The definition of race nowadays differs significantly from its original meaning among the XVI-century European colonizers of Northern America. The early colonist society shaped a controversial understanding of the term, particularly concerning Native Americans. Lawrence Blum’s book presents a comprehensive historical overview of the evolution of the term “race” and challenges the modern understanding of the identity of North American native people.
The concept of race is more sociological than a biological one. According to Blum (2015), the term initially referred to population groups, mainly humans, “of common lineage and a supposedly common origin or history” (p. 111). Considering the diversity of Native American cultures, this interpretation does not apply. As Blum (2015) points out, the racialization of Native Americans began mainly as a tool for rationalizing their conquest. Therefore, defining North American indigenous people as a race would be distinctively Eurocentric and scientifically unjustified.
This European racial model implied that group characteristics are grounded in biology. This paradigm viewed most non-European peoples as inherently subservient and unable to progress beyond a certain development level (Blum, 2015). However, American Indian ethnic renewal shows that the vertical racial hierarchy model is false. For example, the number of Americans self-identifying as Natives has been steadily increasing with the growing interest in Native cultures, languages, and history (Nagel, 2020). These facts present Native Americans as fully capable of self-determination, self-governance, and integration into modern society.
The racial division was and is mainly a product of a Eurocentric worldview. In the process of conquest and subjugation, European colonists began referring to Native Americans first as “heathens” and later as “savages,” implying their inferiority (Blum, 2015, p. 113). This view was eventually combined with the developing racial ideology to unify all Native Americans under a single race. However, as numerous anthropological and genetic data suggest, the Northern American peoples represent various groups with distinctive cultures, languages, and traditions (Moreno-Mayar et al., 2018; Kidwell et al., 2020). Therefore, it would be more suitable to refer to North American indigenous peoples as nations.
Lawrence Blum’s “I’m not a racist, but…” explains the evolution of the European and American racial ideology, particularly in the context of the North American indigenous population. Nowadays, it is crucial to step away from scientifically unjustified and morally flawed concepts of race. Instead, mutual respect and recognition of cultural richness, considering current anthropological and sociological knowledge, should define modern society.
References
Blum, L. (2015). I’m not a racist, but…: The moral quandary of race. Cornell University Press.
Kidwell, C. S., Noley, H., & Tinker, G. E. (2020). A Native American theology. Orbis Books.
Moreno-Mayar, J. V., Potter, B. A., Vinner, L., Steinrücken, M., Rasmussen, S., Terhorst, J., Kamm, J. A., Albrechtsen, A., Malaspinas, A.-S., Sikora, M., Reuther, J. D., Irish, J. D., Malhi, R. S., Orlando, L., Song, Y. S., Nielsen, R., Meltzer, D. J., & Willerslev, E. (2018). Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans. Nature, 553, 203–207. Web.
Nagel, J. (2020). American Indian ethnic renewal: Politics and the resurgence of identity. In J. Nagel (Ed.), American Nations (pp. 330–353). Routledge.