospects of migration.² These letters were often reprinted and circulated in Swedish newspapers, and various guidebooks began to be published in the 1840s and 1850s. Both could be read by many within the Swedish population due to the relatively high literacy of the country at that time.³ In effect, migration became a practical possibility.

Swedish American settlements tended to manifest in clusters with patterns often imitative of native Swedish contexts.⁴ Newspapers were educational, assimilative, and crucial in the formation of these communities.⁵ Assimilation did, however, vary in its rigour: some immigrants became more “Americanised” than others, and divergent voices spoke on the question of assimilation.⁶ Swedish American identities subsequently varied too. During early migration, religion served as the primary identity, especially for peasants, who largely distanced themselves from the Swedish state church. Individualistic Lutheran, pietist religion merged with Enlightenment progressivism and resulted primarily in the embracement of an American identity. After the Civil War, however, networks of Swedish and Scandinavian institutions laid the foundation for an incipient Swedish American identity.⁷ Much is known about these Swedes, but little is known of how they portrayed Native Americans. Such mediations were streamlined with the electric telegraph and, alongside intellectual, industrial, and economic developments, the nature of journalism and public information was forever changed.⁸ Considering the newspapers’ sociological implications in history, they constitute important materials in the study of settler communities.

Research on the Anglophone press’s portrayals of Native Americans is plentiful. Here, Native Americans were frequently stereotyped in favour of the idea of “Manifest Destiny” and the spread of Christian civilization, and events on the frontier were often sensationalized.⁹ Textual representations of Native Americans circulated in Sweden during the nineteenth century highlighted perceived collisions between nature and culture, embodied by Natives and settlers respectively. Natives were portrayed as dangerous, and settlers as struggling to survive when encountering the brutality of nature.¹⁰ Whether this literature had any impact on early Swedish migrants is nevertheless unclear.¹¹ Although current scholarship occasionally mentions Swedish-American and Scandinavian newspapers in relation to Native Americans, it does so very briefly and in passing.¹² Moreover, the perceived role of Sweden in the larger framework of Western colonialism has been explored from historiographical perspectives.¹³ Hitherto, no research has systematically investigated portrayals of Native Americans in Swedish-American newspapers.

Historian Gunlög Fur has advanced the idea of “a discourse of innocence” in Swedish settler-colonial history. The discourse asserted that migration, settlement, and the availability of land in America were disconnected from Indian removal and their “inevitable extinction.” Popular literature, in which the discourse occasionally manifested, instilled fear and notions of the Natives’ inevitable extinction in the minds of Swedes. These ideas were, according to Fur, brought over to America at the time of migration.¹⁴ Even though Fur’s discursive approach offers an understanding of how attitudes towards Native Americans may have arisen and been perpetuated in Swedish contexts, it neglects to theorize attitudes ensuing migration in contextually produced materials such as Swedish-American newspapers. Thus, the present article challenges Fur’s ideas accordingly: attitudes and opinions were not merely brought over the Atlantic. Rather, by highlighting the diversities in newspaper portrayals, it is argued and shown that attitudes and opinions were continuously negotiated in context. How Swedes perceived themselves in America, and in relation to Native Americans, were thus processual and the outcomes assorted. Nevertheless, in a complementary sense, predominant themes were present in the newspapers, which relate to and may thus be understood in terms of, a discourse of innocence.

The present article explores portrayals of Native Americans in the years between 1857 and 1889. By utilizing the Eliadean concept of cosmisation, the newspapers are treated here as mediums for boundary construction. It will be shown how mediations of various encounters with Natives could vary with regards to opinions and attitudes. Simultaneously, the themes of religion, civilization, and race were predominant. Thus, the article contributes to the understanding of Swedish American worldviews and how ethnoreligious relations were perceived and discussed in settler contexts. The article consequently argues that the newspapers served as canvases for Swedish Americans to articulate valorized social orders, manifested via processes of cosmisation. Relatedly, the present investigation reveals mythological motifs present in the stories mediated by the newspapers. In its entirety, this brings a new perspective to and deepens the knowledge of boundary construction in Swedish settler communities.¹⁵

Materials and method

The present study utilizes Swedish-American newspapers as its principal sources. These were digitized between 2013 and 2016 and are searchable and freely available via the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS).¹⁶ In selecting relevant newspaper pieces, multiple keywords have been applied due to the immensity of materials.¹⁷ These have ranged from designations of the Natives, such as “rödskinn” (redskins) and “indianerna” (the Indians), to religious practices such as “soldans” (Sun Dance) and “krigsdans” (War Dance). The primary demarcations thus concern the Natives and religion, which was a commonly used combination in discussions on Natives in relation to Euro-Americans.

Established in the wake of extensive migration from Sweden to America, especially from the 1850s onward, the newspapers were often circulated locally in the Swedish communities in America.¹⁸ Their political and religious stances varied over time and ranged from socialist to secular and from alliances with the labour movement to the Lutheran Augustana Synod.¹⁹ The earliest newspaper available at MNHS is from 1857 and, as such, that year constitutes this article’s point of departure. 1889 has been set as the endpoint of the investigation due to the appearance of the Ghost Dance movement and the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. These are phenomena that call for a detailed examination and have therefore not been treated in the present study. The findings presented here may instead serve as a contextual framework for future research treating these or other succeeding phenomena and/or periods.

As mentioned above, this article deploys newspapers as mediums for boundary construction. By establishing boundaries, the social position of a culture and/or an individual becomes manifest, as does their identities.²⁰ As such, boundaries may both reveal attitudes in a given society and offer a classificatory framework for the individual experience therein.²¹ Without boundaries potentiality entails and, from an emic perspective – from the insider’s perspective – potentiality is dangerous and powerful.²² Here, potentiality refers to that which is not structured according to boundaries. It is thus a characteristic of chaos. Correspondingly, boundaries are crucial for establishing categories and avoiding chaos and ambiguity. Overcoming ambiguities by way of boundary construction is therefore an important concern to the present study.

Of special interest here is the integration of the above with what historian of religions Mircea Eliade termed “cosmisation.” Broadly, cosmisation entails a move from chaos to cosmos and the creation of an “uninhabited” land anew.²³ This process is homologous to the foundation of the world – its creation – since cosmos, unlike chaos, is habitable and orientable.²⁴ A cosmos consequently entails structure. Chaos, on the other hand, is fluid and unknown until settled and cosmisised.²⁵ Permanent settlement is an undertaking that necessitates an investment in the existence of the community. Subsequently, it becomes necessary to “create” the world.²⁶ Constructions of boundaries and processes of cosmisation are therefore linked to the organization of the world and to cosmogony; a creation myth of how the universe came into existence. Myth, it should be noted, is understood here not as fictional storytelling, but as “a sacred story that founds and grounds a particular world.”²⁷ Furthermore, since mediation is tied to the construction of meaning,²⁸ it fundamentally interrelates to the nature of cosmisation. For purposes of the present article, then, cosmisation is understood to be mediated via the newspapers, which publicly carry and establish the boundaries of chaos and cosmos. Once publicly uttered, these boundaries may also become publicly negotiated and contested. Effectively, variations, as well as similarities in valorised social orders, may manifest through the newspapers.

An Eliadean schematic here offers multiple analytical benefits. It makes it possible to explore how existence was sought to be structured by Swedish settlers, via newspaper portrayals. Boundaries are necessary for the establishment of cosmos; who are “we,” and who are “they”? These questions were necessary to engage with in cosmisising the New World, and Native Americans had to be accounted for in processes of cosmisation. Hence, an understanding of how Native Americans were understood in relation to the orders being articulated becomes reachable. The theoretical onset thus enhances our understanding of ethnoreligious relations in processes of world-making. More generally, it offers a way of identifying mythological tendencies permeating human ventures, such as migration, colonialism, and ethnoreligious relations.

Portraying natives Americans, 1857–1889

Swedish Americans often wrote about Native Americans in the newspapers, portraying their traditions, describing various encounters with them, and discussing socio-political developments. It is not the purpose of this article to comparatively place the newspapers’ statements alongside “actual” events in order to determine the extent to which they offered accuracy or sensationalism. Nor is the analytical focus the specific identity of any given author or editor. Potential variations in the newspapers must nevertheless be recognized, and contextualization remains imperative. The journalistic venture is understood here as what historian of journalism James Carey designated as a process of world-making.²⁹ Thus, newspapers are mediators of, and arenas for, boundary constructions. Potential variations in the sources are primarily investigated at the textual level, where world-making partly takes place.³⁰

The past, the present, and processes of cosmisation

Newspapers published retrospective stories, reflecting upon perceived changes during the settlement of Europeans in America. These perceived changes are telling in that a “new” existence, brought on by Euro-Americans, was contrasted to a previously unstructured, chaotic state. On November 30, 1857, Minnesota Posten (“The Minnesota Post”), based in Red Wing, Minnesota, published a narration of a lecture by Reverend J.L. Seymore. Looking back to the 1830s, the text held that “few white people existed here at that time, [and that] the land was then a complete wilderness, […] dominated by the copper-colored sons of the forest.”³¹ Native Americans were said to have great religious potential, and could therefore become good Christians. However, “since the whites pushed their way in, since the land was bought by the government and brandy and misery came in among them,” missionary work had experienced challenges.³² Here, civilization – partly associated with liquor and misery – was differentiated from religious zeal, and largely seen as an obstacle to it. But, although “sin is abundant in every town, you see in the midst of these nests of sin one or more churches, stretching their spires upwards.”³³ The presence of churches in a landscape formerly characterized by wilderness thus had, decadence by alcohol, misery, and sin notwithstanding, a cosmisising effect. Seymore experienced the changes as “dreamlike” and, so it is asserted, “no ploughs or agricultural utensils existed in the entirety of Minnesota” before “he and his party […] had the honour of bringing [it] here.”³⁴

This initial example encircles a clear perceived move from chaos to cosmos. In a nostalgic manner, the story placed the determined first pioneers and missionaries at the centre of the enfolding civilization and as bringers of Christianity. Similarly, Gamla och Nya Hemlandet (“The Old and New Homeland”), based in Chicago, Illinois, published correspondence from Basa, Minnesota. The correspondent wrote about the general state of the area and a visit by Colonel Hans Mattson, one of the first Swedes to settle in Minnesota. He served as a colonel in the Union Army, travelled between Sweden and America, and symbolized the perceived success of Sweden in the New World.³⁵ The correspondence reflected this symbolic status: “with an ax on his shoulder [he] entered the former wilderness to chop the first tree for the first house in Basa.”³⁶ Continuing the discussion on change, the author stated that:

Where […] the wild Indian’s hut stood, now stands a temple of the Lord, filled up each Sunday by hearers, who send praise and thanks to him who guides everything. Where the wild herds grazed or where the Indian sought his prey the cattle of the assiduous farmer now stroll, and where the Indian War Dance was performed and wild howls echoed in the air, there one now sees the happy play of children around the overfilled schoolhouse.³⁷

Wilderness and civilization were clear opposites. War Dances, wild howls, and Indian huts were the opposites of schoolhouses, Sunday masses, and children playing. Spatial existence had become cosmisised due to the perceived structure introduced by mental-cultural boundaries such as churches and schoolhouses. These constituted parts of cosmos and civilization against which the Natives were contrasted. From the first example above, published in 1857, to the second in 1871, a third example is worth noting. In 1881, Minnesota Stats Tidning (“Minnesota State’s Newspaper”), then based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and co-founded by the aforementioned Hans Mattson, published a retrospective story set in Minnesota during the 1850s: “Invitingly, the neat temple rises on the height, surrounded by leafy, green oaks. The shining cross in the spire testifies that the word of the Reconciler is preached here.”³⁸ Following this effective opening, the area is described in a romantic fashion and a woman – one of the supposedly first settlers of the area “30 years ago” – is introduced and her memories reflected upon:

Ask here and she shall answer you, that the Indian cry and the howl of the wolf in the wild forests and impenetrable thickets were familiar sounds for the first settlers. No temple rose then in the tightly wooded heights. No deep tones of bells then called to worship of the one and true God, whose teaching was unknown in this district. No lush fields, no well-built houses met the eye; only smoky and untidy “wigwams”, and during the darkness and silence of the night the red settlers of the primeval forest could sometimes be seen around a big fire under fantastic gestures and frenetic cries performing their War Dances.³⁹

Here too, civilization and wilderness were opposites. The primeval forest, wigwams, and War Dances were contrasted to leafy oaks, lush fields, and churches. Via such stories, the newspapers mediated encounters with something qualitatively different.

What do these portrayals have in common? Primarily, they mediated stories of what was and what is; how the land and existence had become cosmisised. This process was initiated by the first settlers, who entered the unstructured and ambiguous chaos to turn it, with axes and plows, into a habitable cosmos. These were stories of creating the land anew and of cosmogony. The first settlers were thus understood as initiators of cosmisation and the subsequent possibilities of cosmos. Furthermore, all three stories mythologically portray individuals who embodied the roles of culture heroes: by leaving home, entering foreign lands, encountering arduous ordeals, and establishing something new.⁴⁰ Throughout, aspects associated with Native Americans manifest as clear opposites to the new, habitable cosmos.

Even though civilization and religion constituted the primary boundaries being mediated missionary work was, as shown above, restrained by some characteristics of civilization. Hence, the conceptual constituents of civilization need to be problematized. As shown by the first example, civilization was held to be in tension with Christian missions; as a carrier of sicknesses and decadence via alcohol. Thus, the boundaries regarding civilization and religion were contested and negotiated. Alternatively, in the last example, Christianity and churches made up crucial constituents of civilization. Tensions between the two notwithstanding, their characteristics were at least known; they constituted cultural points of orientation. Christianity, education, farming, houses, and lush fields were generally in opposition to unstructured and ambiguous War Dances, frenetic cries, wigwams, and primeval forests.

The autonomy of civilisation and the future of the native

Civilization was a central theme in the mediations of cosmisation. Furthermore, the newspapers’ boundary constructions highlight multiple prominent details in the understandings of civilization. These notions intersect with those of history and the Anthropocene. Nineteenth-century America was at the time, alongside much of the Western world, influenced by Enlightenment intellectual currents and new evolutionary ideas. The superiority of certain races and conceptions of human perfectibility, sometimes in combination with scriptural religion and nationalism, were prominent, albeit in varying combinations.⁴¹ Ideas of racial superiority were fuelled not least by Victorian anthropology and the emergence of social evolutionism, which asserted that humanity passes through stages; it was the “white man’s burden” to civilize primitive peoples. Evolutionism thus interconnected with and legitimized colonialism.⁴² Nationalism, which may be conceptualized as “an ideology which holds that cultural boundaries should correspond to political boundaries,” became increasingly prominent during and after the industrial era. It became a force for engagement in a new social system, beyond kin and locality, due to the increased geographical mobility following industrialization. Nationalism, unlike kinship ideology, gave rise to abstract imagined communities.⁴³ The newspaper contents suggest that these ideas were influential in Swedish American portrayals of Native Americans.

In 1873, Nordstjernan (“The North Star”), based in New York City, published a discussion on Native policies in light of recent events in the “utmost West.” The future of the Natives and the course of civilization was mentioned: “It is not the gunpowder that is to blame for the Indians melting away; it is simply the irresistible pressure of civilization advancing, or, to employ less convoluted terms, it is the pox and the brandy.”⁴⁴ Moreover, it was held that the Natives would adhere to their nomadic ways as long as they were allowed to do so. Before they ran out of space, however, the author assumed that they would have vanished, “for civilization must annihilate everything which will not or cannot assimilate with it.”⁴⁵ These harsh words may have been a reaction to an attack on American commissioners, carried out by the Modocs in early April 1873 in the Pacific Northwest, which generated negative reactions across the country.⁴⁶ President Ulysses Grant’s Peace Policy of 1869, aimed at civilizing the Natives rather than waging war, had not been a success. Atrocities in the West and subsequent negative attitudes towards Native peoples could drown out various humanitarian voices.⁴⁷ According to Nordstjernan, nomadism, resistance to “honorably provid[ing] for themselves in their own sweat,” and their “by nature evil inclinations”⁴⁸ counterposed the Natives to civilization. Yet again, a notable feature of civilization was its occasional association with qualitatively bad features; here, with pox and brandy. Irrespective of attitudes toward civilization, a pervading understanding was its autonomy in the evolution of history.

The Anglophone press played a crucial role in advancing the idea of “the vanishing Indian”; their removal was necessary considering the stronger races’ destiny to dominate weaker ones.⁴⁹ In part, it was held that the Natives could join the progress of civilization but, in light of socio-evolutionary tendencies, extinction was deemed likelier.⁵⁰ This was a predominant attitude in Swedish-American newspapers too. From Tower, Minnesota, a piece was published in Svenska Tribunen (“The Swedish Tribune”), based in Chicago, Illinois, under the heading Fria Ordet (“The Free Word”); a section dedicated to “letters of more local nature, travelogues, for remarks and observations, which may interest a broader public.”⁵¹ The author discussed developments in Tower, but also the Natives of the area. The autonomous and progressive nature of civilization and history are distinct features in this paragraph, although shrouded in irony:

Here it also swarms, among other peoples, of the country’s Native population, the Indians, and a bigger reservation is located only about two miles from here. On July 4th about 700 of these copper-coloured sons of the prairie arrived and gave a public display of their War Dances, Medicine Dances and the like. There is undoubtedly a deep irony in the idea that our country’s real owners in this manner can be induced to perform, to entertain us white intruders, who forced them away from their ancestors’ “happy hunting grounds”! – But the banner of civilisation must be brought forth, and our hardened, brave pioneers still today have to fight nearly as a matter of life and death for every inch of soil, conquered for education and light.⁵²

The characteristics of civilization are evident, as are the ominous, albeit inevitable, aspects of its nature. Such inevitabilities might be understood in terms of Fur’s “discourse of innocence,” as outlined above. Be this as it may, the tendency to mention “the banner of civilisation,” carried forth by “brave pioneers,” is telling. It was a recurring feature of the newspapers’ stories that civilization was brought on by the arduous ventures of the first settlers; the initiators of cosmisation and cosmos.

The newspapers often discussed Native Americans and civilization via “the Indian question.” Civilising the Natives was often seen as a matter of assimilation which, in reality, often bordered on ethnocide.⁵³ Nordstjernan, for example, held that the Natives were enemies of civilization and that one solution to the “problem” was war. Although, it would be a costly war of “irreconcilable extinction” and “the crowning of a long sequence of injustices amassed by the whites towards the Indians, the country’s original owners.”⁵⁴ Skaffaren och Minnesota Stats Tidning (“The Steward and Minnesota State’s Newspaper”), then based in St. Paul, Minnesota, alternatively advocated the education of young Indians alongside introducing them to cattle-raising.⁵⁵ Thus, assimilation and the production of social and cultural homogeneity was preferable to war. In fact, the newspapers often criticized Western colonialism. A multi-layered piece in Svenska Amerikanaren (“The Swedish American”), of Chicago, Illinois, portrayed the cultural characteristics and religions of the Natives. Their perceived personal traits, described as courage, nobility, and cruelty, were mentioned too and echo sentiments of the noble savage discourse.⁵⁶ Mainly, though, the focus was on American history, Native and Euro-American encounters, and interracial warfare. Coexistence was, according to the author, initially peaceful, but

… this did not last for long. A race war, in which both parties shares the blame, soon erupted and seemingly does not want to cease, before the last Indian is gathered with its ancestors. For it is a war, in which the Indian goes under. His race is a vanishing race. Their struggle for existence is a hopeless struggle, ever since the whites ascended the shores of America. One more century, and these people, who play such an important role in the history of the New World, shall probably belong only to the past.⁵⁷

The position being mediated here was fairly clear; the Natives stood no chance of surviving, due to the sweeping progress of an autonomous civilization, and the arrival of Europeans on American shores was ominous. Such a view was not uncommon in the era at hand.⁵⁸ Nevertheless, as shown above, the progress of civilization was not necessarily thought of as qualitatively good. A piece in Svenska Tribunen stated that: “The Anglo-Saxon race’s distinctive feature is one of heartless contempt for the rights of the weak.”⁵⁹ It continued to aim serious criticism toward the treatment of the Natives, and stated that it was “only a matter of time before the last red man on the grounds of the United States will be gathered with his ancestors on the happy hunting grounds.”⁶⁰ Furthermore, the Natives disappearance was “not due to any personal or natural inferiority,” but the result of the whites’ greediness.⁶¹ In a sarcastic tone, the author stated that “it is so convenient when one wants to access other peoples’ goods, to be able to treat the owner of the goods like beasts.”⁶² In criticizing the Anglo-Saxons’ treatment of the Natives, Swedish Americans distanced themselves from it and negotiated the moral boundaries of society.

Again, an autonomous notion of civilization and history permeated the newspapers. It is, however, noteworthy that divergent voices on the confiscation of Native lands existed. We may on the one hand understand both as “discourses of innocence.” On the other hand, they shed light on the cosmisation of society’s moral dimensions and thus highlight negotiations and contestations of morality in public space. In the analytical schema applied here, the moral foundations of sought-after social orders had not yet been cosmisised, and the boundaries were being negotiated.

Travelogues and ethnographic depictions

Encounters with Natives and their customs were portrayed and published in various formats, from depictions of dramatic clashes to insightful and descriptive ethnographic-style writings.⁶³ The contents were diverse, as were the attitudes therein. Travelogues were a relatively common genre in the newspapers, and such stories had a great influence on images of the Wild West.⁶⁴ An example, published in Svenska Tribunen in 1877, described a trip to Indian territory by a man – Charles, the author – who was accompanied by a woman, Helen. Supposedly, Helen had neither visited an Indian territory nor seen an Indian before. The piece stated that:

… to have let Helen return to her idyllic home in the East after her visit out here without having seen a genuine example of the red race, would have led her to incredulity regarding the immense power of the West to captivate and appeal. Additionally, she would never have seen any first-class prairies, no infinite, like the sea rolling plains, no desert-like, bare spaces, traversed only by the buffalo, the redskin and – the imagination!⁶⁵

Helen’s home was contrasted to the wilderness of the West; an unstructured terrain, untouched by civilization. As the trip continued, a stop among the Poncas was described. A Sun Dance ceremony was observed and presented in the following way:

A decorated rod is raised, and around it an awful spectacle is seen. A ring has been incised in the shoulder of one of the men. This ring is then attached to the bridle of a horse which, with spurs and spears is chased like a whirlwind around the rod until the ring is teared through the flesh of the victim, and he falls senseless to the ground, almost dead of blood loss. This was a voluntary act of the man, for it is in this way you acquire name and greatness among these people.⁶⁶

The description of the Sun Dance has informative dimensions but is perhaps better understood in the context of the previous quotation. That is the trip and its associated events as an encounter with something qualitatively different; a move from civilization to wilderness, from a structured cosmos to an unstructured, potentially dangerous chaos. The cosmos of the idyllic East was the opposite of the chaotic West. The accentuation of the imagination in the first quote indicates the ambiguity of the terrain and its position outside the known cosmos. It was a terrain of potentiality, not yet cosmisised. Western wilderness became a prominent theme in popular cultural materials during the era of westward expansion. This meant that the vastness of the North American West was depicted with intrigue, as was the white population who inhabited the area of expansion.⁶⁷ Once more, the pioneers of the West embodied the role of mythological culture heroes and initiators of cosmisation by taming the wild environment and introducing civilization and culture, making cosmos possible. By mediating such stories, the newspapers engaged in boundary constructions of what constituted cosmos and chaos.

Previous research has shown that depictions of indigenous peoples partly served educational purposes by means of ethnographic authority,⁶⁸ partly as a way to assert racial dominance.⁶⁹ In contrast, respectful interactions with the Natives were also mediated by the newspapers.⁷⁰ Occasionally, the religious practices and traditions of Native Americans were mentioned in relatively elaborate and semi-ethnographic frameworks. In 1870, for example, Gamla och Nya Hemlandet published a travelogue in multiple parts. The author wrote:

The religion of these Indians consists of a multitude of traditions and mythological tales. Inducing them to tell these to the “white man” is hard. Spanish priests have for a long time told them biblical stories and all Indians on the mountains know these stories very well and narrate them with precision, but […] the Indians seem to have created a taleship around the biblical story […]. If you are alone with the Indians, in conversation with them in a trustworthy manner, they will tell you their own religion. I think, it is the biggest proof of trust an Indian can show a “white”, when he tells something about his religion.⁷¹

He travelled alongside a Mormon missionary, Jakob Gamblin, who also acted as a translator. The author asked the native tribe, identified as Shoshones or Paiutes, if he could spend a few months among them and that he “did not wish to trade with them or request anything of their land,” only that he be “treated as a friend.” Seemingly, the author had a desire for knowledge. He shared with the Natives what he knew about geography, fauna, and peoples of the world, and that he wished to acquire knowledge about the tribe, their land, and depict their artifacts, “to show to his friends.” The tribe approved: “your heart is good. We believe Jakob, for we have heard him since many snowfalls back.” The parties conversed, and the tribe spoke of regretful conflicts with the whites, their poverty, and harsh living conditions, and their love for their land. After hearing the tribe’s exposition, the author concluded: “I cannot fully express the peculiar beauty, power, and strength in his [the Indian’s] speech.”⁷² The encounter was mediated in a respectful way without stereotypical images. In a sense, religion, ethnic relations, and trust intersected and established the moral boundaries of cosmos.

How the Natives built their homes, divisions of labour, how meals were prepared, and ceremonial and ritual performances, were all fairly common topics in the newspapers. Svenska Tribunen published articles authored by a man named Carl Hillebrand-Menin after his visits to tribes such as the Puebloans and Utes. The articles, translated from German and published in Swedish by the newspaper, were long and detailed, with a clear ethnographic character, treating Native religion and spirituality.⁷³ One article treated the Sioux specifically. The author mentioned intra-Siouan tribal divisions, chieftains such as Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse, and intertribal variations in social structure.⁷⁴ As the author observed variations in social structure between different Native peoples, a clear progressivist narrative surfaced:

The educated Indian tribes of the South West have communism as their constitution, […] which can hardly be thought of as more idealistic, but these tribes will languish and meet their doom due to this communism, which excludes every competition in work and therefore advancement.⁷⁵

Whether the communism Hillebrand-Menin spoke of was used in a Marxist sense is not explicitly clear. It seems possible, however, due to its oppositional positioning to “competition in work” and the associated “advancement” of society. Seemingly, the progress of civilization could not be characterized by communally centred institutions. Furthermore, the destiny of a specific people was determined not by their race from a biocentric perspective but, in this case, from a constitutional and sociological one. According to the author, the Sioux were prominent cattle-raisers but unskilled farmers. This fact, he claimed, was due to their perceived inherent traits and their “fondness of the animal world.”⁷⁶ In summary, Hillebrand-Menin’s portrayals of the Sioux were primarily negative, especially concerning the women, who were compared to witches and described as jealous and filthy creatures, although also as chaste and faithful spouses. The discussions of the religious practices, such as the Sun Dance, the Spirit Dance, and the mythologies of the Sioux, were more descriptive and informative.⁷⁷ It was not uncommon for their religious practices to be described in detail and relatively neutral. Evaluations of their traits, though, tended to be negative and harsh.⁷⁸ Other ethnographic-style depictions of ceremonies and rituals were often free from overtly stereotypical images, such as of the Modocs,⁷⁹ the Potawatomis,⁸⁰ and the Tolowas.⁸¹

Regarding the ethnographic framework as a way to assert racial dominance, some interesting examples exist. An article published in Skaffaren (“The Steward”), from Red Wing, Minnesota, and also in Svenska Tribunen in 1880, discussed a myth among the Seminole as an attempt by the Natives to describe the white man’s superiority. The myth concerned the origins of skin colours and social orders. It was held that the black men were dealt “shovels, pickaxes and other tools,” the Natives were given “spear, bow, [and] fishhooks,” while the whites were given “pens, ink, and paper, which are means in attaining a higher cultivation of spirit and the spread of general education.”⁸² A similar myth was related to the Kiowas, which centred around perceived cultural features and the reason behind social orders. The text at hand was a narration of a lecture held by Pastor Wahlström, initiated by stating that “[s]in is heathenism and heathenism is sin.”⁸³ It thus had a clear bias, which may explain how the myth was narrated. Nevertheless, there were commonalities with the “real” myth, such as the motif of the Kiowas having emerged from a log.⁸⁴ Possible accuracies notwithstanding, it is beyond the scope of the present article to conclude whether these specific myths existed, even though the possibilities cannot be ruled out.

Even ethnographic depictions thus contain some attempts at cosmisation, and the quotes above exemplify the boundary constructions of the social orders being mediated. Regarding the myths, for example, Western civilization and the idea of humanity’s “natural stages” manifests. Claiming that the Natives themselves spoke of the white man’s dominance in religious terms may have legitimized Swedes’ participation in colonial ventures and consequently, via what we might call intellectual conquering, cosmisised it. Ethnographic knowledge thus intersected with the perception of social order.

Natives and news reporting

The threat and reality of violence and a lack of context in reports thereof were all common when the telegraph transformed the process of news reportage, especially during the latter half of the nineteenth century.⁸⁵ Information received via telegraph appears in the Swedish-American newspapers from at least the 1860s, and increases in extent in the following decades. Trans-local correspondence from distant Swedes was common and could intersect with themes of violence. Skirmishes and (perceived or actual) disturbances were often linked to negative attitudes in the Swedish-American newspapers.

Correspondence from Colorado in 1867, written by F.R. Wahlberg and published by Svenska Amerikanaren, exemplifies this trend. Based on personal encounters with Natives, Wahlberg wrote that he

could not avoid thinking, that such men one wants to murder, defile their women, take away their children, steal their cattle and plunder their homes, and then brag about the superiority civilization has over people still closest to the state of nature.⁸⁶

The greater part of Wahlberg’s correspondence dealt with Indian depredations: “no place in the entire United States has lately made so much noise as this [Denver, Colorado] territory, with regards to the so-called Indian depredations.”⁸⁷ Contextualizing Wahlberg’s statements means neither to condone nor to condemn them. Nevertheless, they were seemingly reactions to an experience. In correspondence from a month earlier, in mid-June 1867, he blamed the whites for their treatments of the Natives. If whites were killed, it may be their own fault. Crimes, he also stated, occur “in the most civilized and ordered societies” too, and exterminating the Natives would be “in vain and only lead to enmity, bloodshed, and impede the progress of civilization in the West.”⁸⁸ A general discourse of the time was that whites were understood to conduct “wars” and Indians “massacres.” This was an official, economically motivated strategy employed for militias to be remunerated: “honorable soldiers,” engaged in “war,” deserved to be remunerated; “cowards” performing “massacres” did not.⁸⁹

Settlers were undoubtedly scared of potential depredations and attacks on the part of Native Americans. After all, newspapers reported diligently on such events. Nevertheless, newspapers were occasionally aware of their peers’ sensationalist tendencies. In a telling article from 1878, published in Svenska Tribunen, the author discussed an event from Burnett County, Wisconsin: “They [the Indians] hastened from village to village with war cries in their mouths, tattoos on their cheeks, murder in their hearts and weapon in hand. At least so thought the whites.”⁹⁰ A Norwegian man was said to have observed a War Dance and perceived the Natives to be on the warpath. Reacting to these rumours, a war correspondent from St. Paul, Minnesota, writing for the Pioneer Press, was sent out to investigate. The reporter observed, “half-civilized Indians […], who are somewhat religious, to be gathered in a ‘camp meeting’ in the purpose of praising and lauding the Lord – not to head out and slaughter the whites.”⁹¹ What the Norwegian man had observed was merely “manifestations of religious enthusiasm.”⁹² The event was sensationalized, the settlers supposedly returned home, and the author in Svenska Tribunen reacted to the power of the written word: “So easy is it to wage war in Wisconsin and so easy is it to restore the senses to peace and calm by means of a moderately good pen.”⁹³ While Wahlberg’s statement may have induced fright in settlers by describing attacks by Natives – that is, the oncoming of chaos, threatening the inhabited cosmos – the latter example publicly contested such mediations by demarcating religious fervor as a non-threatening activity. These divergences highlight the potential fluidity and heterogeneity of settler-native relations.

With dances being a common cultural expression in Native American traditions, they were often reported on by newspapers. During the 1870s, the War Dance became associated with potential conflicts. Generally, since the Dakota wars of previous decades, violence was often latent in settler-native encounters, in part due to newspaper reports.⁹⁴ The Sioux and Sitting Bull often occupied the centre of these stories.⁹⁵ An important context for the 1870s is the state’s invasion and occupation of the Black Hills, a place of religious importance for the Sioux, which was appropriated largely due to rumours of gold.⁹⁶ Planning to once and for all defeat the Natives of the area, state troops were met with dogged Lakota resistance. The battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 was one significant event emanating from these tensions.⁹⁷ The Sioux and Sitting Bull were also discussed in relation to the Sun Dance ceremony. Most likely, the Sun Dance was mentioned by name for the first time in 1869 in a short paragraph published in Svenska Amerikanaren. It was described as a “barbaric ceremony” where the Natives “make incisions in the skin and through these drag buffalo tendons or laces and hang heavy objects, mostly buffalo heads.”⁹⁸ For the Sun Dance to be described as barbaric or horrible was common, and negative attitudes correlated with the performances of such ceremonies.⁹⁹

A traveller named Catlin was referenced in Svenska Amerikanaren in 1879. Allegedly, Catlin had visited “the Wild West” and written about Native customs. This individual may have been George Catlin, the Pennsylvanian-born portraitist, who rose to fame with his visits to and portrayals of Native American tribes.¹⁰⁰ According to Svenska Amerikanaren, “civilization has not done much since then among those tribes, for recently 7000 Redcloud-Sioux’ performed the so-called Sun Dance-feast in the most horrific way.”¹⁰¹ The description was detailed, and its author held that the Sun Dance caused “bloodthirsty thoughts” among the Natives.¹⁰² Here, the newspapers were largely in unison with state legislation; various dances were often held to be morally degrading. Native religions were also, at times, irreconcilable with the First Amendment due to its normative, monotheistic understanding of religion.¹⁰³ From the perspective of the Natives themselves, navigation of the religion-secular divide and discourses on religious freedom imposed by the state have historically meant arduous and strategic judicial struggles.¹⁰⁴

Contesting governmental authorities and “learned pundits”

In the 1880s, the number of newspapers in circulation had increased dramatically from previous decades. Reports on Native customs continued to vary in length. Attitudinally, the contents varied from neutral¹⁰⁵ to associating the phenomena with possible hostilities.¹⁰⁶ Statements by governmental authorities were likewise circulated and discussed. Gamla och Nya Hemlandet published a longer piece on Native dances and marriage customs, displaying typical attitudes towards these practices. The piece contained numerous references to the then Minister of the Interior, Henry M. Teller, who generally viewed various customs as hindrances to the civilization of the Natives.¹⁰⁷ Quoting Teller, the newspaper stressed that the dances were not social, but “intended to enhance the martial affections among the tribe’s youth,” and should thus be prohibited.¹⁰⁸ On the question of polygamy, Teller contrasted such “marital relationships [as] generally very loose” to “our conception of the sanctity of marriage.”¹⁰⁹ Gamla och Nya Hemlandet took a sceptical stance towards Teller’s position:

If change for the better can be obtained by legalising divorces among the Indians, as seemingly advocated by Teller, is to the highest extent a doubtful matter. In general, it ought not be said, that the marital bond among our country’s white inhabitants is regarded as particularly sacred, […] it is easier here than in most other countries to have a marriage, entered before God, dissolved by human law.¹¹⁰

Although the newspaper agreed that dances should be prohibited, due to interferences with civilization, its contestation of Teller’s position on polygamy is noteworthy. The 1880s was a problematic decade for Native American religious practices. Various dances, funerary traditions, and the practices of medicine men were criminalized in 1883.¹¹¹ Svenska Amerikanaren and Svenska Tribunen also discussed state interventions against various dances and polygamy. Like Gamla och Nya Hemlandet, Svenska Amerikanaren held that the dances ought not be prohibited by force. Instead, they should be “conformed for civilization” in the same manner as “the first Christian missionaries in northern Europe [did] with our forefathers’ hedonistic feasts.”¹¹² Thus, inculturation was suggested, rather than violence. Regarding polygamy, the author positioned himself against its legal prohibition. The most effective way of defeating such practices was instead by way of education.¹¹³ This, however, was not held to be the case among the Mormons, labelled by Svenska Tribunen as “Caucasian harem-keepers”,¹¹⁴ “where it constitutes an inseparable part of a fanatic religious conception.”¹¹⁵

It is clear that divergent voices existed on the matters of ceremonial dances and marital traditions. A final example by way of an opinion piece published in Svenska Amerikanaren in 1882 may illustrate this further. The author wrote about whether civilizing the Natives was at all feasible:

This interesting question is answered by the learned pundits in the East with a pale and unconditioned no. Even though, […] most of them have never beheld an Indian, even less come in contact with one or made themselves familiar with the habits, opinions, and conceptions of the red man. They judge about the Indian, such as the blind man judges about colour.¹¹⁶

Pundits from the East were contrasted to “[e]xperienced, humane men, who live amidst the sons of the wilderness” and judge them differently.¹¹⁷ The pervading theme of civilization notwithstanding, the Natives were not held in opposition to it, nor were they thought of as unable to become civilized. Instead, using the example of the Cheyenne, it was held that they “quite easily can become versed with the practical civilization.”¹¹⁸ The Cheyenne were described as being completely different people compared to “four years ago,” and “after decades of oppression and injustices,” were “honest and loyal […] towards those who meet them well.”¹¹⁹ Seeing the Cheyenne settle and farm in the vicinity and watching their “unusually small ponies work is a pleasure and joy to see.”¹²⁰ Here, the Natives were not viewed as trapped in history, nor in opposition to civilization in sensu stricto. Although the “traditional ways” of certain Native groups were contrasted to civilization, the race’s survival was not seen as evolutionarily determined. As such, race was sociological rather than evolutionary, decided by assimilation into Western-style patterns of work and provision, and thus transformative.

In conclusion, Swedish-American newspapers could be sceptical of governmental authorities and “learned pundits” as well as partially support them.¹²¹ Critique of the latter highlights yet again the intriguing perception of people who engaged in Western frontiers. Correspondingly, the examples in this section suggest that Swedes had a sense of themselves as “cosmisisers” by way of critiquing “learned pundits” from the East. As carriers of deeper knowledge, the critics also embodied notions of themselves as culture heroes, thus delegitimizing the boundaries articulated by people not directly engaged with the territorial frontiers of the West. These tensions resulted in publicly mediated contestations of boundaries via the newspapers, and processes of cosmisation generally intersected with dimensions of race, religion, and civilization. By contesting and negotiating boundaries, the newspapers shed light on worldviews, valorized social orders, and highlight the complexities of attitudes in Swedish settler communities.

Conclusion

Swedish-American newspapers were heterogenous outlets of information. Attitudes towards the Natives varied, as did the formats in which they were portrayed. Sensationalism existed, as did critiques thereof. Native Americans and their customs were described as barbaric and evil, but they were also depicted in informative and respectful manners. Governmental authorities were supported but also criticized. Thus, readers of Swedish-American newspapers experienced a plethora of divergent voices. The multitude of mediated encounters, from state sources to rumours, retrospective stories to ethnographic depictions, all likely played a role in forming the attitudes of Swedes towards Native Americans. Irrespective of a given attitude, the themes of religion, civilization, and race were pervading, which is symptomatic of the era at hand.

Existence needed to be ordered, and by constructing boundaries, the newspapers negotiated models for what was to be included in a cosmisised state of existence. Newspapers were canvases for mediating the boundaries of divergent social orders. At times, mythological patterns emerged. Processes of cosmisation suggest that the structuring of the world was a cosmogonic venture. Early settlers, missionaries, and people on the Western frontiers embodied the roles of culture heroes; they were initiators of cosmisation and cosmogony. In an Eliadean sense, they created the world and made it habitable. By mediating such stories, the actions of these individuals became actualized in public space, as actions of the illud tempus – the time of origins.¹²²

Swedes’ potentially preconceived notions of the Natives and their “destiny” may partly have influenced how they were portrayed in Swedish-American newspapers. It has nevertheless been shown that portrayals were contextually negotiated and divergent, thus partly challenging previous ideas that attitudes originated in native Swedish contexts. How Swedes perceived themselves, the Natives, and their ethnoreligious relation was processual, implying constant negotiations of boundaries. In its entirety, the present article offers an enhanced understanding of settler boundary constructions, ethnoreligious relations, and of how pervading intellectual tendencies were negotiated in nineteenth-century America. Even with the present article filling a big gap in the research situation, more dimensions await to be explored.

Acknowledgements

This article is a revised result originating from the author’s M.A. thesis in religious studies. Gratitude is especially extended to the author’s supervisor, Daniel Andersson (PhD) at Gothenburg University, who encouraged the author to rework the thesis into an article, and who has been of continuous inspiration and unconditional support. Gratitude is also extended to Sanja Nilsson (PhD) at Malmö University, who examined the thesis and made the same encouragements. The author also wishes to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers at ANCH for their insights and beneficial comments, and for making the writing of this article an informative journey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fredrik Jansson

Fredrik Jansson holds an M.A. degree in religious studies from Gothenburg University, Sweden. His areas of interests in the field of religious studies spans from the history of religions to the behavioural sciences, with a particular curiosity in indigenous religions and cultural and religious encounters. Contact: [email protected]

Notes

1 Peter Stormare made a documentary on the Kensington Runstone, which premiered in 2020.

2 Barton, A Folk Divided, 16.

3 Ibid., 16–17; Johansson, “The History of Literacy in Sweden”; Carlsson, Swedes in North America, 39.

4 Ostergren, A Community Transplanted, 266; Capps, From Isolationism to Involvement, 7; Nobles, American Frontiers, 203.

5 See, for example, Zubrzycki, “The Role of the Foreign-Language Press in Migrant Integration”; Williams, “Journalism and Ethnicity in Swedish America”; Beijbom, “The Printed Word in a Nineteenth-Century Colony”.

6 See Schnell, “Creating Narratives of Place and Identity”; Tallgren, “Svensk-Amerikaner i Kalifornien”.

7 Barton, A Folk Divided, 33–4, 42–3.

8 Carey, “Time, Space, and the Telegraph,” 113; Schudson, “The New Journalism,” 121–7; Underwood, “Religion in Print Media” 119–22; Nerone, “Journalism,” 198.

9 Research on Native American stereotypes is vast. For instance, Coward, The Newspaper Indian; Niezen, Spirit Wars; Hatt, “Ghost Dancing in the Salon”. In other ethnic newspapers, such as the Irish, Native Americans were often sympathised with. The Irish Catholics perceived themselves, like they did the Natives, to be oppressed by the Anglo-Saxon majority. Mulcrone, “The Famine Irish and the Irish-American Press,” 52, 61; Graber, Gods of Indian Country, 13.

10 Fur, “Colonial Fantasies,” 14–16. See also Fur, “Romantic Relations”; Larsson, Colonizing Fever; Björk, “Stories of America”.

11 Björk holds that early settlers probably were more familiar with various practically outlined guidebooks. Björk, “The Swedish-American Press and the Sioux,” 73–4.

12 For example, Hansen, Encounter on the Great Plains. The Dakota conflict of 1862 impacted Swedes in particular, due to settlement patterns on the frontiers. See Lundblad, “The Impact of Minnesota’s Dakota Conflict of 1862 on the Swedish Settlers”. Brief investigations into portrayals of the Sioux can be found in Björk, “The Swedish-American Press and the Sioux”.

13 See, Naum and Nordin, Scandinavian Colonialism and the Rise of Modernity; Fur, “Different Ways of Seeing ‘Savagery’”.

14 Fur, “Colonial Fantasies,” 12, 24.

15 See also Hansen, Chih-Yan Sun, and Osnowitz, “Immigrants as Settler Colonialists”.

16 Minnesota Historical Society, “About the Project”.

17 Searching for “Indian*,” for example, results partly in hits on Indians, but also on Indiana, Indianapolis, etcetera. At the time of writing, “Indian*” results in a total of 23,140 hits.

18 Minnesota Historical Society, “Swedish American Newspaper Publishing”.

19 Minnesota Historical Society, “About the Titles”.

20 Leach, Culture and Communication, 54; Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism, 10.

21 Douglas, Purity and Danger, 3, 39–40.

22 Ibid., 95.

23 Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, 29–32.

24 Ibid., 20–1.

25 Ibid., 31.

26 Ibid., 34.

27 Kripal, Comparing Religions, 114.

28 Mattoni and Treré, “Media Practices, Mediation Processes, and Mediatization in the Study of Social Movements,” 260.

29 Carey, “Journalism and Technology,” 133. See also Nerone “Journalism” and Frosh “Telling Presences”.

30 The newspapers were written in Swedish, and all quotations have been translated by the author. Occasionally, due to the immensity of the materials, a quote may be followed by multiple references. In such instances, the content of the quote is taken to be representative of all associated referenced sources.

31 “Minnesota-Indianen och Emigranten,” Minnesota Posten, 30 November 1857, 1.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Barton, A Folk Divided, 59–60.

36 “Korrespondens från Basa,” Gamla och Nya Hemlandet, 16 May 1871, 1.

37 Ibid.

38 “För 30 år sedan,” Minnesota Stats Tidning, 7 July 1881, 4.

39 Ibid.

40 See Kripal, Comparing Religions, 122.

41 Niezen, Spirit Wars, 47–50.

42 Eriksen, Small Places, Large Issues, 11.

43 Ibid., 275–7.

44 See “NEW YORK, LÖRDAGEN den 19 April 1873,” Nordstjernan, 19 April 1873, 2.

45 Ibid.

46 See Graber, The Gods of Indian Country, 105.

47 Osborn, The Wild Frontier, 13–14.

48 “NEW YORK, LÖRDAGEN den 19 April 1873,” Nordstjernan, 19 April 1873, 2.

49 Coward, The Newspaper Indian, 68.

50 Ibid., 229–30.

51 “Fria Ord,” Svenska Tribunen, 28 July 1888, 7.

52 “Från jernregionerna,” Svenska Tribunen, 28 July 1888, 7.

53 Niezen, Spirit Wars, 8.

54 “Indianfrågan,” Nordstjernan, 17 Marsch 1876, 1.

55 See “Huru skola indianerna behandlas?,” Skaffaren och Minnesota Stats Tidning, 14 February 1883, 4. Also, Gamla och Nya Hemlandet, 5 December 1883, 4, and “Indianfrågan,” Svenska Tribunen, 5 October 1885, 1.

56 See C.F.P, “Det land vi lefva i: En blick i republikens häfder: indianerna,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 6 January 1885, 4.

57 Ibid.

58 See, for example, Niezen, Spirit Wars, 47–54.

59 “Indianernas behandling,” Svenska Tribunen, 18 September 1886, 4.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 An example of a dramatic depiction in a travel story is “En resa i postvagn till Colorado,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 17 July 1867, 1.

64 Coward, The Newspaper Indian, 128; Larsson, Colonizing Fever, 122–7.

65 Charles, “En ‘trip’ till Indian-territoriet,” Svenska Tribunen, 28 November 1877, 4.

66 Ibid.

67 Nobles, American Frontiers, 146.

68 See Bearor,“The Illustrated American and the Lakota Ghost Dance,” 160–1.

69 Balaji and Crittenden, “Race,” 362.

70 See, for example, Valentin Wolfenstein, “Across the Plains,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 1 January 1868, 1. The travelogue was published by Svenska Amerikanaren in five parts: 8 January 1868, 1; 15 January 1868, 1; 29 January 1868, 1, and 5 February 1868, 1.

71 “En upptäcktsresa i Western. Skildringar af indianernes seder och bruk i Colorado och Utah.”

Gamla och Nya Hemlandet, 13 December 1870, 2.

72 Ibid.

73 See, Carl Hillebrand-Menin, “Indianska legender,” Svenska Tribunen, 1 March 1882, 2; 15 March 1882, 2; 22 March 1882, 1; 5 April 1882, 1.

74 See Carl Hillebrand-Menin, “Dakota-indianerna,” Svenska Tribunen, 31 May 1882, 2.

75 Ibid.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid. A similar article in two pieces, describing some religious practices of the Hidatsa and comparatively differentiating them from Siouan peoples, can be found in “Hidasta-indianerne,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 29 July 1880, 2; 5 August 1880, 2.

78 For another example, see “Bilder ur siouxindianernes lif,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 10 April 1883, 5.

79 “Modoc-indianernas religion, seder och bruk,” Gamla Och Nya Hemlandet, 17 June 1873, 2.

80 “En egendomlig plägsed,” Gamla Och Nya Hemlandet, 23 July 1875, 2.

81 “Tolowa-indianerna,” Svenska Tribunen, 19 November 1884, 4.

82 “En egendomlig tradition,” Skaffaren, 6 May 1880, 7.

83 See, “Föredrag hållet af pastor M. Wahlström,” Skaffaren, 7 July 1880, 6.

84 Cf. A Dictionary of Creation Myths, s.v. “Kiowa Creation” (by David Adams Leeming and Margaret Adams Leeming). Accessed December 11, 2020. https://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.ub.gu.se/view/10.1093/acref/9780195102758.001.0001/acref-9780195102758-e-158.

85 Coward, The Newspaper Indian, 100–1; Carey, “Time, Space, and the Telegraph”.

86 F.R. Wahlberg, “Korrespondens från Colorado,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 17 July 1867, 1.

87 Ibid.

88 F.R. Wahlberg, “Korrespondens från Colorado,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 19 June 1867, 1.

89 Pessah, “Violent Representations”. This tendency was, however, contested within settler communities.

90 “Pennan är mäktigare än sväret,” Svenska Tribunen, 3 July 1878, 4.

91 Ibid.

92 Ibid.

93 Ibid.

94 Hansen, Encounter on the Great Plains, 30.

95 See, for example, “Indianoroligheter,” Minnesota Stats Tidning, 6 June 1878, 2; “Sitting Bull,” Svenska Tribunen, 5 June 1878, 5; “Grantsburg, Burnett co., Wis.,” Nordstjernan, 28 June 1878, 4.

96 Niezen, Spirit Wars, 152–3.

97 Churchill, “The Black Hills Are Not For Sale,” 129.

98 “Amerika,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 14 September 1869, 2.

99 See, for example, “Sitting Bull och hans stamförvandter,” Nya Svenska Amerikanaren, 27 July 1876, 4 and “Soldansen,” Svenska Tribunen, 26 June 1878, 5

100 Nobles, American Frontiers, 146–7; Osborn, The Wild Frontiers, esp. chapter 2.

101 “Soldansen,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 3 July 1879, 2.

102 Ibid.

103 Pommersheim, Broken Landscape, 189.

104 See, for example, Wenger, “Indian Dances and the Politics of Religious Freedom, 1870–1930”.

105 For example, “Iowa,” Svenska Tribunen, 26 May 1880, 5; Svenska Amerikanaren, 25 July 1882, 1; ”En indiansk fest,” Svenska Tribunen, 26 July 1882, 4.

106 For example, “Amerika,” Svenska Amerikanska Posten, 3 May 1887, 1; “Inländskt,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 9 August 1888, 4; “Dakota,” Skaffaren, 29 August 1888, 1; “Amerikanska nyheter,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 8 August 1889, 2.

107 Osborn, The Wild Frontier, 66.

108 “Indianernes danser och äktenskap,” Gamla och Nya Hemlandet, 20 December 1882, 4.

109 Ibid.

110 Ibid.

111 Martin, The Land Looks After Us, 91.

112 “Gamla indianseder,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 2 October 1883, 5.

113 Ibid.

114 See, “Gamla indianska sedvänjor,” Svenska Tribunen, 3 October 1883, 5.

115 “Gamla indianseder,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 2 October 1883, 5.

116 “Låter en vuxen indian sig civiliseras?,” Svenska Amerikanaren, 4 April 1882, 4.

117 Ibid.

118 Ibid.

119 Ibid.

120 Ibid.

121 This was occasionally the case with Anglophone newspapers too. See Coward, The Newspaper Indian.

122 For a discussion on ritual re-actualisations of cosmogony, see Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, 80–5.