Normalising settler colonalism begins early: Brian Rouleau, ‘How the West Was Fun: Children’s Literature and Frontier Mythmaking toward the Turn of the Twentieth Century’, Western Historical Quarterly, 2019 | settler colonial studies blog

Normalising settler colonalism begins early: Brian Rouleau, ‘How the West Was Fun: Children’s Literature and Frontier Mythmaking toward the Turn of the Twentieth Century’, Western Historical Quarterly, 2019

11Dec19

Abstract: This article discusses the important role that juvenile literature played in creating America’s frontier mythos. It argues that children were a crucial audience for adult authors seeking to justify and normalize settler colonial policies. But, more importantly, young people themselves were active participants in the perpetuation of a popular culture that glorified westward expansion and the eradication of Indigenous peoples. In acknowledging as much, we arrive at a richer understanding of the important intersections between western history and the history of childhood in the United States.

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