vanishing Indian
{{Short description|Indigenous stereotype}}
{{distinguish|Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women}}
{{other uses}}
{{Discrimination sidebar|expand-ethnic=yes}}
The Vanishing Indian or Vanishing Indian Myth is a stereotype regarding the depiction of Indigenous people, generally in the Americas, although the concept is found elsewhere as well, that they either are extinct or are destined to go extinct.
Common forms
A common expression in everyday speech is a form of "you can't be Indian, Indians are extinct".{{cite web |author-last=Connolly |author-first=Cynthia |date=March 14, 2019 |title="You can't be Indian! Indians are extinct!" by Cynthia Connolly |url=https://www.ywcaofcleveland.org/blog/2019/03/14/you-cant-be-indian-indians-are-extinct-by-cynthia-connolly/ |publisher=YWCA of Cleveland}} Another form is in the discussion of disappearance as inevitable, beginning this narrative in the early days of colonization.{{cite book | author-last=Dippie | author-first=Brian W. | title=The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy | date= October 25, 1991 | isbn=9780700605071 | publisher=University Press of Kansas | url=https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700605071/}} It is a common theme in the arts and media as well, that dates back to early colonial times.{{cite web | author-last=Fling | author-first=Sarah | access-date=September 17, 2023 | title=The Myth of the Vanishing Indian: Art in the White House Collection | url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-myth-of-the-vanishing-indian | publisher=The White House Historical Association}}{{cite book | author-last=Dippie | author-first=Brian W. | title=The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy | date= October 25, 1991 | isbn=9780700605071 | publisher=University Press of Kansas | url=https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700605071/}} The vanishing Indian became a popular trope in American novels by the 1820s, exemplified famously by Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, as well as lesser-known works like Logan, a Family History by John Neal.{{cite book | title = On Lingering and Being Last: Race and Sovereignty in the New World | first = Jonathan | last = Elmer | year= 2008 | location = New York City, New York | publisher = Fordham University Press | isbn = 978-0-8232-2941-3 | pages = 148–150}}
Relationship to 'paper genocide'
A paper genocide occurs when members of a group are removed from all records, thereby validating the belief that the group is extinct and causing harm to further generations.{{cite web | author-last=Sutton | author-first=Victoria | title=Guest Post: Native American Exclusion as a Form of Paper Genocide | url=https://lssse.indiana.edu/blog/guest-post-native-american-exclusion-as-a-form-of-paper-genocide/ | date=July 17, 2020 | publisher=Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research | department=LSSSE}}{{cite magazine | author-last=Estevez | author-first=Jorge Baracutei | title=Meet the Survivors of a 'Paper Genocide' | date=October 14, 2019 | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/meet-survivors-taino-tribe-paper-genocide | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318031211/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/meet-survivors-taino-tribe-paper-genocide | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 18, 2021 | magazine=National Geographic |access-date=September 17, 2023 | format=online}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book | author-last=O'Brien | author-first=Jean M. | title=Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England | year=2010 | publisher=University of Minnesota Press | url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/firsting-and-lasting | isbn=9780816665785 }}
External links
{{Commons category multi|Stereotypes of indigenous peoples of the Americas|Stereotypical Plains Indians}}
- {{cite web | title=Reclaiming Native Truth: A Project to Dispel America's Myths and Misconceptions | url=https://rnt.firstnations.org}}
- {{cite web | title=The Myth of the Vanishing Indian: Art in the White House Collection | url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-myth-of-the-vanishing-indian | publisher=The White House Historical Association}}
{{Discrimination}}
{{Ethnic stereotypes USA}}