Public Memory of the Sand Creek Massacre By Lindsay Calhoun

Chapter 2

Contemporary Narrative Construction

Sand Creek emerges from the dustbin of Western Americana as a historical event with a plethora of narrative threads: Sand Creek as a component in Cheyenne and Arapaho identity and culture, Sand Creek as catalyst to the American Indian Wars, Sand Creek as an entangling factor in the politics of Colorado statehood, Sand Creek as an empirical example of American genocide, Sand Creek as an important turning point in American history and nation building, Sand Creek as one of the tragedies of settling the western frontier, Sand Creek and the political economy of historic relations between indigenous peoples and white settlers, and so on. The historical interpretations of what led to Sand Creek and its meaning for regional and national histories, both then and now, are multifaceted and continuously evolving.

The Discursive Unfolding of an Event

Sand Creek is a historic event and must be understood through the narratives produced in its aftermath. It exists through the narrative interpretations