It seems to be all the rage to say things like, "Yeah, my great-great grandmother was half Cherokee!" and then act all smug about it. Now, don't get me wrong...I have several friends who are Native American, and I think they're great. However, they also wonder when Caucasians went from shunning the 'red man' to being desperate to be related to them in some way?
2006-10-03 10:53:41 · 24 answers · asked by Silver Tongue 1 in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
As a former tour guide at a state museum, I can say that I heard a LOT of claims about this. As a member of my campus's Native American Student Alliance (and completely not Native American) I can testify that at least in Indiana there ARE a lot of people who make this claim.
There is a perception that there are grants and scholarships for Native Americans to go to school, but in fact almost all are administered by either the Federal Government or Tribal Governments, and for either you have to be a card-carrying member of that Tribe. Also, generally one needs at least 1/4 Native American blood to qualify. And the scholarships are few and far between, in any event.
Another reason is the sense that it IS popular and glamorous-- especially with the advent of New Age mysticism during the second half of the last century. In fact, it became such a problem having fake Indians running around selling goods and services as such that there was a federal law passed to forbid anyone not a registered Indian from pretending to be Indian for the purposes of selling handcrafted (or machine crafted) goods or services.
Just like whenever Disney releases 101 Dalmations and pet shelters across the country brace for a flood of unwanted dalmations, when a new Native American-focused movie (Dances With Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans, Pocahantas) is released or re-released there is a certain percentage of bandwagoners who try to jump on. It is cebrity through proxy, and it detracts quite a bit from the efforts of true Native Americans to raise awareness of serious issues facing them.
Vine Deloria, Jr., believed that this was because white people are in need of a satsifactory spiritual experience. He believed that Christianity simply is not native to this continent, and that the land itself is slowly draining away its appeal. He also, by the way, believed that the European could not find refuge in Native American beliefs, because they are not his way. So he saw it as a quest for something that could not be achieved by someone who also tied themselves to American society.
Whether this idea has any validity or not I don't know, but I presented it because of the viewpoint it gives to the situation and is as good an answer as any I can come up with. I do know that this is not a new phenomenon; as soon as Indian culture was seen as dying out in the early 20th century many groups adopted what they considered to be "Indian rituals," out at bonfires, dancing and whooping in costumes. This was the genesis of such unfortunately memorable caricatures as Chief Illiniwek and Chief Wahoo, and other groups such as the Boy Scouts adopted much Indian iconography.
In fact, in going back to the Boston Tea Party one finds proto-Americans identifying with Indians, dressing in buckskin and wearing face paint and carring tomahawks. Although none of these things were especially unique to Native Americans (pioneers, trappers and other woodsmen wore and used the same things) this immediately identified them as "alien" and "other" to the British and signaled a break from their European identities.
So I would question whether this is anything new.
2006-10-03 17:19:26 · answer #1 · answered by almethod2004 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I dunno... from my perspective, the world would see me as 'white' so that is the life I was born into and who I have to be...although I am glad to acknowledge the L/Dakota and Choctaw lines along with all the rest when rambling (is that the word I want...?) off what my family is. I am proud that it is there, but I don't try to "claim" being anything beyond acknowledging it, I did not grow up in the cultures, it is not my place to "claim" anything.
Partly there are clearly many wannabes...who either acknowledge their line but know nothing about it and aren't willing to do the research or talk to people. (Those types bug me, they seem to think all tribes/Nations are the same and, like what you say, they gladly tell anyone that their great great great great great grand someone was such-in-such. Like it's a special club, but if they HAD to live the hard life that some have on any given rez...hmm) Or it's others that have no line and are total pretenders. I think maybe many whites are starting to see the "white ways," built on greed and money, and are deciding against it. So what do they do...they wrongly turn to the best example that they know of as a life lived with nature, despite the fact that the people before them basically destroyed it. They instead need to try to study early white tribes and look at that if they want to know about certain earlier ways of life...
But that is just my opinions and thoughts...
2006-10-04 10:33:31 · answer #2 · answered by Indigo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think some people (such as myself) have gotten into geneology and actually found my Native American roots. I am of the Cherokee tribe, long hair clan and my people are out of Oklahoma. I was raised with some of the ways and teachings and as I aged I wanted to know more. Not so I can get anything from the tribe, I just want to know where I came from and why I know some of the things I know.
Perhaps you judge to harshly.
2006-10-03 11:04:36 · answer #3 · answered by Starla_C 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It is because we have so many foreigners coming into the country that we feel the need to say this is my country get out, but in order for this to be our country we need to be American Indian because they are the ones that this country should belong to. Also so you know my mother is full blooded Cherokee, so therefor I am half Cherokee.
2006-10-04 05:34:39 · answer #4 · answered by bdbarbie 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Way back then, many white males took Native American brides. This developed mixed races. In the end, many people are just know figuring that they might have Native American heritage.
2006-10-03 11:04:02 · answer #5 · answered by RedCloud_1998 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I suggest you bring up some other subject with the people you are talking to. No one I meet is claiming this and no one I have ever met has done so unless they really were; it is not a rage around here, in California.
2006-10-03 11:06:22 · answer #6 · answered by Goldenrain 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My Grandmother really was half Cherokee and I have always been proud of that. I have never shunned American Indians. I think what we did to them as a people was just tragic as the Holocaust.
We could have learned alot from their simplistic ways of life. Peace.
When you mention Shunning them-people want to remember them as savages because they fought for their freedom and land. Who among us would not have fought for the same thing?
BTW, alot of "Americans" do really have A. Indian blood. Look how they got it!
2006-10-05 10:04:20 · answer #7 · answered by educated guess 5 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Maybe they think the white man will finally pay back what was taken from them years&years ago,just like the blacks think they should get paid because their relative down the line may have been a slave.
2006-10-04 13:27:02 · answer #8 · answered by Tired Old Man 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm not questioning your experience, but I'll say that I have never seen or heard anybody make such a claim. I'm not sure that it really is "all the rage".
2006-10-03 11:01:23 · answer #9 · answered by ratboy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because only Native Americans are true
Americans, and every one else is descendant of a colonists!!
It was and it will always be their land (at least in hart).
2006-10-03 11:04:05 · answer #10 · answered by gobervart 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋