How the Native American population changed since the last census

Re:How the Native American population changed since the last... by reaperducer on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @08:58AM (#29993659)

why in the world would you give general advice on "Indian" naming?

I'm not. I'm reiterating what has been told to me by close to a dozen Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni indians.

Why would some random archaeologist decide for a large group of people what they should be called, when they call themselves something else?

I happen to have the January 6, 2020 edition of The Navajo Times on my desk. Just skimming the headlines (because I haven't read it yet), I see the following:

"Phoenix Indian Center," "Gallup Indian Medical Center," "Indian Health Service," "Santa Fe Indian."

The Four Corners region of the United States is called "Indian Country" by the indians who live there.

What give you the right to tell people what they can call themselves?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the Native American population changed since the last... by AlotOfReading on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @11:18AM (#29995622)

I'd encourage you to re-read what I wrote, because I've very intentionally avoided telling anyone what they can call themselves.

Part of this whole respecting preferences is that individual terms have to be treated separately. "Indian" is different than "American Indian" which is again different from "Indian country" or "Indian law". Someone may dislike some or most of these without necessarily disliking the others. The ones with specific technical meanings we're unfortunately stuck with in context.

Another popular example of this sort of issue is "Navajo" itself, as many would prefer to be called Diné or some derivative thereof.

[ Parent | on HN ]