Memories that Haunt: Layered Landscapes of Historical Trauma on the American Plains

Abstract

This article explores the impact of American colonization on two American Indian communities, the Cheyenne and Arapaho, through the oral histories and personal narratives of tribal members. These stories were prompted by a series of photographs collected by Jesse H. Bratley—an Indian School teacher working on the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation at the turn of the century—which were shared with these communities in 2016. Housed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Bratley’s images speak to the subtle ways that photography confirmed and conformed to the assimilationist rhetoric of the United States federal government. When shared with tribal members, Bratley’s images produced a bricolage of memories, evoking layered stories of trauma and persistence. These narratives offer new insights into the relationship between martial violence, the American Indian education system, and the inter-generational historical trauma experienced by these two communities.