Stereotypes of Native Americans

Stereotypes of Native Americans

Stereotypes of Native Americans are pervasive throughout the world. Indigenous peoples of the Americas include Inuit, Iñupiat, Cup'ik/Yup'ik peoples and American Indians, commonly called Native Americans or First Nations (in Canada). This article primarily discusses stereotypes present in Canadian and American culture, but the same or similar stereotypes are present in many other societies as well. [1]

Contents

In North America

If one focusses on one of the most serious problems some Indians and reservations have, American Indian alcoholism can result in the application of an ethnic stereotype to all American Indians.[2]

Native Americans were also portrayed as fierce warriors and braves, often appearing in school sports teams' names until such team names fell into disfavor in the later 20th Century. Many school team names have been revised to reflect current sensibilities, though professional teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, and the Washington Redskins continue. Some controversial upper-level Native American team mascots such as Chief Noc-A-Homa and Chief Illiniwek have been discontinued; others like Chief Wahoo and Chief Osceola and Renegade remain.

The Media Awareness Network of Canada (MNet) has prepared a number of statements about the portrayals of American Indians, First Nations of Canada and Alaskan Natives in the media:

  • Westerns and documentaries have tended to portray Natives in stereotypical terms: the wise elder, the aggressive drunk, the Indian princess, the loyal sidekick, obese and impoverished. These images have become known across North America.
  • Native Americans have been stereotyped as nature lovers or devoted environmentalists who believe that all people must respect it. This is shown in TV, comic books and video games.
  • Hollywood's portrayal of the American West essentially used Native tribes as a malignant presence to be wiped out or reined in, or depicted as a form of local "wildlife".
  • Western stereotypes of Native Americans tend to portray them as "trackers", with the ability to track and hunt down anything living. Notable examples in film are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Predator.
  • Portrayals of Native characters as primitive, criminal, violent, rapists, deceptive, lower intellect, or as passive and full of childlike obedience, extended to TV, movies, novels, radio talk shows and comics.[citation needed]
  • In the 1980s and 1990s, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) made efforts to improve the portrayals of Aboriginal people in its television dramas. Spirit Bay, The Beachcombers, North of 60 and The Rez used Native actors to portray their own people, living real lives and earning believable livelihoods in identifiable parts of the country.
  • U.S. television has been slower to respond to criticisms of native American stereotyping, although there have been a few efforts to change the situation.
  • Stereotyped issues include simplistic characterizations, romanticization of Native culture and stereotyping by omission—showing American Indians in a historical rather than modern context.[3]
  • Native Americans are perceived as rich per gaming revenues. Not all tribes own tribal gaming operations/establishments and many tribal groups have issues on not everyone of their tribal ancestry being able to obtain paychecks if they can't prove their tribal membership roll.
  • The claim that all Native Americans have a vast amount of knowledge about medicine, even surpassing modern medicine using items they find in nature.
  • The Operation Geronimo name controversy rose in May 2011.
  • The assertion that Native Americans cannot grow facial hair is a common misconception and stereotype.[4][5][6][7][8]
“ What is more, many Europeans think that male Native Americans never shave but still do not have beards. The common explanation for this "miracle" is that they tear out their beards until they stop growing at all. To a large extent, these stereotypes are based on famous stories by Karl May ("Winnetou"), a German teacher who wrote innumerable novels about Native Americans in the 19th century. Interestingly, May had never seen Native Americans with his own eyes. ”

—- 'Idaho Natives'[8]

Inuit stereotypes

Inuit or Eskimo people are usually dressed in parkas, carving out trinkets, living in igloos, going fishing with a harpoon, traveling by sleigh and huskies, eating cod-liver oil and the men are usually called Nanook in reference to the documentary Nanook of the North. Eskimo children may have a seal for a best friend. Eskimos are often believed to have an unusually large number of words for snow. This is however, an urban legend.

Eskimos are sometimes shown rubbing each other noses together as some sort of greeting ritual (Eskimo kissing). They're also often depicted surrounded by polar bears, walruses and inaccurately, with penguins, which only live in the Southern hemisphere and not on the North Pole. Sometimes Eskimos themselves are depicted living on the South Pole, which is again wrong for the same reason.

See also

References

  1. ^ Fleming, Walter C. Myths and Stereotypes About Native Americans. [1], Phi Delta Kappan, November 7, 2006, accessed February 14, 2011.
  2. ^ *"American Indians and Alcohol"
  3. ^ Media Awareness Network. "Common Portrayals of Aboriginal People"
  4. ^ "Amerindian Pictures Painted by Those Who Were There". Hutchison Research Center. http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/memorial/68/aipics.html. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 
  5. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions - Page 2". WWW Virtual Library - American Indians, Index of Native American Resources on the Internet. http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/faq2.html. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 
  6. ^ "Iroquois History". Jordan S. Dill. http://www.tolatsga.org/iro.html. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 
  7. ^ "Native American Hairstyles". Native Languages of the Americas website © 1998-2009. http://www.native-languages.org/hair.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-21. 
  8. ^ a b "Idaho Natives: American movies help perpetuate European stereotypes". Idaho Natives. http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/idahonatives/american.html. Retrieved 2011-01-21. 

External links

v · d · eEthnic stereotypes in Western culture

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