AMERICAN

INDIAN IDENTITY
Native American History
Brad Jones

AMERICAN INDIAN IDENTITY

What is politically correct?
What is offensive?
What should we call ourselves?
What makes you Indian?

AMERICAN INDIAN IDENTITY

A problem for most non-Indians
Indian identity based on outward appearance
Genotype v. Phenotype
Buffalo nickel image
Stereotype of feathers and war bonnets

AMERICAN INDIAN IDENTITY

Federally recognized tribes
Tribal rolls
Blood quantum
CDIB Cards
Diaspora

AMERICAN INDIAN IDENTITY

Being and becoming Indian
Genealogical research (OHS)
Hobbyist (pow wows)
Wantobees
New Agers
Adoption

AMERICAN INDIAN IDENTITY

American Indian cultures
Cultural diversity in North America
10 aboriginal culture areas
578 federally recognized tribes
35+ tribes in Oklahoma

AMERICAN INDIAN IDENTITY

Demographics
1900-1990 American Indian increase of 700%
People claiming Indian race v people claiming Indian

ancestry
1980 census
1970-1980- people claiming to be Indian increased 72%
Why the biggest increase in recorded history?
Three questions asked during the 1980 census

1980 CENSUS

Item 4, pertaining to race

Item 7, which asks about Hispanic ancestry

Item 14, which pertains to general ancestry

Separation of groups suggests politics played a role in constructing race

& ancestry

1980 CENSUS
U.S. Census Bureau admitted this a nonscientific, socially constructed

approach to ethnicity
Self-identification was a new category in determining race
Census Bureau was under attack for inadequately enumerating

minorities

1980 CENSUS
The ambiguities
Race--Indian, white, black--depends on ancestry
But the racial/ethnic categories were arbitrary, rather cryptic, and more

narrow and selective than ancestry

Ex: Item 14 - one could report multiple ancestries
But in Item 4, could only report one race

1980 CENSUS
Hence biracial or multiracial individuals chose only one race or the

other category
Hypodescent the one-drop rule applied more to African Americans

classified as Black/Negro
Hispanics, though, could also chose a race category of black, white, or

Indian
Most Hispanics chose white(Table 3)

INDIAN RACE/ANCESTRY
Native Americans were given 3 choices:
Indian, Eskimo, Aleut
Americans of Indian ancestry had broad racial options like Hispanics
Or as narrow as those of non-Hispanics of color, black, or Asian
Racial options varied regionally, e.g., Northern Plains/Southwest v.

Oklahoma

INDIAN RACE/ANCESTRY
overview
Flexibility in Indian racial self-identification
Compared to Blacks, where hypodescdent rules apply
Most censuses provide conservative numbers of American Indians
If hypodescent were applied to American Indians, there would be more

reported American Indians

INDIAN POPULATION EXPLOSION

An American Indian population explosion
Table 2 - 3 times that of blacks & whites
Sociologists/demographers have hypothesized the causes as declining

infant and adult mortality rates

True, this has caused a slight population increase, but American Indian

health is worse than that of all other Americans

EXPLANATIONS FROM THE

BUREAU
Growth rate not responsible
Immigration, improvement in health, & natural increases also do not

explain American Indian population growth

U.S. Census Bureau gave 4 reasons for the 72% increase between 1970-

1980:
(1) improvements in enumeration process on reservations
(2) Ambiguity in wording of 1980 census item measuring race
(3) Increased use of self-identification
(4) Greater propensity of respondents, particularly in urban areas, to

report Indian race

REALITY/EXPLANATIONS
(1) Enumeration on reservations not a factor since 1/2 of 1980 Indian

population was urban

Increases occurring in non-reservation states
(3) Self-identification responsible for 47% increase between 1950-1960
1960 & 1970 - self-identification for race
1980 race omitted from census - perhaps race & ancestry were

confused

REALITY/EXPLANATIONS
1990 race reintroduced to census, but Indian population continued

to increase
All U.S. Census Bureau possibilities eliminated by Sociologists
One fact: more people were identifying themselves as American Indians
Postmodernism - cultural boundaries more complicated (culture is

porous)

SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
(1) Recruitment, or changes in self-definition; from non-Indian to Indian

in next census
(2) Biological Migration - migration of non-Indian genes into

American Indian genepool; offspring have Indian Identity

(3) New Indians - people who in earlier times (pre-1960) would have

passed unrecognized into white society

(4) New Identification - individuals of Indian ancestry formerly

reported themselves as another race

(5) wannabes - non-Indians who want to be Indian (unkind)

WHO ARE AMERICAN INDIANS?

Items 4 & 14 show problems in relationship between race & ancestry
Indian race = 1.36 million
Indian ancestry = 7.1 million
C. Matthew Snipp proposed 3 levels of Indian ancestry based on this

INDIAN ANCESTRY
American Indians of Indian Ancestry (Core Indians): race & ancestry

reported as exclusively Indian

American Indians of Multiple Ancestry (Ethnic Indians): Indian race,

some non- Indian ancestry

Americans of Indian Descent (Ethnic Indians): non-Indian race, some

Indian ancestry