First Peoples of North America
Posted by Erica September 25th, 2004 • Uncategorized • Permalink
Slate answers the question, “American Indian” or “Native American”?
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4 Responses to “First Peoples of North America”
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September 25th, 2004 at 11:03 am
Funny this should come up as I had a similar discussion with a Navajo woman yesterday. In the conversation she used the terms Native American and American Indian interchangably. She personally doesn’t care if people use the term “Indian” by itself but chooses to not use the term.
She also pointed out that many Navajo hate the term “Navajo” since that is not who they are but a word given to describe them by the Spanish. Many Navajo prefer the tern “Diné” which means “The People” in their language.
September 26th, 2004 at 5:46 pm
heh.. the answer should be neither. i think i’ll refrain from reading that lest i get pissed.
September 26th, 2004 at 7:26 pm
While not exactly the same type of question, I do find similarities between the whole “Black/African-American” issue. I know people who prefer one term over the other, and so forth and so on. Same thing with Native Americans (the terminology I use unless someone tells me they prefer something else: American Indian, their individual tribe, Native, First Nation, etc.). In so many ways, it’s a personal and relative decision.
September 27th, 2004 at 12:31 pm
I do find similarities between the whole “Black/African-American” issue.
Agreed. There’s not really even a “correct” term, and each term has its own connotation and baggage.