Phelan (1995) de-scribed this kind of negative visibility as a trap because of what it might meanfor groups of people or individuals.
Phelan pointed out that being seen does not mean being understood or respected. The visibility of Indigenous people is often distorted by mainstream culture into stereotypes. This "visibility trap" is display, but authentic expression and voice are lost.
When they saw us peeping in at the window, they motioned for us tocome inside. But we hesitated. Then they held out some sticks ofcandy. At this, we ran away some little distance, where we stopped totalk over this strange proceeding. We wondered whether we had bet-ter go back again to see what the white people really wanted. Theyhad offered us candy-and that was a big temptation. So we wentback and peeped in at the window again. This time the interpretercame to the door and coaxed us inside. He was a half-breed namedCharles Tackett. We called him Ikubansuka, or Long Chin. We cameinside very slowly, a step at a time, all the time wondering what itmeant.
Is this to show how the children's innocence is exploited, or to emphasize how they are slowly being pulled into a cultural system they don't understand?