The indigenous population of the United States has been historically marginalized.
Despite centuries of oppression, mass killing, and displacement, there has been little progress
in the way indigenous tribes are perceived.
This controversy can be seen in the exonym used to refer to the country’s original
population.
Some prefer the term “Native American”, others say “American Indian”, and there
are similar variations on both terms.
So, which is the most correct?
Native American, or American Indian?
Well, the origin of the controversy has its roots in the lone term of “Indian”.
As the legend goes, explorer Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492 believing
he had reached the Indian Ocean, and as such, referred to the indigenous people he encountered
as “Indians”.
Despite the inaccuracy, future settlers continued to refer to the many distinct tribes collectively
as “Indians”.
Another theory says that the term comes from the Italian or Spanish words for “In, or
Of God”, “En Dios”, however this explanation is relatively new, and not historically supported.
The term “Indian” continued to be used freely all the way until about the 1960s,
as civil rights for many groups were being promoted.
Many saw it as a reminder of the country’s brutal colonial past, based on a pejorative
understanding of the indigenous culture.
By the late 60s, an advocacy group was formed, using a new name to appropriate the controversial
term, calling themselves the American Indian Movement.
Around this time, another term became widely used as well, Native American, intended to
eliminate any trace of the “Indian” pejorative.
But even these newer references are not wholly unproblematic.
Some indigenous people take offense to all three terms, saying that the many culturally
diverse tribes that make up the original population cannot be homogenized into a single term.
As such, many will instead identify themselves by tribe name, such as Navajo or Cherokee.
What complicates the matter further is that multiple historical institutions are named
after some of these controversial exonyms.
For decades, the football team called the Washington Redskins has been implored to change
their name, saying that the term “redskin” is clearly racist, regardless of any benign
or historical origin.
We spoke with Dr. Andrew Jolivétte, professor and former chair of the American Indian Studies
Department at San Francisco State University to get a more personal sense of indigenous
identity.
To get a more personal sense of indigenous identity we spoke with Dr. Andrew Jolivétte,
professor and former chair of the American Indian Studies Department at San Francisco
State University.
Redskin is not referring to the color of the skin of the native american people, it's referring
to the bloody red skins that bounty hunters were paid for the heads of indian men women
and children.
five dollars for men or women and like three dollars for you know kids heads.
Bloody red skins.
So that's why that kind of terminology is offensive.
Other terms such as “Indian” are intrinsically tied to the self-identity of many indigenous
people.
Some older generations continue to use the term since that is how they’ve identified
since childhood.
The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has yet to change its name to reflect the political
climate.
Interestingly, the US government alternates between American Indian and Native American
based on whether or not the groups in question have been granted federal recognition.
The reasons that we sometimes use American Indian right is to distinguish the legal and
protected status of tribes and groups, and so what I tell people at the end of the day
is we have a broad racialized category.
Whether you use Native American or American Indian, i think either is okay.
Ultimately, no one term is wholly appropriate, and it is important to know the preferred
nomenclature of the people in question.
Identity is situational.
In some days might say Indian, other days I might say native.
And that's okay, we have to be comfortable in this society with the fact that identities
are malleable, they move, they change as we evolve and get older.
As language and identity continue to evolve, so will the names we use to call ourselves
and each other.