What Does an Indian Look Like?

Mary Jane Miller sets up a fascinating paradox in Outside Looking In: Viewing First Nations People in Canadian Dramatic Television Series, her momentous exploration of the representation of First Nations people in Canadian television. The very first line of the very first chapter is “Start with this: white people should not tell First Nations stories.” Miller then proceeds to chronicle virtually all the First Nations stories told through the dramatic series on Canadian television since Radisson, first broadcast in 1957. She is not telling First Nations stories; rather, she is telling on those who have told First Nations stories, or worse, told their own stories and gussied them up to look like what they believe an Indian looks like. “What Does an Indian Look Like?” would in fact be as appropriate a subtitle as Miller’s own.

Outside Looking In is a study of Canadian culture through the lens of a number of television series—Radisson, The...