I chose it because I want people to think about names. I want to provoke a critical awareness of history and culture.
In the study of Indigenous Peoples, I don't want the question of names to slide by, to be taken-for-granted. Most of us know the story about how the Peoples of the "new world" came to be called "American Indians. So he named the people he met "Indians. It is a name given to people by outsiders, not by themselves. Why should we use any name given to a people by someone other than themselves?
On the other hand, why shouldn't we use it? Almost everybody in the world knows the name and to whom it refers. It is commonly used by many Indigenous Peoples in the United States, even today.
It is the legal definition of these Peoples in United States law. Some people get upset about "American Indian" because of its association with Columbus. There is an equally serious dilemma with the use of "Native American," which came into vogue as part of a concern for "political correctness. Groups became identified as hyphen-American.
For the original inhabitants of the land, the "correct" term became Native-American. Historica Canada. Article published May 11, ; Last Edited May 11, The Canadian Encyclopedia , s. Thank you for your submission Our team will be reviewing your submission and get back to you with any further questions. Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia. Article by Harvey A. McCue Updated by Georgia Carley.
It is used to refer to legally defined identities set out in the Indian Act, such as Indian Status. Indigenous Identity Indigenous Peoples in Canada. There may be far bigger cultural, linguistic, and historical differences between, say, the Inuit in Nunavut and the Iroquois near New York, than between Castillians in Spain and Muscovites in Russia.
What, specifically, do they have in common? Because they have suffered under a collective term, they can perhaps find some usefulness in mobilizing under a collective term as well. Some people use this term to refer to native peoples of a region in many colonial states across the globe, and is essentially defined as a person or animal, or thing that is native or born of an area.
This term is not limited to North America and is often used to contrast those who are native to a region from European settlers or colonizers. It can be a useful term, but often is used to define contrasts and can gloss over differences in radically different historical and cultural situations. Why not call them what they call themselves? Nevertheless, it can be a useful, if general term. Be conscious of your purpose in using it.
It also has political implications for those nations that are resisting the hegemony of the American or Canadian governments — e. I am unsure of the acceptability of this term, so I would proceed with caution and perhaps look at alternatives. Uh… no. Well, maybe it did at some point and remember, etymology is not destiny , but its pronunciation has probably been corrupted by English mouths and probably sounds very different from what the word originally sounded like.
I believe it originally came from one of the Algonquin languages on the Eastern seaboard, but it entered English vocabulary at a very early date and has likely lost a few syllables and such over time. Nevertheless, I feel that it is rarely used in North America, at least to refer to non-indigenous children, and so is a marker of difference. An infant wrapped in a moss bag? A toddler?
In the UK, it can even be used to refer to a kind of backpack, I think. Brits, can you clarify this for me? I would avoid it unless you hear them use the term. Ask yourself: why is there a specific term for a woman or child of a separate race? Are they not also women and children? Why do we have to change the names of our mountains and stuff? Traditional according to whom? The Queen Charlotte Islands off of the coast of British Columbia held that name for over a century on European maps, but its name was recently changed back to Haida Gwaii: the Islands of the Haida.
The imposition of European names upon places that were already known by different names by peoples native to the area is a whole other kettle of fish that could be addressed in a different blog post.
It appears to be used in the names of a few organizations — e. As an anglophone, I am not up to date on the most common terminology in use among Francophones in Canada. I would be very interested to hear from Canadian Francophones on this subject.
My British and German friends were also much less sensitive to nuances of racialized words than my Canadian and American friends of the same age.
But they were willing to learn! This is the term that is in vogue in Canada right now. I would say that this is one of the better options, but with a few caveats. Acknowledging that you are speaking of a specific group of people — e. These names may have a lot of cultural currency in English Canada and perhaps among these peoples themselves, but they are in all likelihood names that were imposed by English colonizers.
Would they choose this designation themselves? And even then, as our writing system was not designed with North American indigenous languages in mind, spelling is subjective. Is it Anishinaabeg, Anishinaabek, Anishinabe, or what?
Chippewa or Ojibwa or Ojibwe or Ojibway? Am I referring to the name of the people, the name of their language, or a larger confederacy or alliance of smaller groups collected together, and how do these names differ? Be aware of the history of the word and what it actually refers to. Incidentally, some of our terms may not seem English or French in origin, but are not ideal either.
I would love to hear from people who are up to date on the views of that word in Alaska! I welcome any further clarification on this subject! Thank you for asking this question. Be conscious of your word choices and think critically about them.
If you are not sure, ask the group affected what they would prefer. You want a say in how people know you and your people — why would you assume that First Nations would feel otherwise? As always, I welcome comments and questions always in a respectful manner. With regard to state taxes, Indians do not pay taxes on income earned on reservations or state sales taxes for goods purchased on reservations, but Indians who live and work off reservations do pay those taxes.
And because tribes are governments, they have the right to tax people—tribal members and nonmembers—living on their reservations. Sovereignty means the authority to self-govern. Long before Europeans arrived, the Western Hemisphere was highly populated with autonomous self-governing Native nations that engaged in trade and diplomacy and made agreements with one another.
Native nations made many treaties with European governments and the United States. Native American leaders showed courage and insight in these treaty negotiations by reserving certain rights while ceding lands.
As nation-to-nation agreements, treaties confirmed the sovereign status of Native nations in the United States. The inherent powers of self-government within the United States have also been affirmed by United States Supreme Court decisions, presidential orders, and laws enacted by Congress. Tribal nations exercise sovereignty within the geographic borders of the United States.
They have the ability to govern and protect their citizens and lands. Tribal nations establish their own governmental systems, create their own laws, set citizenship criteria, and operate law enforcement and judicial systems.
They run education, health, housing, and other kinds of social programs and services. Their responsibilities include the management of tribal lands, natural resources, environmental protection, and complex relationships with local, state, and federal governments. Many tribal nations operate a variety of economic enterprises to provide employment for tribal members, and some tribal businesses also provide jobs and economic strength for neighboring non-Native people and communities.
Tribal nations often find themselves in the role of protecting themselves from ongoing challenges to their sovereign rights. Yes, sovereignty is more than a political term.
Indigenous peoples express their cultural sovereignty through relationships within the community, with other people, and with the natural world. Indigenous communities must work very hard to protect and preserve their cultural sovereignty. Food sovereignty means that a community chooses those foods they will use to sustain themselves and their cultures.
Traditional foods support physical, mental, and spiritual health. For many Native communities, their food systems were disrupted due to European settlement and forced removal from their lands.
Then, as part of treaty negotiations with Native nations, the U. The food was unhealthy and substantially different from traditional diets. Unhealthy food, combined with uneven quality of and access to medical care, continues to leave many American Indians fighting an uphill battle for their health. Still, American Indians are working to restore their environments and original food sources.
No, most American Indians live in contemporary homes, apartments, condos, and co-ops just like every other citizen in the twenty-first century. Tipis are the traditional home of Plains Indians, but in other regions of the Western Hemisphere Native people lived in many kinds of dwellings, such as hogans, wigwams, longhouses, or igloos. Today over 70 percent of Native Americans live in urban or suburban areas.
Long before , many Indian cultures made clothing from plant fibers and from the wool and hides of indigenous mammals. Between BC and BC, Native people living in Mesoamerica and on the eastern slopes of the Andes in present-day Peru domesticated many varieties of cotton a plant native to every continent other than Antarctica.
Communities in what is now the American Southwest began cultivating cotton by BC. As early as AD , the ancestors of modern Pueblo Indians were gathering other plant fibers, such as yucca, willow, and juniper bark, processing them, and weaving them into blankets, sandals, and other articles of clothing.
The museum's collections include yucca-fiber sandals more than 2, years old. Today, Indians make traditional and dance clothing, worn on social and ceremonial occasions, of modern fabrics, in addition to traditional materials—including animal skins used before Contact.
For everyday life, Native people wear all kinds of modern clothing, just like everyone else. Yes, some tribes maintain the tradition of rain dances. Like all human beings, the Native peoples of the Americas recognize the importance of rain. Some Native cultures see rain not only as a support for life, but also as a blessing and cleansing of the earth. Ceremonies, prayers, ritual art, songs, and dances are among the many ways Native people acknowledge and help to maintain balance in the natural world.
These spiritual and culturally important traditions are part of complex religious cycles that take place throughout the year, year after year. It's hard to know when or why these observances were first caricatured or made fun of. The reality of cultural practices such as rain dances is much more meaningful and humanly rich than the popular images convey. Today, many ceremonies are closed to people outside the community. The word powwow comes from the Algonquian word pau-wau , which means a curing or healing ceremony.
Powwows are social events that are open to all people, Native and non-Native. Yes, Native nations still have lands within the United States.
There is a long-standing and deeply rooted relationship between Native people and their lands and a strong personal sense of belonging to those places. Native knowledge systems resulted from long-term occupation and observation of tribal homelands and interaction with them. Native Americans understand and value the relationship between local environments and cultural traditions and recognize that human beings are part of the environment.
Long before contact with Europeans, Indigenous people populated the Americas and were successful stewards and managers of the land. Native nations have always fought to defend and keep their lands. Some tribes still retain portions of their historical homelands while others were removed and relocated to other lands by the United States. Many Native communities still rely upon hunting, fishing, and gathering for survival.
The economies of Native communities are supported through land-based activities such as agriculture, forestry, mining, and energy production.
Native lands are the base from which Native governments exercise their sovereignty and self-determination. The majority of Native lands are reservations, which are areas defined by boundaries negotiated with and recognized by the United States. Native American land holdings were greatly reduced by the development and growth of the United States.
According to the U. Others were able to negotiate for reservation lands in new locations as a result of being forcibly removed from their original lands. Not all federally recognized Native nations have a reservation, but there are other mechanisms by which they can acquire lands. Many Native Americans do not live on tribal lands, choosing instead to live in other urban and rural locations. There are also reservations in some states where the state, not the federal government, holds the lands in trust for the Native nation.
As part of the Indian Reorganization Act of , Native nations and the federal government can place additional land in trust for Native communities.
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