AVOIDING MYTHS AND STEREOTYPES
This is a guide which is designed to help
teachers from
perpetuating wrong information concerning
Native Americans.
It is important to teach that Native People
are human beings
with many things in common with other human
beings physically,
but have different cultural ways.
One should not expect to understand Native
Peoples
(or any other people for that matter)
in order to gain respect for them.
Respect precedes understanding.
Avoid using the term "Indians" or "Native
Americans" when referring
specifically to one Nation or culture .
One would not say "Europeans" when one is
specifically referring to Germans.
When referring to the indigenous peoples
of the western hemisphere in general,
use "Native People".
"American Indians" and "Native Americans"
are least preferred.
Avoid terms such as "squaw", "brave", or
"papoose".
"Woman", "man", and "baby" are correct.
Avoid stereotypic portrayals of Native Peoples
as
fierce, hostile, warlike, stoic, stealthy,
savage, etc.
Native People are human beings and have
a variety of personal traits, good and bad.
Avoid phrases such as "acting like a bunch
of wild Indians",
"Indian giver", "going on the warpath",
"let's have a powwow",
"sitting Indian style" (cross-legged),
"walking Indian file", "paleface", "redskin",
etc.
Do not assume that a child of Native heritage
knows anything about what happened in the
past or is expert in his culture.
Do not assume that the skills of Native adults
in the past can be easily learned by children.
This assumption makes Native life appear
to be simple and childlike.
It takes years for people to master adult
level skills.
Do not refer to the European colonists as
the "first settlers".
The underlying assumption is that Native
People just roamed across the land.
Native People were settled in this continent
for thousands of years.
Avoid using the term "prehistoric".
This only means, in common usage, before
the presence of
European methods of recording events of
the past.
"Pre-contact" refers to the time before
European presence in this continent.
Avoid use of the word "primitive". Native
People, and others, of long ago
were quite able to take care of themselves
and had technology
which we today would find difficult to master
if we ever could.
If a story contains both Native People and
Euro-Americans,
do not use "Indians" to refer to the former
and "people" to refer to the latter.
Distinguish them by their nationalities.
Do not dress up animals in pictures as "Indians".
Do not dress up children as "Indians".
Some in particular prefer to reserve the
right
of their traditional dress for themselves.
Also some items of dress must be earned
before permission is granted even amongst
Native People.
Do not attempt to re-enact Native ceremonies.
This is considered to be sacrilegious.
Avoid generalizations such as, "Indians lived
in tipis"
when such cultural practices were not general
amongst Native People
but specific to certain cultures.
One would not say that, "Europeans lived
in castles."
Avoid generalized statements about Native
People being above human faults.
For example, the statement that Native People
never wasted anything is impossible to reconcile
with true human behavior.
It is more proper to express that Native
People
disliked waste or tried to discourage waste.
Do not use Native People as objects to be counted or alphabetized.
Do not use images of Native People as mascots
for groups.
Such images dehumanize Native People and
cause hurt feelings.
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