I'm arguing about the term 'Indian" with someone.

[Thunderpup]

Typically you cant go wrong with "native american" especially if its a college level paper. College teachers and professors like to get high and mighty about that sort of thing.

 

However there are tribes that actually prefer the term indian so if she is writing a paper about a specific tribe, or tribes, then she should find out what term they prefer.

If it turns out to be indian then that is what she should use.

[Albatross]

Indios is indians in Spanish

 

I thought "Indio" meant indigenous or something like that, not directly translated as "indian". Hmm.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Haha made my night

[dalekphalm]

The Vikings came but they did not stay.

Native Americans started to migrate across from Asia somewhere around 20,000 years ago, when there were still land and ice bridges connecting the two continents, at the tail end of the last ice age (formally known as "glacial period"). Yeah. Vikings did not come here first. They certainly did beat Columbus and the other southern European explorers, in discovering North America first, but they didn't settle beyond some temporary trading colonies.

 

@Realist Peter Pan On topic: It REALLY depends on the specific context. Certain Native American tribes actually prefer the term Indian or American Indian, for cultural reasons. So if the paper was about one of those tribes, then it would be proper to refer to them by the name they prefer. Using the blanket term Native American is also a safe bet.

 

However, Native American is the equivalent of "European". It doesn't mean any specific thing. There are literally dozens and dozens of different Native American societies, all with their own unique history, culture, languages, and specific ways that they historically lived.

 

An Apache and an Ojibwe are about as similar as an ancient Greek and a medieval Irishman.

 

If the paper is about all native american populations as a whole, then Native American is acceptable, and probably best. If the paper is about a specific people from a specific region, then the best course of action would be to use the actual name of that people (Cree, Algonquin, Ojibwe, Apache, etc).

[Delusional Phil]

I think the corect , non argumental way is to call them indeginous people ... 

 

Also indians can also be use for native australians ... Which gets more confusing , just reconcide with the world indeginous people since there are many tribes in the North America region ... 

[Pomfinator]

Typically you cant go wrong with "native american" especially if its a college level paper. College teachers and professors like to get high and mighty about that sort of thing.

I am never taking any kind of Ethnic/Geographical/Environmental studies class ever again.  It's the same power/hegemony and social construction bullshit shoved into your face multiple times, I finally know where political correctness comes from, it's hammered into you from college. Thank god the humanities half of my major isn't any of that.

[79 Potatoes]

I thought "Indio" meant indigenous or something like that, not directly translated as "indian". Hmm.

Indigenous... well, is Indígena.

Really, Indio/a is the one from India, just for that historical reason it refers to native americans (not others) too.

 

Also to try to avoid confusion they use "Hindú" too, but causes more confusion because of Hinduism

[RelentlessAF]

My lineage is about half native american and I'm not really offended by the term indian. Regardless though, treating people with respect by giving a culture the proper courtesy and reffering to them as their proper name is just the human thing to do.