[Aztlan] American Indians vs Native Americans

[Archaeology Institute]

Dear Listeros,

	In a recent presentation by the great grandaughter of Sioux elder Black Elk, of Black Elk Speaks fame, a very specific distinction was made between the use of the preferred terminology of American Indian versus and Native American.  According to
Dr. C. Kim Winkelman of Comanche Nation College, the use of the term Native American came into vogue when Hawaiian and Alaskan "Native" peoples initiated their own respective fights for government acknowledgement.  In my many years of interacting
with Res based indigenous peoples in North America, the preferred moniker has generally been that of American Indian.  In my travels throughout Mexico and Central America, community and regional ethnic monkiers have been used.  Therefore, where
native North Americans are concerned, the use of the term American Indian is the appropriate term, whereas when referring to, or self-identifying with Hawaiian or Alaskan indigenous populations, the generic term is that of Native American.

	As per some statements made by Listeros regarding the fallacy of race, and its indeterminate or irrelevant standing among indigenous populations, the reality is that despite the negligible genetic distance between one "racialized" population and
another, and ourselves and other primates, the reality is that phenotypical, physical, and religious distinctions continues to justify violence, conflict, "racism," and warfare between these same groups.  To suggest that the "falacy of race"
invalidates the very notion of racism is akin to saying that faith invalidates science and vice versa.  As a "Chicano" archaeologist, I know all too well that despite my phenotypical and physical similarities to other "Americans," I continue to find
myself questioned, and at times, interrogated, and "encouraged" to self identify with one or another ethnic group.

	So as to negotiate the benefits and pitfalls of such self identification, I have generally taken to code-switching between one identity and another...as have many of those friends, family, and colleagues who find themselves similarly challenged. 
Given what I have learned through experience and study, I know ethnicity and self-identification to become most pronounced among those forced to self-identify for the sake of survival in conflict-ridden interactions with outsides.  Growing up
American, I came to accept the racist and ethnocentric comments and characterizations of my family by the otherwise ignorant peoples of my hometown...but did not form an "ethnic" identity in so far as Chicanismo is concerned until I found myself
experiencing the same degree of racist and ethnocentric discourse among those within the academic and scholarly setting of the University of Arizona.  While I could forgive the vitriolic, and often violent, racism and ignorance of those in my
hometown, I was unable to accept this same level of intollerance among the educated in a university setting...and at that point, found myself fiercely identifying with fellow Chicano and Latino activists.  In sum, the very origins of ethnicity play
a role in both survival, and in group solidarity and identity...and the question of whether we should label all indigenous peoples in the Americas by one label or the other is in essence a moot point.  Ironically, where labels are concerned, while
multiculturalists push to embrace "ethnic" diversity, I find it ironic that the very term ethnos, and thereby, ethnicity, was one used by Mediterranean civilizations to identify and label "barbarians" and enemy aliens.  

Best Regards,

Ruben G. Mendoza, Ph.D., Director
Institute for Archaeological Science, Technology and Visualization
Social and Behavioral Sciences
California State University Monterey Bay
100 Campus Center
Seaside, California 93955-8001

Email: archaeology.csumb at gmail.edu
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