WAUKESHA – Did cowboys and Indians of the old West spend most of their energies battling each other, as movies so often have portrayed and popular culture accepted, and then make nice and live together in peace?  Ned Blackhawk, an associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researched those questions and wrote an award-winning book, Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American West (Harvard University Press, November 2006).

He will review some of his findings when he speaks at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha Tuesday, April 3, at noon in the Commons Room 101. As a part of the Visions & Expressions series sponsored by the campus Lectures & Fine Arts Committee, the presentation is open to the public and admission is free.

Blackhawk studied the people who first occupied lands in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, and California in the area known as the Great Basin. Most belonged to Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone groups. His own heritage derives from Western Shoshone.

Colonizers from the empire-building Spain and subsequently others wanted to claim ownership of the territory, setting up a violent cultural face-off with those who dwelled there. As in all wars, complex issues receive simple answers that lead to misunderstandings and more conflict. Eventually, this dance gives way to a new culture, built from those that stood in opposition to each other. Blackhawk investigates not only how this happened but what resulted in America’s Great Basin.

A graduate of McGill University, Montreal, Blackhawk earned a master’s degree from University of California-Los Angeles and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He has been teaching at UW-Madison since 1999.

UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses. For information about programs, admission, or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at (262) 521-5200 or visit the Web at www.waukesha.uwc.edu.

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