"Indian Country Radio" in NYT

[Frank Abate]

Since I posted the original notice, I'll respond:

The point of the posting was:

1. Note that NYT had an informative article on a subject that I, at least,
had not seen covered.
2. The article used the word "Indian" without comment; this usage vs.
"Native American", "indigenous", etc., has been a matter of recent
discussion on this list, which is fundamentally concerned with usage of
language, no holds barred.  The fact that the usage in question appeared in
an edited article in a major newspaper is, in my view, unexpected and worthy
of comment.
3.  There are regular contributions on this list from Native Americans, and
the group seems quite diverse generally.  I don't believe that anyone who
regularly reads or contributes believes that what is posted is anything
other than open to the broadest possible audience.
4.  You are right, Ms. Fellegy, that your tone is taken to be one that
attempts to silence discussion.  I believe, however, that you missed the
point of the original posting and the thread that followed (and the vast
majority of postings on the ADS list), which was about the LANGUAGE being
used and how it is being used.
5.  A broad variety of language issues about or particular to certain groups
are discussed on this list all the time.  These are and will remain
legitimate areas of study and comment.

Frank Abate

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anna Fellegy" <felle001 at TC.UMN.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2001 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: "Indian Country Radio" in NYT


> Imagine, Indian radio stations. Rumor has it Indians even have their own
> newspapers. Could it be true? Should we send the anthropologists in?
>
> Have you thought that some of the members on the listserv are Native?
> Have you ever thought about the assumptions that underlie the use of
> pronouns in your language in this forum? And if you consider the tone of
> this to be one that silences discussion, have you ever considered how
> being talked about as an object of study and curiosity by Ph.D.s is
> silencing at a much deeper level than that of discourse?
>
> Take a course on intercultural communication.
>