Past Tense: History of History

NAMING NAMES

The Heretik knows the first lesson of history is we must know what we are talking about.  To begin to understand math, first you must recognize the numbers for what they are.  People are much more than numbers.  How people are named is how they are understood.  Who gives the name counts too.  Terrorist or freedom fighter?  War hero or mass murderer?  A name is a frame in so many ways.

Thanks to Jeanne  D'Arc  for  inspiring the series  Past  Tense .  Thanks to Elisa for info on Oyate
 

From: Oyate Web Page.

Q. Which is correct, “Native American” or “Indian”?

Q. Which is correct, “Native American” or “Indian”?
Generally, the term "Native American" is used in a formal way (usually written), and the term "Indian" is used informally by community members. People generally introduce themselves first by their name, clan, family, sometimes nation. So someone might introduce herself as "Sally Yazzie" or "Sally Yazzie, Redhouse clan, born for Bitter Water, my family lives up the hill near the big rock." Or she might say to someone who doesn't know that Yazzie is a Din� name, "Sally Yazzie, Din�." Or she might say to an outsider, "Sally Yazzie, Navajo" or "Sally Yazzie, Navajo Indian." In our writing, we use the terms "Native" and "Indian" interchangeably, depending on which word sounds better in the context. In Canada, people refer to themselves as First Nations Peoples. That hasn't caught on here yet. We don't use the term "Native American" very often. Some people do not like the word "Indian," because it refers to Columbus's mistake. Others do not like the term "Native American" because anyone born here is a "native American." And still others do not like the term "American Indian" because it's an oxymoron.

All informed may comment freely.

Comments

[Aponi]

Great writing here! Loved your article! As a writer myself, I have refused to use the words "Native American Indian", when speaking about the people's who inhabited these lands LONG before any Europeans came here. As far as I am concerned, that infers that the peoples of these lands somehow chose to accept the title thrust on them of being 'americans'. In substitution to the articles and stories presented by the Europeans who occupied and settled these lands, I have chosen only to use Native Indian Peoples. Even that does not appeal to me completely, however for the sake of the ignorant "americans" who descended from the European occupiers and/or those who flocked to these lands as a result thereof, I use that term for their shallow understanding. I would instead, enjoy the literary terms and inclusion of the actual names of each tribe, but then again, how many of the ignorant government schooled brainwashed individuals would even know the names of all the tribes, let alone if these names were spelled in the tribal languages, which has been nearly obliterated in the population. Anyway, I just wanted to say I enjoyed reading here LOL Sorry to get so carried away!