Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Which is a more accurate representation of "Indians"?

In contemporary society, there are many different representations of a Native American, almost all complete stereotypes. As a little girl in elementary school, I learned about them as people who wore feathers in their hair and lived in wigwams. Obviously, this is not an accurate representation of the Native American people, yet this homogenization of Native American culture still persists.

For a lot of different reasons, the Museum of the American Indian is a much more respectful and a much better representation of Native American culture than a sports team. I am from Kansas City, home of the Chiefs football team. On the helmets, there is a white arrowhead, and the team plays in Arrowhead Stadium. The team has essentially co-opted a part of Native American culture – the idea of the tribal leader – to suit their purposes, without ever paying proper respect to the culture. This very much frustrates me about American society – so much Native American culture is constantly co-opted based on stereotypes that do not accurately represent the Native American people. These representations homogenize and ultimately tokenize the cultures of these people.

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