Overview
Filmmaker Ernest M. Whiteman III is a returning Road Scholar. He is a dynamic speaker, experienced in presented to diverse audiences in a wide range of venues. He has a passion for examining and sharing how Native peoples are depicted in media. His program makes correlations between how Native peoples are depicted in various forms of media and why the United States treats Native peoples the way they do.
Ernest M. Whiteman’s Presentation:
Learn More about Ernest M. Whiteman III
Ernest briefly describes himself and his program…
Presentation 1
No One Ever Sees Indians: Native Americans in Media
“Are you watching closely?”
This presentation is loosely structured as a three-part magic act. Ernest discusses the many representations of Native Americans in media, how far back these depictions go, and how these representations inform audiences’ perceptions of Native peoples and issues.
This presentation reflects the ideology of lived experience, ownership of culture versus the authorship of expertise of Native representation, and its reductive constructs. Ernest will show that what people know and see about Native Americans in media has always been an illusion.
Program Topics
- Film
- Television
- Literary
- Native American
- Media Representations
Program Logistics
The presentation takes approximately 60 minutes, including a Q and A with the audience. However, the program duration is flexible, accommodating a 10 – 90 minutes time slot. A MacBook, provided by the speakers, is used to give the presentation. A projector, screen, audio, and internet are necessary to present and access for clips.
About the Road Scholar
Ernest M. Whiteman III is a Northern Arapaho filmmaker, artist, writer, and media educator. Ernest is the Co-director of First Nations Film and Video Festival, Inc. a non-profit film festival supporting Native American directors. He teaches an upper-level communications course, “Native Americans in Media” at the University of Wisconsin Parkside.
He is a Producer/Editor with Truth and Documentary, an independent workshop rooted in the traditions of journalism, communications, ethnography, and cinema.
He is working on a contemporary film adaptation of Hamlet with a full cast of Native American actors. Ernest has two self-published books The Autobiography of Blue Woman and A Rez Tale.
He is currently working on many film and video projects including Ten in Ten, a documentary series, and An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the Zombie War, an Urban Native Horror. He is from the Wind River Reservation and currently lives in Skokie. As Ernest says—not bad for a nameless Arapaho from Wyoming.
Learn More and Follow Ernest
Book this Road Scholar
Follow the steps below to book a presentation.
Step 1
Contact Ernest to schedule a date and time via email at ronin-redshade@att.net.
Step 2
Once you and Ernest have agreed upon a date and time, complete the Road Scholars Host Organization application.