Kenneth Madsen, Department of Geography, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0104. E-Mail: kmadsen@asu.edu. Press Portrayal of Native Places: A Case Study.

A sense of place is created in many ways. One way that many outsiders get a feeling for the unique character of an area is through the pages of the press. This research qualitatively investigates the changing way in which one particular American Indian tribe, the Tohono O’odham of southern Arizona, has been portrayed over the years through the daily newspaper published in the state capital — The Arizona Republic. Early in this century, patronizing viewpoints, exotic events, and attitudes which dismissed the O’odham world-view and required justification of coverage shaped how outsiders saw the Papago, as the group was known then to most outsiders. Today, a more complex picture is painted in this same newspaper, one which treats the tribe and its members with more respect and even occasionally criticizes its earlier style of representation. Coverage of everyday, even mundane, events now portrays a place more legitimate, tangible, and in control of its own destiny. These changes follow broader national trends in the representation of American Indian places by the press. This research has implications for how geographers utilize newspapers to interpret portrayal of a sense of place.

Keyword: American Indians, sense of place, newspapers