Tag Archives: film/television/photography

OK, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on noble savage archetype. This is a half-page worksheet with a three sentence reading and three comprehension questions.

This was a concept, I can say with some pleasure, that my high school teachers disabused me of quickly. It’s a good thing, too, because (“Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” as I delighted in hearing Gomer Pyle USMC say when I watched that show as a child), despite what this worksheet avers in placing the origin of this concept with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it turns out not to be the case.

In fact, in addition to the many problems implicit in the term itself, it happens that Rousseau never uttered the term, and that the concept and the linguistic clothes it wears are the product of poet and playwright John Dryden, who invoked the stereotype in his play The Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards. When the term is next heard, it is from the mouths of physician James Crawfurd and anthropologist James Hunt, who erected the term as a signpost en route to scientific racism. Apparently, in the process of their “work,” Crawfurd deliberately misattributed noble savage to Rousseau.

So, with this short document, there is a lesson on debunking that I will write sometime in the future. I can tell you that only the most cursory research yielded the results in the foregoing paragraph. So, there is quite a bit of juicy stuff here–especially for inquisitive high school students.

Finally, if you want to see the decisive send-up of the noble savage stereotype (or, alternatively, if you’re interested in trying some excellent series television), check out Dallas Goldtooth’s hilarious performance as William “Spirit” Knifeman in Reservation Dogs–one of the best things ever to appear on television in my opinion.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.