History & Demography of Native North America

OS215 Contemporary Native American IssuesThursday, January 12, 2012

Historical Context

• About 15 million Native Americans pre-contact (estimated 12 million within present-day U.S.)

• Spanish exploration and European colonization

• Discovery Doctrine

Historical Context

• Population decline

Historical Context

• Destruction of tribal life ways

Historical Context

• Forced relocation (“Trail of Tears”)

Historical Context

• Extermination (“Wounded Knee”)

Historical Context

• Assimilation

Affects on Contemporary Native Life

• Look at contemporary Native American experience and issues through a lens of over 500 years of Western colonial intrusion and accelerated change

• Conflicting concepts of territory, political power and community organization

• Cultural interrelations, religious conversion, language loss, western values and concepts

Survival and Re-awakening

• Many Native American communities are seeking to retain cultures and communities despite colonization

• Borrowing Western ideas and concepts

• Reclaiming traditional concepts

• Change and negotiation

U.S. Census Data (2000)

• National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Policy Resource Center:

• http://www.ncaiprc.org/census-information-center

• 4.5 million people (1.5% of U.S. population) reported American Indian or Alaska Native ethnicity.

• 71% (compared to 80% of total U.S. population) had at least a high school education.

• 2/3 (66%) of Native Americans live in Urban areas (not represented within NCAI, will explore more next week with Identity,

• About 700,000 (of 1.7 million) live on or near Indian Reservations