Clash of Cultures as Euphemism: Avoiding History at the Little Bighorn

Abstract

Visitors to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument on the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana quickly learn that the tragic violence that occurred between US cavalrymen and Lakota and Cheyenne families in late June 1876 was a clash of cultures. This catchy phrase serves as the title of historical summaries printed in the monument's brochures and as a major theme in park rangers' interpretive talks. 1 Considering the sizable number of visitors to the monument each year (more than four hundred thousand in fiscal year 2002), the prominence of "Custer's Last Stand" in American mythology, and the widespread use of the phrase clash of cultures to explain historical conflict between Indians and non-Indians, a careful examination of the phrase as currently employed at the Little Bighorn is necessary. 2 The Little Bighorn monument is a site of great controversy, a centerpiece in the nation's late-twentieth-century "culture wars," and park personnel have been in a seemingly no-win situation. Still, the historical interpretation currently offered at the park should not be above critique-even if it feels like piling on. The intent here is to deconstruct clash of cultures to show how it hides more than it reveals, to consider why the phrase is used, and to evaluate the implications of such language. Finally, this article suggests an alternative way of framing the Battle of Little Bighorn, one that might better fulfill the congressional call "to encourage peace among peoples of all races." 3 CLASH OF CULTURESThe history of Indian-white relations, on the Northern Plains and elsewhere, is multifaceted and complex, but the clash of cultures interpretation simplifies the story. Under the heading "A Clash of Cultures," the monument's 2002 visitor brochure categorizes the Little Bighorn battle as "but the latest encounter in a centuries-old conflict between Indian and white cultures." It was "one of 107 Timothy Braatz teaches history at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, and is playwright-in-residence with The Chameleon Theatre Circle in the Twin Cities.