This thesis examines how the stereotypical image of the Native American was constructed and entrenched in literature, and how contemporary Indigenous writing dismantles it. The first part draws on the theoretical framework of Edward Said and Tzvetan Todorov to show that the »Indian« is not a reflection of real Indigenous peoples, but a construct shaped by the white Self out of its own needs, fears and fantasies. This construct is analysed through Karl May's Winnetou, James M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Michael Blake's Dances with Wolves, where the common denominator remains the one-directional gaze: the Native American is always seen, never the one who sees. The second part turns to the Native American literary renaissance and returns the word to Indigenous authors. Through N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn and Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, as well as the short fiction of Gerald Vizenor, Sherman Alexie and Thomas King, the thesis shows that Indigenous authors deconstruct the stereotype from within – not by replacing the image with a more flattering one, but by putting in its place a living, whole human being. The thesis thus moves from the stereotype as a projection screen to a voice that can represent itself.
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