Native American Identity

One of the difficulties in studying and assessing the effects and causes of changing terminologies and beliefs regarding Native American and First Nations gender identities is the incredible variety between both the histories of different tribes and the individual’s understanding of personal identity. It is a frequent and recurring problem in academia surrounding minority groups, whether they be racial, ethnic, sexual, or gender minorities, that the voices of actual members of the group being studied are ignored. What they are saying can be sterilized, particularly when the researcher is not a member of the group. The reality of the emotional and practical reasons for terminology used by these individuals cannot be understood without direct input from their voices, and as such five different perspectives regarding identity and terminology taken by Native American individuals are represented here. These examples are taken from blog posts regarding various topics surrounding these ideas, and the tribes represented include the Navajo, White Bear Clan, Cree, Metis, and Mi’kmaq people. While each of the five have different relationships to their Native ancestry, all five individuals take a perspective regarding the use of the term two-spirit. While all five take a positive stance on the use of the word, applying it to themselves, their understanding and emotional attachment to the word varies.

The American Indian is a very unique and integral part of Amreican history,with a very rich and beautiful cultural background.There are over 558 federally recognized tribes in America right now,and another 126 who have applied for federal recognition.At the time of first contact with Europeans, the United states was fully occupied by Indian Nations and some 300 Indian languages existed,approximately 106 of which are still spoken.The diversity and hetrogeneity of the American Indian community cannot be overstated.

The concept of ‘being’ Indian and ‘becoming’ Indian isn’t a new one. One of the issues that arise is that it is one thing to claim identity as an Indian person but quite another to be perceived as one. It is a question of how a person navigates through living their life as a Native American. How they move within the given definitions. Are these people a part of their cultural communities. Do they contribute in any way to their society as Indigenous people. Do they understand the struggles? Do they work to stand up for indigenous rights? Does their claim lessen the work of the Native American people around them? Are they contributing or taking away from their indigenous communities?

One thing that sets that area apart from the rest of busy society is the peace of the land. You can go sit outside in a chair and hear nothing but silence and the peaceful sounds of nature. There are no busy roads to create street noise and no crowded neighborhoods. I’ve heard that it is almost scary how quiet it gets, but that’s what makes it so special. Conrad said that when his parents or grandparents come to Moab to visit they can only last one night before they are just too uncomfortable with all the noise and motion. At night, you can look up and see stars for miles and miles. “Diné are consummate environmentalists. They believe in making as little human impact as possible upon the land.” (journey of the Diné pg 31) This belief helps

an a DNA test help you find your Native American Ancestry? After some study and discussion with participants, I’d say the answer is maybe, it depends. Like any genealogical problem, it helps to have a paper trail to follow. If your paperwork doesn’t show any Native ancestry within the last 5-6 generations, then you may very well be disappointed in your DNA results. On the other hand, you might be able to verify a questionable line with a DNA test and some additional documentation. Either way, it requires work on your part because DNA won’t answer all the questions about your ancestry. If only it were so simple.

My experience is a bit different compared to other minority group experiences because I am a Caucasian American with Hispanic from Central America. People from a minority of Native American, African American, Muslim American, Chinese/Japanese American, and Jewish American would all have a complete unalike experience compared to me. Central Americans and Vietnamese Americans I feel it is rare for these two cultures to come together and that is what makes my experience so unique to the situation. A similarity and the only similarity I could find between Central Americans and Vietnamese Americans is they both immigrated to the United States. Central America immigration has increased significantly and added to the diversity in the United States.

What would America look like if there had not been any native people living in America in the beginning? How would life have been different for the first settlers when they arrived to the new land? Would our lives today be different if the English, French, and Spanish colonists were never greeted by native people? These are some general questions that can be thought about when considering the idea of no native inhabitants living in America when the first settlers arrived. The article written by James Axtell, "Colonial America without the Indians: Counterfactual Reflection," portrays a good avenue of ideas on how the Indians actually contributed to the lives of the first settlers. Essentially,

cautious what we receive for truth, unless spoken by wise and good men. If any thing disagreeable should ever fall out between us, the twelve United colonies, and you, the Six Nations, to wound our peace, let us immediately seek measures for healing the breach.

Throughout history, relationships between the Native Americans and the United States have been nothing but battle torn, and unfortunately have followed a consistent path of betrayal. There is no denying the universal fact that Native Americans have been unfairly treated and portrayed throughout American history. According to American history written during and after the war the Indian Wars that occurred were very subjective, and prejudiced in its depiction of the Native Americans. For example one work, The Pioneer History of America (1883), is titled, "A popular account of Heroes and Adventurers who, by their valor and war-craft, beat back the savages from the borders of civilization and gave the American forests to the plow and the sickle."

When starting this class I personally did not have a very detailed understanding of what or who indigenous people were, what made them important, and how they helped to shape what is now American history. To think that when settlers first came to the new land native americans made up one hundred percent of the population but now are roughly only one percent of the total population is very disappointing to see. This decline of population was due to many different factors such as, territorial conflicts, war, disease, and being forced to re-settle. When resettling, the journey alone that the native American had to take caused a huge decrease in population. Any population that is still here today is comprised of federally designed reservations. Although it is said that Hawaii and Alaska are two sates that have still refused to put in place any policies with Native Americans that seek out the rights to restrict them. I have learned that many native tribes that were geographically similar, often times came together to form nations, as well as confederacies. With these tribes being so similar yet so different, geographically and with the language, it often times lead to unity or division within these native communities, before the arrival of new settlers. With these differences we saw how each tribe played a part in the history of new settlers in the states as they each contributed something different to our history. This fact however gets looked over a lot of the time,

The first Native Americans settled across North and South America between 500/1500 B.C.E, creating advanced and rich cultural, social, and political civilizations. Approximately 6-7 million Native Americans inhabited North America alone. In what would become the American Southwest, Native American tribes, the Hopi and Zuni, conducted a settled life for over 3,000 years. Hundreds of tribes were formed and the Native Americans lived in small villages. When the Spanish first arrived in the Americas in the fifteenth century, they forever changed the lives of the Native Americans. As time went on, more Europeans from different countries came to the Americas for different reasons, but all encountered the Native Americans. Europeans believed that

Native Americans do not experience enough social, political, and economic equality today because their stereotypes are portrayed in media, they do not have enough government representation, and they are not as well off as most Americans.

As far as America’s existence dates, we as Americans have been taught to believe that when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, that although the land was preoccupied with Native Americans, that Europeans were indeed the first Americans. That has since then been refuted, now most modern day Americans have been taught to believe that the Native Americans were the indigenous American people. Although, it has been proven that Native Americans occupied the lands of the Americas before Christopher Columbus left Europe, Columbus is still praised for “discovering” America. New evidence now shows that long before the nomadic hunter gathers of northeast Asia traveled across the land bridge 12,000 years ago, and before Christopher Columbus

In this modern day and age, racism and prejudice cases have increased tremendously that it seems that it has turned into a common practice to many American citizens. Whether a person is of European, Asian, African, or Hispanic descent, everyone has a story regarding how they or their family came to America and a history topic that they can relate to. Throughout history lessons or classes, many students have noticed the numerous movements and speeches that minority groups have created, led, and given. However, there is one ethnic group, which represents half of my racial-identity, that is still hiding under the shadows and has not yet had their voices completely heard, the indigenous peoples of America.

Each individual makes up the society as it is, and various characteristics and beliefs makes up an individual. Although, individual lives together with a variety of personal ideologies, emotions, cultures, and rituals, they all differentiate one person from the other making up one’s own identity. This identity makes up who one is inside and out, their behaviour, actions, and words comes from their own practices and values. However, the profound history of Indigenous people raises question in the present about their identities. Who are they really? Do we as the non-native people judge them from the outside or the inside? Regardless of whether the society or the government were involved in their lives, they faced discrimination in every