NationStates Jolt Archive

Have perceptions shifted with more movies and series about Natives? Or are the negative stereotypes still prevalent? Well, yes, stereotypes are negative regardless...but you can guess which one I'd rather be stereotyped as!

Have perceptions shifted with more movies and series about Natives? Or are the negative stereotypes still prevalent? Well, yes, stereotypes are negative regardless...but you can guess which one I'd rather be stereotyped as!
The first one! :D

And I just wanted to point out that people seem confused about what to call us (hence all the names in the title), and that we seem confused about what we want you to call us. The problem is, we're not really sure. We're comfortable with our tribal names, but there are so many, you couldn't (hell, I couldn't) possible know them all or when to use them. There really isn't A term that fits us all well...so expect this confusion to continue for some time.

I'm just back from being in Canadia (as it is now called. I asked the British Embassy to inform the Canadian govt. and the Queen) for 10 days, and the first night we stayed in some native place. I forget its name.

What I have learnt is that tee pees are surprisingly comfortable, and that all native stories start with "a long time ago"

I'm just back from being in Canadia (as it is now called. I asked the British Embassy to inform the Canadian govt. and the Queen) for 10 days, and the first night we stayed in some native place. I forget its name.

What I have learnt is that tee pees are surprisingly comfortable, and that all native stories start with "a long time ago"
You fool...that was a theme park! All our stories actually begin with 'Many Moons Ago..."

I think they have. Many more films and television shows place Native Americans in positive roles, or at least show them as the original inhabitants defending themselves against the incursion of a new and often hostile group. Gone are the days of the cowboys-and-indians type stuff that consistently painted native cultures as savages who only wanted to kill/rape/steal from the "innocent" settlers.

As a history buff, I knew about the real history of the West, and how the native Americans were treated. I'm happy that there are more attempts at portraying a closer picture of their cultures than before, but there is still work to do.

You fool...that was a theme park! All our stories actually begin with 'Many Moons Ago..."
lies!

It was some ojibway place.

it was a bit touristy, but it was no theme park! :p

and then some native woman came and spoke to us when we were staying somewhere else. all her stories began with "a long time ago" as well :D

I'm happy that there are more attempts at portraying a closer picture of their cultures than before, but there is still work to do.
Yeah...like perhaps some modern day portrayals of our culture? We don't just exist in the history books... :p

And I just wanted to point out that people seem confused about what to call us (hence all the names in the title), and that we seem confused about what we want you to call us. The problem is, we're not really sure. We're comfortable with our tribal names, but there are so many, you couldn't (hell, I couldn't) possible know them all or when to use them. There really isn't A term that fits us all well...so expect this confusion to continue for some time.

Sinuhue, may I ask what tribe you're part of?

My dad works with Chippewa in northern Wisconsin

And I just wanted to point out that people seem confused about what to call us (hence all the names in the title), and that we seem confused about what we want you to call us. The problem is, we're not really sure. We're comfortable with our tribal names, but there are so many, you couldn't (hell, I couldn't) possible know them all or when to use them. There really isn't A term that fits us all well...so expect this confusion to continue for some time.
I was under the impression that the proper terms were "Native Americans" for the first Americans, and "Aboriginals" for the first Australians.

You know what's fucked up? In my daily life I meet no native Americans. I have a couple of friends who claim to have a little cherokee in their family tree, but they don't look or act different from an ordinary white guy and black guy respectively. No tribal religion, no special clothing, nothing to show any affiliation with a Native American tribe.

I don't see any people who look like a Native American. I don't hear about them. Because there are none around I don't even have any stereotypes about them. The first time I heard a derogatory term for Native Americans was here on NS.

The fact that Native Americans are so scarce in New Jersey that I don't even get exposed to stereotypes is kind of screwed up.

lies!

It was some ojibway place.

it was a bit touristy, but it was no theme park! :p

and then some native woman came and spoke to us when we were staying somewhere else. all her stories began with "a long time ago" as well :D
And these Ojibway were still living in teepees (wow...considering they never did in the first place...they were more wigwam people actually:))? Did this woman have smudges of brown boot polish around her collar? :D

Just funnin'!

Sinuhue, may I ask what tribe you're part of?

My dad works with Chippewa in northern Wisconsin
I'm Plains Cree on my mother's side. Paul Band. (Alberta)

I think I like that first stereotype better, Sinuhue. Tell me, how well do you match that stereotype?

My dad works with Chippewa in northern Wisconsin
And works with, in what capacity?

I used to live with a very hot Cherokee stripper a few years ago.
Damn, she could ride a stick-shift up O-mountain like no other.

I choose the first, and cyberspit on anyone ignorant enough to vote on the second.

And these Ojibway were still living in teepees (wow...considering they never did in the first place...they were more wigwam people actually:))? Did this woman have smudges of brown boot polish around her collar? :D

Just funnin'!
ok, wigwam, but tee pee is a much funnier word...you can argue with that!

nah they werent living in them, just renting them out to gullible europeans. in a similar way to how we pretend to gullible americans we have leprachauns in our gardens, and then sell them loads of plastic shit :)

it was good though, i know it wasnt authentic or anything, but i know more about natives than i did beforehand, and ive discovered that buffalo tastes good

I was under the impression that the proper terms were "Native Americans" for the first Americans, and "Aboriginals" for the first Australians.

People have to agree for there to be 'proper terms'. In Canada, 'First Nations' is more common than Native American. But we also use Aboriginals (call each other Abos all the time), and some still stick with Indian. It's kind of hard...because everyone else in North America can call themselves by the country or countries they originated from as well as the one they live in now. So you can be German-American...what am I...Canadian-Canadian?:)

I used to live with a very hot Cherokee stripper a few years ago.
Damn, she could ride a stick-shift up O-mountain like no ther.

I choose the first, and cyberspit on anyone ignorant enough to vote on the second.

Well I think you see the second one more often today. Picking it doesn't make you a bad person.

People have to agree for their to be 'proper terms'. In Canada, 'First Nations' is more common than Native American. But we also use Aboriginals (call each other Abos all the time), and some still stick with Indian. It's kind of hard...because everyone else in North America can call themselves by the country or countries they originated from as well as the one they live in now. So you can be German-American...what am I...Canadian-Canadian?:)
Cree-Canadian?

Yeah...like perhaps some modern day portrayals of our culture? We don't just exist in the history books... :p

Oh. You didn't get the memo ....

You are supposed to be extinct!! :eek: :D


Anyway, I love First Nations, but that would refer to Tribes, not individuals, I think. And it isn't used so much down here in the US.

In my experience/reading, Indians or American Indians is acceptable and sometimes preferred in the US. Indian is also the technical legal term in the US. The term has obviously bad roots, but tends to be embraced.

On the other hand, I've never heard an objection to Native American and many Indian organizations in the US use it.

Aboriginals isn't a term you tend to see used here in the US.

You know what's fucked up? In my daily life I meet no native Americans. I have a couple of friends who claim to have a little cherokee in their family tree, but they don't look or act different from an ordinary white guy and black guy respectively. No tribal religion, no special clothing, nothing to show any affiliation with a Native American tribe.

I don't see any people who look like a Native American. I don't hear about them. Because there are none around I don't even have any stereotypes about them. The first time I heard a derogatory term for Native Americans was here on NS.

The fact that Native Americans are so scarce in New Jersey that I don't even get exposed to stereotypes is kind of screwed up.
Chris Rock made a very telling joke one day, it went a little like,

"Damn, black people think THEY got it tough...shit, they ain't got it tough...now the Indians...THEY got it tough. When was the last time you saw a family of Indians sitting down in Denny's? Huh? Never, right? Shit."

We tend to be either isolated on reservation land, or in inner city settings where it's easy to not see us. And our population compared to other populations is very small. So yeah...a lot of people won't ever have direct contact with natives in the US...it's a bit more common in Canada but we are still more rural maybe?

I think I like that first stereotype better, Sinuhue. Tell me, how well do you match that stereotype?
Quit diggin...no pickee flickee for you! :D

I choose the first, and cyberspit on anyone ignorant enough to vote on the second.
Ah...but this is about what people think MOST OTHER PEOPLE think about natives...not necessarily their opinions (thought that's fine too).

People have to agree for their to be 'proper terms'. In Canada, 'First Nations' is more common than Native American. But we also use Aboriginals (call each other Abos all the time), and some still stick with Indian. It's kind of hard...because everyone else in North America can call themselves by the country or countries they originated from as well as the one they live in now. So you can be German-American...what am I...Canadian-Canadian?:)
See, I don't even know anything about Canada, except that Celine Dion and Alanis Morisette are both from there, and y'all just passed a gay marriage law over there and stuff...

ok, wigwam, but tee pee is a much funnier word...you can argue with that!
We use TP to mean toilet paper too...and there are SOOOOOOO many teepee/TP jokes....

nah they werent living in them, just renting them out to gullible europeans. in a similar way to how we pretend to gullible americans we have leprachauns in our gardens, and then sell them loads of plastic shit :)
WHAT!!?? NO leprachauns? No fairies? Screw Ireland, I'm selling my tickets on Ebay!

it was good though, i know it wasnt authentic or anything, but i know more about natives than i did beforehand, and ive discovered that buffalo tastes good
Then it was all for good...mmmm....buffalo....

And works with, in what capacity?

health care administration

he's now actually on a council that oversees spending for the Great Lakes area... but he's been in NoWisc for about 25 years now, doing more or less the same job

Quit diggin...no pickee flickee for you! :D

:(

Oh. You didn't get the memo ....

You are supposed to be extinct!! :eek: :D


Anyway, I love First Nations, but that would refer to Tribes, not individuals, I think. And it isn't used so much down here in the US.
It's an awkward term. I'm a "person of the First Nations" is harder to say than "Indian", and doesn't get as many blank looks, but still...

In my experience/reading, Indians or American Indians is acceptable and sometimes preferred in the US. Indian is also the technical legal term in the US. The term has obviously bad roots, but tends to be embraced. We still have the Indian Act too...name hasn't been changed.

And aboriginal is becoming more and more popular here. Aboriginal days, aboriginal youth...I think it's probably the most widely used term in government and in everyday language.

WHAT!!?? NO leprachauns? No fairies? Screw Ireland, I'm selling my tickets on Ebay!
Yea but dont tell anyone about the fairies, nobody would want your ticket if they knew.

Well...that's it for me today folks...have a wonderful weekend...I'm going to go make a hot, exotic Pocahontas drunken bum of myself:) Well, except I'm going to try to avoid drinking...I've been getting back into it after almost 5 years dry :( So I'll just be weird an neurotic instead...much like I am on NS!

BYE!

Well I think you see the second one more often today. Picking it doesn't make you a bad person.
Hey sweets! How ya been?

I'll take the Chris Rock route and say that I (even living in Florida) haven't seen many Indians anywhere.

"When was the last time you saw a whole family of Indians eating together at Denny's?" ~CR

:p So true.

It's funny though, how some Native Americans can spot another. From my mother's side of the family I got Cherokee and Iroquoi(sp?), from my father's side I got Apatchee, Blackfoot and Sioux. Of course there's also the Irish, English and Scottish in there too. Most people look at me and ask if I am greek or italian. Except for other natives, they see the blood.

In some ways I think I am lucky in that although I lived in a city most of my life, I lived around a reservation for a little while and went to school with native kids. I have a lot of pride in my heritedge, and it kills me everytime I see a native on the street begging or drunk. I want to ask them if they have no pride in who they are, if they have no pride in where they came from...and then I get angry. Because I know why, in some ways, what some of the contributing factors were to how they got there. A reservation is often times a sad and desolate place, as are the Native American 'Agencies'. (In the U.S. reservations were where they put the natives that didn't cooperate, agencies were where the good indians went. riiiigggghhhhtttt.)

most of what i hear about actual native americans(as in not tv or movie native roles) is about their use of inhalants. except when the red earth festival is near.

Well...that's it for me today folks...have a wonderful weekend...I'm going to go make a hot, exotic Pocahontas drunken bum of myself:) Well, except I'm going to try to avoid drinking...I've been getting back into it after almost 5 years dry :( So I'll just be weird an neurotic instead...much like I am on NS!

BYE!

No! Don't leave me!