Dear Mr. Deloria,
Firstly,
I want to thank you for your book “Playing Indian.” Never before have I stopped
to consider how Indianness is performed in American society and how these
performances affect the cultural identity of Native Americans today.
As
you mentioned in your book, the first American appropriation of Indian identity
was by the colonist who used Indianness as a means to separate themselves from
British culture and shape the new American identity. In this appropriation of
Indian identity, the Indian represented lawlessness and nature. The colonists
wanted to evoke this image of acting out wildly because of an unnatural power
(British rule) that was leveraging hefty taxes on them. In my mind, it is hard
to completely understand how playing Indian became a way of defining American
identity yet Indians are still seen as other. Is it on because it is a matter
of numbers? If Indians were the majority, then would the symbolic use of the
Indian take on a more realistic meaning?
Navigating
a country that is mélange of races and cultures is incredibly difficult. While
reading your book I could not help but get the feeling that the portrayal of
playing Indian was slightly biased. I felt that, although whites are the
majority, that they were not given the benefit of the doubt. For the most part,
their intentions were portrayed as being manipulative and ulterior. For
example, in your chapter “Literary Indians and Ethnographic Objects” I got the feeling
that Lewis Henry Morgan was being portrayed solely as a manipulator of Indian
culture, a grown man who used the guise of science and scholarship to play
Indian with his Indian friends. Although this may be an accurate depiction of
Morgan, I wonder how is a person who is genuinely interested in a culture
supposed to go about learning or participating it? Will someone who actually
wants to be adopted in Indian culture be seen as “playing Indian” as opposed to
being Indian? Is being Indian a
birthright only?
Lewis
Henry Morgan’s participation in the New Confederacy was extremely interesting
to learn about. He was seemingly straddling two worlds. In one, he performed
the tragic role of the American Indian, lamenting the destruction of nature and
the demise of Indian culture (which is a phenomenon that is debatable…) while
in the other, he reaps the benefits of being a white male in an industrialized
civilization. Would it be best if Morgan just stayed in his world of white male
privilege? Will his curiosity and investigation of Indian-ness always be seen
as mockery or inauthentic, no matter his intentions?
My mind hurts when these questions begin to flood my mind
but perhaps you can provide me some clarity on the subject, Mr. Deloira.
Again, thank you for your wonderful book and I hope to
receive a letter from you in the near future.
Your fan,
Chelsey
Does dressing the part make you more authentic? What about pure blooded Indians that only wear western clothing? Are the less Indian?
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