A&E Television Networks, LLC. (2018). Indian Reservations. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/indian-reservations

Austin, A. (2013, December 17). Native Americans and Jobs: The Challenge and the Promise. Retrieved from https://www.epi.org/publication/bp370-native-americans-jobs/

Brescia, W., & Daily, T. (2007). Economic development and technology-skill needs on American Indian reservations. The American Indian Quarterly, (1), 23. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.170112342&authtype=sso&custid=s3915890&site=eds-live&scope=site

Charbonneau-Dahlen, B. K., Lowe, J., & Morris, S. L. (2016). Giving Voice to Historical Trauma Through Storytelling: The Impact of Boarding School Experience on American Indians. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 25(6), 598–617. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2016.1157843

Chow, K. (2018, February 09). So What Exactly Is ‘Blood Quantum’? Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/02/09/583987261/so-what-exactly-is-blood-quantum

Eagles, V. T. (2011, October 25). What Is An Indian? Self-Identity as an Indigenous Person « Native American / American Indian Blog by Partnership With Native Americans. Retrieved from http://blog.nativepartnership.org/what-is-an-indian-self-identity/

Library of Congress. (2018, March 27). Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents in American History. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/indian.html

Marolt, L. (2013, April 10). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and the Problems with Reservations. Retrieved from https://classracegender.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian-and-the-problems-with-reservations/

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2018). Experiencing Intercultural Communication: An Introduction (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Edication.

Mcgill, M. H. (2018, February 07). The least connected people in America. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2018/02/07/rural-indian-reservations-broadband-access-000628

Nagel, J. (1995). American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Politics and the Resurgence of Identity. American Sociological Review, (6), 947. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.2096434&authtype=sso&custid=s3915890&site=eds-live&scope=site

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). (2018). Tribal Nations & the United States: An Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.ncai.org/about-tribes

Running Strong for the American Indian Youth. (2018). The Poverty Cycle. Retrieved from http://indianyouth.org/american-indian-life/poverty-cycle

Tahreem, S., Hashmi, F. A., & Mushtaq, K. (2017). Lying with Truth: A Fictionalized Confrontation with History. NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry, 15(2), 134–150. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cms&AN=132703882&authtype=sso&custid=s3915890&site=ehost-live&scope=site

US Census Bureau. (2018, August 03). American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2015/cb15-ff22.html

Young, K. (2018). A Fight over Identity: Native American Sports Mascots. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 98(3), 18–21. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=132687567&authtype=sso&custid=s3915890&site=eds-live&scope=site

“Identity is created by the development of the ‘self’ (our self concept), in spurts, through communications over a long period of time” (Martin, & Nakayama, 2018). A person has multiple identities in their ‘self’ such as age identity, gender identity, sexual identity, racial identity, ethnic identity, physical ability identity, religious identity, class identity, national identity, regional identity, and personal identity. A person has multiple identities because everyone belongs to various groups, and each identity comes into play at different times (Martin & Nakayama, 2018).

One major influence on a Native American’s cultural identity is the blood quantum. In order to be considered a citizen of a tribe, one must contain a certain amount of “Indian Blood” in their system. The “Indian Blood” amount is determined by how many Native ancestors a person has. For example, a person with a fully Native parent, and a non-Native parent, would be considered half Native. The federal government issues a “certified degree of Indian blood” which is similar to an I.D. card (Chow, 2018). This influences the racial identity of Native Americans because the blood quantum “emerged as a way to measure “Indian-ness” through a construct of race. So that over time, Indians would literally breed themselves out and rid the federal government of their legal duties to uphold treaty obligations” (Chow, 2018).

Another influence on Native American’s identity are the reservations, which over one million Native Americans still reside today. The Native Americans were removed from their land and forced to live on reservations with qualities that are comparable to third world countries. The reservations were meant to be prisons, the Native Americans were supposed to move to the reservations to disappear and eventually die (Marlot, 2013). “Not only had tribes lost their native lands, but it was almost impossible to maintain their culture and traditions inside a confined area” (A&E Television Networks LLC, 2018).  The places in which the government established reservations were far from fertile land, water supply, and population centers which is essentially forcing them to live in isolation (Running Strong for the American Indian Youth, 2018). This affects their regional identity. A Native American man who experienced being forced from his land said, “Our identity as Native people – my identity as a native person – is tied intimately to the land” (Eagles, 2011).

When it comes to their class identity, the Native American race is the poorest of all races. 27% of Native Americans live in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau which does not include residents on reservations. “Native Americans have the lowest employment rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Native American students were the only population of students without improvements to their math and reading scores between 2005 and 2011, and less than 50% of Native American teens graduate high school (Running Strong for the American Indian Youth, 2018).

The article “A Fight Over Identity: Native American Sports Mascots” examines both sides of the argument about Native American sports mascots. “Each side of the dispute makes a passionate claim to an identity, which is why these debates are often highly contentious and intractable” (Young, 2018). The opposing side argues that the mascots promote harsh stereotypes which is offensive to all of the Native American population, but especially for the students of Native American descent. It creates an unwelcome and hostile learning environment and which directly results in low self esteem (Young, 2018). The argument in favor of the Native American mascot is that it generates collective identity. “Sports is one of the most significant shapers of collective or group identity in the contemporary world” (Young, 2018). Another argument in favor of the mascot is that they do not view the Native mascot to be racist. Young concludes by acknowledging that as long as this is an issue of identity for both sides, the issue is likely to stay controversial.

 

 

“Many different kinds of history influence our understanding of who we are as individuals, as family members, as members of cultural groups, as citizens of a nation” (Martin & Nakayama, 2018). There are many different types of histories such as family histories, social histories, national histories, sexual orientation histories, religion histories, racial and ethnic histories, diasporic histories, colonial, socioeconomic class histories, and cultural group histories and often overlap and influence each other (Martin & Nakayama, 2018). Acknowledging histories is important for communication, especially intercultural communication because it helps develop one’s identity and everyone’s histories have a different meaning to them as an individual.

Native Americans were the first people to live in the America, and in 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian Explorer, found the Bahamas. The Taino tribe was already settled on the Island, and they welcomed Columbus and his crew. In Columbus’ journals he wrote about the generosity of the Natives, and the beauty of the land. He tried to colonize on, what he thought was the “New World”, but it did not go as planned. He was not finding as much gold as he expected, and was not having any luck with growing crops. This made Columbus angry, so he and his crew took it out on the Natives. They were captured and taken to Spain and used as Slaves, the women were taken and raped, and more. When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella received word that the colonization was not going well, Columbus returned home to Spain. This was just a preview to Native’s of how settlers would treat Natives through out history.

Over time, many more explorers furthered Columbus’s journey. The European colonists brought many diseases such as yellow fever, measles, and smallpox, which caused many deaths among the Natives. The settlers did not treat the Natives with respect, and in 1830, the Indian Removal Act “authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders” (Library of Congress, 2018). Some tribes went peacefully, but many resisted. The removal act resulted in all Natives being forcibly removed from their land, and taken to Mississippi. This became known as the Trail of Tears, and approximately 4,000 Natives died on their journey.

The article “Lying with Truth: A Fictionalized Confrontation with History” by Sundas Tahreem, Farheen Ahmed Hashmi, and Khadeeja Mushtaq recognizes that the Euro-Americans created a biased account of history of suppressed Native Americans in the officially documented version of history (Tahreem, Hashmi, & Mushtaq, 2017).  This study’s purpose is to bring the Native American’s real truth to light by comparing selected texts with a content analysis. This research has been exclusively designed to highlight the Native American side of the truth which was previously marginalized and they found that some of the selected texts did add the Native’s truth to the stories from Euro-American’s stories. In conclusion, the authors found that “there can be many versions of the same historical event” (Tahreem, Hashmi, & Mushtaq, 2017). This conclusion shows that history for each culture is different and they each view events differently which will ultimately affect how they communicate interculturally.

A major way to keep histories alive is by story telling. This has always been a cultural tradition to Native Americans. In 1876, the federal government created a mandatory boarding school for Native children from ages 5-18 that lasted 8 years, which was “designed to completely erase the cultural ways and identity of the Indian people” (Charbonneau-Dahlen, Lowe & Morris, 2016). If a parent tried to refuse to send their child to the school, they were sent to Alcatraz. In the article “Giving Voice to Historical Trauma Through Storytelling: The Impact of Boarding School Experience on American Indians,” the researchers gathered 9 Native female survivors from snowball sampling and used the dream catcher as a culturally appropriate tool for storytelling (Charbonneau-Dahlen, Lowe & Morris, 2016). The overall conclusion from this qualitative study was that the participants “all indicated they experienced release and healing through telling their stories” (Charbonneau-Dahlen, Lowe & Morris, 2016).

There are 573 recognized Indian Nations, and they have been recognized as sovereign since their first interaction with European settlers and the United States continues to follow their unique political relationship. “The governmental status of tribal nations is at the heart of nearly every issue that touches Indian Country” (NCAI, 2018). Self-government is essential if tribal communities are to continue to protect their unique cultures and identities. The tribal government determines citizenship; establishes civil and criminal laws for their nations; taxing, licensing, regulating, and maintaining and exercising the power to exclude wrongdoers from tribal lands. In addition, tribal governments are responsible for a broad range of governmental activities on tribal lands, including education, law enforcement, judicial systems, health care, environmental protection, natural resource management, and the development and maintenance of basic infrastructure such as housing, roads, bridges, sewers, public buildings, telecommunications, broadband and electrical services, and solid waste treatment and disposal (NCAI, 2018).

In the article “American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Politics and the Resurgence of Identity” by Joane Nagel discusses why the Native American population more than tripled between 1960 and 1990 according to the U.S. Census. She recognizes that the population increase is not from the usual increases such as more births and less deaths, but from “ethnic switching” which means more people identifying themselves as Native Americans. She identifies three topics: Federal Indian Policy, American Ethnic Policy, and American Indian Political Activism, which she thinks are the main factors in the “ethnic switching.” “These three political factors raised American Indian ethnic consciousness and encouraged individuals to claim or reclaim their Native American ancestry, contributing to the observed Indian census population increase” (Nagel, 1995).

When the settlers started to colonize in America in the 1600’s, the Native Americans and the Europeans created a trading system. The Natives would trade furs, edible and medicinal plants, and crops (because the Natives were much better farmers than the Europeans) for other goods that they did not have access too such as fabrics, steel knives, metal animal traps, fire arms, ammunition, horses, and more. The Natives also were very strategic when pricing their items. The fur and medicinal plants were priced very high because they were more in demand, so they would cost much more goods than the crops.

Native Americans are known to be one of the poorest, if not the poorest, racial group in the United States. The population poverty rate is going down, “in recent years, Native Americans have increased their income and wealth through new and innovative economic development activities. For instance, tribes have increased their control over their natural resources and food systems, they have become players in the country’s energy sector, and they have begun trading with Asia” (Austin, 2013). Today, 27% of Native Americans live in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau which does not include residents on reservations, and on the reservation the poverty is 28.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). The Native American population is economically disadvantaged because for Americans, a home is key source of wealth, and Natives home ownership rate is significantly low as well. “In 2000, Native Americans’ median wealth was equal to only 8.7 percent of the median wealth among all Americans” (Austin, 2013). There unemployment rate is almost 10% as well, and as long as those statistics are high, their poverty level will stay high.

A major factor in the economic divide between the Native Americans on reservations and people other Americans is known as the digital divide. About 83% of the tribal population lacks broadband internet. The internet has become a major resource for American’s basic needs. It provides users with beneficial opportunities, such as online job searches and the possibility of continuing education via online courses (Brescia, & Daily, 2017). “Within the context of American culture, this divide holds a specific relevance, as it also revolves around issues of race and its inherent interrelations to social class in our economy” (Brescia, & Daily, 2017). The Natives on the reservations have to travel miles to receive internet connection. The digital divide between Native Americans and the rest of society negatively affects the way they communicate because Native Americans do not have access to the internet which offers resources for many things such as jobs, and information, and is available so easily to others. Technology and the internet is a major resource in today’s society.

“Power is always present when we communicate with each other although it is not always evident or obvious. In every society, a social hierarchy exists that gives some groups more power and privilege than others” (Martin & Nakayama, 2018). Power is dynamic and complex.

Cultural groups can use political and legal means to resist domination of power through boycotts, strikes, and more, an example would be the Red Power activist group. The Natives were oppressed so the Native youths took a stand against the the United States government with different forms of protests and demanded recognition, and sovereignty.

“Power distance refers to the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally” (Martin & Nakayama, 2018). Native American culture is considered high power distance because people are taught to always respect and be quiet around their elders.

Native American Culture is a collectivist culture which means it focuses on the goals, needs, and views of the group rather than individuals’ own goals, needs, and views (Martin & Nakayama, 2018). Collectivism is interested in collaboration over competition.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton