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Both the term “American Indian” and “Native American” are designations for the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere unilaterally bestowed by Europeans. The native peoples are not “Indians” as Columbus mistakenly called them; nor are they “Americans” as this appellation derives from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. The native peoples were here many thousands of years before either Christopher Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci arrived on this continent.
Not only were the native peoples renamed as a group by the Europeans, they were also renamed individually. The stealing of one’s name and the imposition of another is the greatest crime because it is the theft of one’s basic identity and personhood.
The Pulitzer Prize winning author N. Scott Momaday wrote of the importance of names in his book “The Names: A Memoir.” In his book, he speaks of the importance of the ancient names of people, animals, places, and even inanimate objects. He speaks of names as both primal and eternal.
A captivating writer, he is the son of the author Natachee Scott Momaday and the artist Al Momaday, and claims both Kiowa and Cherokee ancestry.
Yes, thanks for this post. Scott Momaday also narrates “More Than Bows and Arrows”. It’s an old documentary but very informative.
A survey of Native high school and college students reported by “Native Americas” (Winter, 1997) revealed that more than 96% of the students surveyed identified with their tribe, and greater than 40% identified themselves exclusively with their tribe. Just slightly more than 50% identified themselves as citizens of the U.S.
N. Scott Momaday echoed this sentiment when he declared, “I sometimes think the contemporary white American is more culturally deprived than the Indian.”
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