Thomas King Indigenous Stereotypes

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Jessica Boyko Christina Yu ENL1W2 7 June 2024 Indigenous Stereotypes The Oxford dictionary states that a stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing (Oxford languages and google - english). Stereotypes are often a bad representation of a culture or even a nation. Most are just inaccurate physical attributes. However, Indigenous stereotypes are very inaccurate and do not represent the Indigenous culture correctly. Thomas King, who has come across these stereotypes as being a mixed half white and half Native, has found these stereotypes problematic. Thomas King believes that assuming one’s origin defines who one is and that the “dying Indian” ideology is problematic. Firstly, …show more content…

I know he talked them into wearing wigs. I know that he would provide one tribe of Indians with clothing from another tribe because the clothing looked more “Indian” (The 36). This quote shows that people are looking for the “dying Indians”, but when they don’t find them, they decide to create them, resulting in the “imaginative Indian”, as King calls them. Believing in the set image of how Indians are supposed to look just prevents society’s acceptance that the Indian culture has evolved into something new, something that doesn’t necessarily have to be represented with “bone chokers” and “outgrown hair”. Building on what was said before, this stereotype causes people to think that Indians have not changed and remained the same as before. “Native culture, as with any culture, is a vibrant, changing thing, and when Curtis happened upon it, it was changing from what it had been to what it would become next. But the idea of “the Indian” was already fixed in time and space. Even before Curtis built his first camera, that image had been set.” (The 35). People believe that Indians still live like they did back in the day due to the image which has already been set by stories from early …show more content…

Secondly, Thomas King believes that assuming that where you are defines who you are is problematic. Society assumes that Indians are Canadian simply because they reside in Canada, which is troublesome. This is shown through the following quote: “Blackfoot” “Canadian?” “Blackfoot” (Border 45). The Indians were in North America first, but the settlers came and took away their identities, forcing them to identify as Canadian instead of what they really are, which is their tribe. Taking away their identity and assuming that they want to be identified as the people who took it away is wishful thinking. Such assumptions cause discord between Natives and Non-Natives, resulting in a problem. Some of the questions that King was asked in his interview was if he came from a reserve, showing that people expect true Indians to come from a reserve. “Were you born on a reserve? Small, rural towns with high Native populations will do. cities will not.” ( 55). This shows that society believes that real, authentic Indians come from reserves instead of large

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