Misidentification (fwd)

[Michael Mccafferty]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 09:37:23 -0700 (MST)
From: Koontz John E <John.Koontz at Colorado.EDU>
To: Michael Mccafferty <mmccaffe at indiana.edu>
Subject: Misidentification

>>From the last emailed SSILA Bulletin:

Mis-identifying the colonized
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>From Timothy Dunnigan (dunni001 at maroon.tc.umn.edu) 14 Feb 2000:

A colleague has asked for one or two references dealing with indigenous
peoples of the Americas that would help him document how colonizers tend
to mis-identify the colonized.  Peter Wells is a well-known archaeologist
who studies "Iron-Age" cultures of Europe, particularly the ancient
"German" tribes.  The ethnic labels used by Caesar, Tacitus and other
early chroniclers tend to be accepted without question by those who use
their works today.  His own researches indicate that the complex cultural
divisions that existed in ancient times are inaccurately reflected in
the exogenous ethnic designations.

I told him about the naming problems that arose when Europeans attempted
to record the various cultures and languages of the Americas, and how
indigenous peoples are now attempting to reclaim names and identities
that were largely excluded from the history books.  He knew what I was
talking about because he had already read Berkhofer, and had assigned
some of his writings in a course.  I mentioned the "synonymy" sections
in the _Handbook of North American Indians_ that appear at the end of
chapters on individual tribes, but I was wondering whether readers of
the SSILA Bulletin might know of a more general discussion of this
problem, such as for Central Mexico where pejorative names used by
Tlaxcalans and Aztecs names were imposed on neighboring groups by the
Spanish.  I know the common linguistic folklore about this phenomenon,
but can anyone suggest specific articles or books?

Thanks for any help you can offer.  Replies can be addressed to me or
directly to Peter at <wells001 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>.

                                                           --Tim Dunnigan
                                                  University of Minnesota
                                             (dunni001 at maroon.tc.umn.edu)