provided an unrealistic, romantic portrayal of Na-
tive American life that substituted the old ecologi-
cally minded “noble savage” stereotype for the
“blood-thirsty savage” of classic Westerns. Far from
revolutionary, the film stuck more closely to Holly-
wood formulas than first acknowledged, critics ar-
gued, having a white male as its central character,
telling the story from a nonindigenous viewpoint,
and setting the tale on the frontier among classic
movie Indians, the Sioux.
Impact Dances with Wolvesspawned a number of
American Indian-themed movies and documenta-
ries that followed its lead in hiring indigenous actors
and striving for cultural authenticity. Its box-office
success also sparked a slew of successful gunslinger
movies. The genre, however, failed to mount a last-
ing comeback. In particular, films with Native Amer-
ican leads set in modern times bombed at theaters,
proving that American audiences still preferred
some variant of the classic Hollywood Indian.
Further Reading
Aleiss, Angela.Making the White Man’s Indian: Native
Americans and Hollywood Movies. Westport, Conn.:
Praeger, 2005.
Kilpatrick, Jacquelyn.Celluloid Indians: Native Ameri-
cans and Film. Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press, 1999.
Mark Edwin Miller
See also Academy Awards; Film in the United
States; Native Americans; Religion and spirituality
in Canada; Religion and spirituality in the United
States;Unforgiven.
Dayton Accords
Identification Peace agreement ending the war in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date Negotiated November 1-21, 1995; formally
signed December 14, 1995
This agreement brought an end to the conflict among
Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs within the area encompassing
the independent countr y of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
which received international recognition as a result of these
accords.
With the end of the Cold War, many changes oc-
curred in Central and Eastern Europe. Throughout
most of this region, the use of force was no longer
generally acceptable to maintain governments that
had come to power during the communist era. How-
ever, when four of the six constituent republics of
Yugoslavia sought independence from the Serbian-
dominated federation, force was used to try to main-
tain the status quo. The ethnically mixed region
that is now the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina
was one of the four. After three and a half years
of fighting, international pressure was brought to
bear to bring about negotiations for a peaceful set-
tlement.
One key component of this successful interna-
tional effort was cooperation between the United
States and Russia. The Serbian faction looked to
Russia as an ally, while the other Croats and Bosnians
saw themselves as closer to the United States and
Western Europe. With this coordinated pressure,
the leaders of the factions agreed to join in the peace
negotiations when invited by U.S. president Bill
Clinton. The talks were held at a restricted area on
the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base just outside
Dayton, Ohio, and were led by Secretary of State
Warren Christopher. President Clinton wanted the
leaders to focus on the negotiations, not on the me-
dia. The conflict was a mixture of a civil war and an
international conflict. Thus, the negotiators for the
three ethnic groups/factions were Serbian presi-
dent Slobodan Miloš evi 6 , Croatian president Franjo
Tudjman, and Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovi 6.
Finally the agreement was reached, and it was ini-
tialed on November 21.
Within the agreement, eleven major sections out-
lined the peaceful disengagement and withdrawal of
the various military forces. It established the border
for the new country. It also set up the framework for
the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, includ-
ing the guarantee of human rights for all people
within the country. The United Nations was given
the task of establishing the necessary law-enforce-
ment agencies to ensure the agreement’s nonpoliti-
cal nature.Impact The peace agreement formally ended the
brutal conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and cre-
ated a stable state. The fact that the United States
could support and assist the Bosnians, who are pri-
marily Muslims, illustrated that America was not au-
tomatically anti-Islam or only interested in helping
Muslims when oil was at stake. This was also one ex-The Nineties in America Dayton Accords 241