Racial & Ethnic Groups

Answer the question below

What is the conceptual definition of American Indians, and how do we count who is an American Indian (operational definition)?

ANSWER

American Indian Heritage

According to various archeological evidence, American Indians/ Native Americans were the first inhabitants of the America. The earliest ancestors of Native Americans are referred to as Paleo-Indians. However, there have been varying responses regarding the origin of the term ‘Indians’ (Moreno-Mayar et al., 2018). For instance, it is argued that Christopher Columbus coined the term in the 15^th century to refer to people originating from ‘the Indies’ (Asia). On the other hand, some people argue that the term originated from his diary entry, specifically using the term ‘una gente in Dios’ (people of God) to refer to the natives who originally inhabited the land (Moreno-Mayar et al., 2018). Regardless of the origin of the name, American Indians are used in deferral Indian law, a domain of the United States law concerned with the rights and status of the original inhabitants of America.

Operational Definition

The conceptualised definition above greatly refers to the operational definition of Native Americans. According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), native Americas refers to an individual with origins in any of the original people of North and South America (Urban et al., 2019). The individual also has to maintain tribal affiliations or community attachment to be regarded as Native American. In addition, another conceptual definition of native Americas is based on their blood and ancestry. However, tribal affiliations and residence do not necessarily define who is a native Indian or not. According to the Census Bureau on American Indian and Alaska Native identified that Central and South American indigenous people tended to identify as Hispanics (Urban et al., 2019). This creates the problem of real identity concerning Native Americans. For instance, although these people identify with their indigenous culture and language, they regard tribes as exclusively pertaining to indigenous groups of the United States.

According to the U.S Census Bureau, the Native American population in the US is 6.09 million. This comprises 2.09% of the entire population in America (Urban et al., 2019). However, anthropologists argue that the figure is bound to reduce, with many causes of intermarrying and intermingling, with the culture and identity of Native Americans slowly diminishing. The United States recognizes 574 federally recognized Native Americans in the US. The concept of residing within the south of America as part of the Indian heritage is also slowly diminishing. As of 2019, more than 15 states have Native American populations of over 100,000 (Urban et al., 2019).

However, the repopulation of Native Americans has done less to discriminate about the origin of their identity as Indian Americans. As mentioned, Alaska natives can fit into the category of Native Americans regardless of their political ties, such as tribal affiliation. The identity of their origins is deeply ingrained into the ancestry of indigenous people in the United States. However, there have numerous challenges faced by Indian Americans that pose a threat to their ancestry (Urban et al., 2019). For instance, American Indians are in the middle of a battle with climate change. As mentioned, the Paleo-Indians most depended on nature for their survival. This tradition has been carried through generations, with their sole identity and rituals connected to nature. However, the issue of climate crisis poses a challenge for their survival. The government is constantly setting up ‘reserves’ as part of climate protection while moving the natives from their original lands. The greed that exists among gold miners and native is also evident. Native Americans occupy lands that are potentially inhibited by gold, and miners are constantly working in cohesion with government bodies to exploit them. This, unfortunately, poses a threat to the people who initially occupied these great lands of the United States.

References

Moreno-Mayar, J. V., Potter, B. A., Vinner, L., Steinrücken, M., Rasmussen, S., Terhorst, J., … & Willerslev, E. (2018). Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans. Nature, 553(7687), 203-207.

Urban, W. J., Wagoner, J. L., & Gaither, M. (2019). American education: A history. Routledge.