Native American Identity Essay

My cultural ancestry comes from a Cuban and Mexican decent. I have chosen to write about my Cuban side because I can relate to them more than I could with my Mexican side. I was raised around my Cuban family and would occasionally see my Mexican side due to them living so far away. I have spent a lot more time associating with Cubans and have adapted to more of their habits.

These factors not only produced differences between the colonies and England, but among the colonies themselves. Brinkley writes that, “Many distinct societies developed in the colonies, but the greatest distinction was between the colonies of the North and those of the South” (81). This resulted in the colonist not only developing their own identity from that of England, but in many ways from each other. The same distinct factors such as population, economics, and society and religion, and political ideas that differed between the colonies and England, were the same factors that differed from each of the colonies. Although, while it is true that the colonist differed from each other they were always more alike than they were with England.

Current American society is constantly affected by events from the past, but sometimes what society thinks is in the past is not so far behind. The way Native Americans were treated historically continually plays a part in current American society. Due to the racism and stereotypes carried throughout society the Native American cultural circle is constantly under fire.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

From as early as the time of the early European settlers, Native Americans have suffered tremendously. Native Americans during the time of the early settlers where treated very badly. Europeans did what they wanted with the Native Americans, and when a group of Native Americans would stand up for themselves, the European would quickly put them down. The Native Americans bow and arrows where no match for the Europeans guns and cannon balls. When the Europeans guns didn’t work for the Europeans, the disease they bought killed the Native Americans even more effectively.

There were a myriad of differences between Great Britain and her American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but these differences can be divided into three basic categories: economic, social, and political. The original American settlers came to the colonies for varied reasons, but a common trait among these settlers was that they still considered themselves British subjects. However, as time passed, the colonists grew disenfranchised from England. Separated from the king by three thousand miles and living in a primitive environment where obtaining simple necessities was a struggle, pragmatism became the common thread throughout all daily life in the colonies. It was this pragmatism that led the colonists to create

What if everyday in America there was not an action someone could take because someone of an opposite race sexually assaulted or domestically abused that person? Often news outlets only focus on major even in cities or towns, but never the reservations. With the lack of awareness of the number of rapes and domestic abuse victims on reservations, at large society is saying America doesn’t care due to reservations having sovereignty. Even with new laws signed into place by President Obama to deal with the rape and abuse problems to Native American women, that come from non Native Americans, the problem with this is it’s a pilot only on three tribes (Culp-Ressler,1).It is said it will expand soon, but how soon? America is not known for being

People have been living in the Americas for thousands of years. Only fairly recently, the past few hundred years, have foreigners begun to arrive and drastically disrupt the way of life of the aboriginal population. The situation has become so severe that a population that was one believed to be numbered in the millions, was at one point reduced to as few as 220,000 in 1910, and entire tribes have been either irretrievably warped or have disappeared altogether. While Native American Indians have almost completely recovered population-wise, they will never catch up to the rest of the world, and their culture can never fully recuperate. At the time the United States was settled by Europeans, it was abundantly populated by dozens of

Through my life, I have seen several different approaches to Indigenous people’s rights and importance in Australia. I have been fortunate enough to visit Ayers Rock and undertake a tour which allowed me to see Aboriginal culture in art and drawings as well as hearing Dreamtime stories from guides. I have also witnessed family friends who have been severely racist and disrespectful of Indigenous heritage and history. I also was lucky to work with some Indigenous students who were in Reception during my Professional Experience 1, and I was able to see first-hand how a culture clash can affect a student’s behaviour. I feel that even before entering this course, I have had the privilege of being able to observe both positives and negatives

July 11th 1990, marked the beginning date of the Oka Crisis in Quebec Canada. It lasted until September 26th 1990 resulting in one fatality of a local police officer. The violent clash was triggered by something as simple as a golf course extension and as complicated as native burial traditions. It had drawn world attention, catapulting native land rights into the mix. The Oka Crisis is just one of many conflicts between the Aboriginals and the Canadian government. A major issue that has been of much debate in the 20th century has been Native sovereignty. The demand sounds simple, allow Aboriginals of Canada to govern themselves; however, coexisting with the Canadian government makes this idea extremely complicated. Roger Townshend states

Native Americans have felt distress from societal and governmental interactions for hundreds of years. American Indian protests against these pressures date back to the colonial period. Broken treaties, removal policies, acculturation, and assimilation have scarred the indigenous societies of the United States. These policies and the continued oppression of the native communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension. Governmental pressure for assimilation and their apparent aim to destroy cultures, communities, and identities through policies gave the native people a reason to fight. The unanticipated consequence was the subsequent creation of a pan-American Indian identity

The British Colonists traveled over into the New World for society to work out in their own favor. However, this was not the case for these colonists; they carelessly came into the New World with the intent of having their own freedom of religion, being culturally intertwined with the natives already, and for their own overall independence economically . The British did not make a smooth transformation into this New World when they first arrived over seas, they brought chaos not only to the Natives but also the development of their colonies and themselves.

When Europeans first set foot upon the shores of what is now the United States they brought with them a social structure which was fundamentally based around their concept and understanding of Western European Christianity. That the indigenous peoples might already have a thriving civilization, including religious beliefs and practices, that closely paralleled the beliefs and practices of European civilization, was a concept not considered by these early explorers and settlers. This European lack of cultural understanding created tensions, between Native Americans and Europeans, and later between Native Americans and Euro-Americans, that eventually erupted into open warfare and resulted in great bloodshed between cultures. For the Lakota

The ‘colonisation' of Australia by Europeans has caused a lot of problem for the local Aborigines. It drastically reduced their population, damaged ancient family ties, and removed thousands of Aboriginal people from the land they had lived on for centuries. In many cases, the loss of land can mean more than just physical displacement. Because land is so much connected to history and spirituality, the loss of it can lead to a loss of identity. This paper will examine the works of Tim Rowse and Jeremy Beckett as well as other symbols of identity that are available to modern Aborigines in post colonial Australia.

In growing up in the position of the ‘other’ in society, Smith provides an empowered stance of identity exclusively through the demonstration of cultural hybridity, as evidenced by Millat and his gangster crew, the Raggastani’s. As Millat becomes increasingly connected to a swaggering identity highlighted by Western popular culture, his sense of belonging becomes established with the multicultural mix of South Asian and Caribbean teens he hangs out with: “It was a new breed, just recently joining the ranks of the other street crews. Becks, B-boys, Nation Brothers, Raggas, and Pakis; manifesting itself as a kind of cultural mongrel of the last three categories. Their ethos, their manifesto, if it could be called that, was equally a hybrid thing” (193). Here, Smith uses the Raggastani’s as a symbol representing the emerging identity of a multicultural London transformed by the migration of formerly colonized populations from South Asia and the Caribbean. Their mission, to put the “invincible back in Indian, the Bad-aaaass back in Bengali, the P-Funk back in Pakistani” (193), is about taking their identities which have been devalued in Western society and linking them together through a collective sense of approval. As a productive example of cultural hybridity taking place, they are a direct contrast with the forms of difference and racial purity that the Chalfen`s represent, and the resistance of letting go of traditions that their parents uphold. The group tries on a series