MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

This year, actor Ethan Hawke and artist Greg Ruth released Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars. This graphic novel advertises itself as a raw and realistic account of a significant moment in American history. It follows Cochise and Geronimo with the self-proclaimed aim of bringing greater attention to the history of the Apache Wars. Indeh attempts to serve two purposes—to entertain as a work of popular art, and to inform as a work of history. Hawke professes that Indeh tells an important part of American history, hinting that the work brings this marginalized history into the mainstream. This paper examines whether Indeh accomplishes the lofty goal of promoting Native history while entertaining with a story of Apaches at war. Drawing on the artistic tradition of Wild West Shows and Western films, this graphic novel replicates representations of Apaches that have informed popular opinion of what it means to be “Indian” with little input from American Indians. Performance has long been a means through which the American public learns what it believes to be Native culture and history. In Wild West Shows and Western films, however, these histories and cultures were presented with little consideration of Native voices and perspectives. Indeh, like many of its predecessors in the entertainment industry, is a project without direct American Indian involvement. This paper considers to what extent Indeh succeeds or fails in its attempt to update the “Western.” Do Hawke and Ruth indeed tell a history of the Apache Wars that avoids constructing false notions of authenticity, adequately incorporates Native perspectives, and entertains? What sets their attempt apart from previous pop cultural works telling stories of American Indians? Can Indeh be considered a history as well as a work of art?