I work in a Canadian government office, and we use Aboriginal as an official term which includes both First Nation and Inuit people (also officialy prescribed terms). I suspect Native American might be a similarly inclusive term to include all the Eskimo* groups in Alaska as well as Indians.
*Is there a single term by which all Alaska Eskimos call themselves? I know Eskimo is not correct (and may even be seen as insulting), but I believe that Inuit only includes the eastern Arctic coast area of Alaska, with Aleuts?? in the western half of the state.
Funny local story: I live in the city of Wenatchee, WA. This city is supposedly named after the local Indian tribe, the Wenatchi.
Turns out that the local tribe were not really called Wenatchi. The word “wenatchi” actually came from the language of the Yakama tribe, some distance south of here. The Yakama were and are the largest tribe in the region, and so they were the people who had the most contact with early explorers and missionaries. Therefore, theirs was the language learned by those explorers. So, when the explorers needed to know the names of the surrounding tribes, for the purpose of mapmaking, they asked the Yakama for help rather than going and asking those other tribes what they called themselves.
The result is that “Wenatchi” actually means, roughly, “those people over there”.
The newspaper article likened this to you not being at home when the census-takers come around. The census-takers decide to ask your neighbor who you are, and you end up in the books as “The guy across the street”.
Interesting. I though it came from the Cree word esqimook (not sure of phonetic spelling). The ‘uk’/‘ook’ ending is common to Ojibway (Anishnaube) , which is related to Cree, and designates third person plural. I think. It’s been a long time since I studied Ojibway. “Quae”=woman, “quaewuk”= those women over there.
I wrestled with the “American Indian” vs. “Native American” choice when I purchased my bookstore. How should I label those shelves? I settled on American Indian because that’s what most of the local ones call themselves (we’re very close to the Crow reservation, and there are also plenty of Lakota, Assiniboine, and Blackfoot around here).
I received a hearty chewing-out from a group of New York tourists for being insensitive.
At the time, I was teaching at a local college, and most of my students were Indians, as was one of the staff members in my department. I asked her what she’d prefer to be called (assuming I didn’t know her tribe), and I think her answer was worth saving for posterity.
She said (and this is a paraphrase): “It’s not the words you use. It’s the tone of voice. As long as you speak with respect, I don’t care if you call me Native American or Indian. But if you call me a ‘squaw’ I’ll cut your heart out.”
Exactly. I’m glad to get confirmation from someone I’ve probably never met, nor ever likely to.
As for the word “squaw”, Cecil has spoken. You’ll pardon me for not accepting his as the final word. Here’s another site which gives lots of information, including a link to Cecil’s opinion. It should already be obvious I’m not big on PC. However, it has been used in a pejorative fashion for a very long time, and I’d personally perfer not hear it used around me.
So far, my informal poll of American Indians out here in Montana is running approximately like this:
50% prefer American Indian
0% prefer Native American
50% really couldn’t care less
Just about all of them prefer to be called by their tribal name if you know it. In other words, only call a Lakota an Indian if you don’t know he’s a Lakota.
Does anybody know of a good pronunciation guide to “real” tribal names? I’m not sure how to pronounce some of them, and don’t have easy access to members of the tribe.
I forgot to add that use of the word “squaw” in literature - and I can specifically cite the works of L. M. Montgomery (who is otherwise one of my favorite early 20th century authors) in which it is made quite clear that “squaws” were considered inferior.
I didn’t add negative links to the previous post because I assume that Dopers know how to google. But, just to give you an idea of what’s out there, try this
FWIW, I’ve met lots of Inuit, and none who classified themselves as Eskimo.
Timmy (Inuit from Inuvik) says it just depends on which side of the Canada/Us border they happen to be on for some of it, and the Baffin Island Inuit are not the same people as the Inuvik Inuit, and not the same as the Northern Alaska Eskimo. Different peoples within the same language family and body type, like the difference between Northern Tutchone and Southern Tutchone. Dunno if that’s fact, but that’s what he told me.
But, just to give you an idea of what’s out there, try