What did you say your name was???
by Sarah dAngelo
Columbus Day, Indians and public protests. The thrill of a modern day uprising. It’s the only day of the year when we can gather in droves in front of state and federal municipalities and release the voice of the grandfather drum without fear of tear gas, bullets or arrest. It’s a public performance that puts the best of Boal to shame. At the end of the day, everyone goes home in one piece, happy there were no scalps lost or taken, no arrows or bullets fired, no wagons burned. It is a true non-violent, intercultural exchange. Times have changed.
But one thing that seems not to have changed is the name Columbus gave us: Indian. We all know he misnamed us Indian because he thought he had reached India. In recent times the word has been viewed as controversial. But why? Ever since Columbus, we’ve always been misnamed. We’ve had Christian names, numbers and tribal names in foreign languages that sometimes translate into some pretty rude meanings. Shouldn’t we be used to this by now? In our own languages, what we call ourselves simply translates to “the people.” If only they had asked us. Proper introductions are basic manners. No wonder the rest of history didn’t turn out so well. Misnomer seems to have been the cause of all the trouble.
The truth is, I actually love the word Indian. I love saying it, and I love hearing my people say it. And if you say it skipping all the vowels, you sound really authentic.
It’s really quite delicious to say: NNN-d-NNNN …..
We spell it like this: NdN….. (by the way - Indians invented text lingo.)
But still it’s tough to hate on Columbus. He was lost most of his life. He was brought up on charges several times. He never found the passage to Asia. Too bad Sacagewea wasn’t around – she would’ve been able to show him the way. And who knows, maybe she was, but she too suffered the fate of misnomer. Over her lifetime, she was known as ‘Tsakaka’wia (Bird Woman), Sacajawea (Boat Launcher), Boinaiv (Grass Maiden), Janey (Lewis and Clark came up with that one), Chief woman, and who knows what her beaver-trapping husband, Charbonneau, called her.
Please understand, I am first and foremost an artist. I see the world through artistic eyes, through the lens of my culture. Fellow NdN rooter, Dr. T., will tell you. And my shell shakin’ sister, Debbie Hicks, will confirm it: the word NdN appeals to my artistic sensibilities because it creates all sorts of things.
NdN is post modern –a kind of Artaudian/Brechtian/similacra which grounds me in the art of performing. It’s very traditional - a powerful trickster-word - that when spoken magically turns some non-NdNz into experts about my culture, language, religion, and history. These experts then enlighten me to the “correct term,” Native American. The magic continues – during those moments I become a shape-shifter, perfecting the art of NdN stoicism. Columbus named us with very powerful medicine, indeed.
Today is a day of mixed celebration. I think on today as a chance to celebrate our survivance and despite history, our ability to retain identity while maintaining uncontainable ones. Today celebrates our traditional ability to make something out of nothing. With its origins in the word ‘Indigenous,' meaning born or engendered in, native to a land or region, I maintain NdN is a melodic word that sums up exactly what we are: of this place and shaking thing up as we always have been since 1492.
Bio - Mohawk actress and singer Sarah D’Angelo earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in
Acting from the
the Professional Actor Training Program at
Community College in
Indian Women, Songs from the Rez and The Merchant of Venice, with more than
a dozen other stage performances. She co-hosted and produced World Bridgz
for Montana Public Radio for nearly two years and has provided voice-over
for multiple national clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Boeing and AT&T
Wireless. Sarah competes in powwows as a traditional dancer and sings in an
all-female native drum group, the Sunset Singers.