People’s views of the Native Americans commonly spawned from misperceptions, stereotypes and mythologies. Native Americans have been featured in a lot of different structures of popular culture (LDK Associates, 1). And since the majority of people only know them through popular culture, the global opinion of them comprises an implausible amount of inaccuracy and misperceptions. The population of the Native Americans is not big which makes it hard for them to debunk the misconceptions and to dismiss the mythologies associated to them.
The common misconceptions and stereotypes about Native Americans came from our experiences and how we are taught about them. It resides deep inside us, and influences how we communicate and regard The Native American people.
One source of misunderstanding is the different outlook of the majority of Native Americans to concepts such as environment, nature and social values. Their perceptions are very different from the 1960 generation who combined political militancy with ancient Indian view of living in agreement with the natural world. The harmony with nature is far very different from cruel and disturbed principles of material development associated to the conventional American society.
In effect, non-Indians, such as White Americans and Europeans, without fail, do not appreciate the definite identities and culture of Native Americans. This brought about an entire history of confusion and misunderstanding. These myths and stereotypes have been predominantly unhelpful and destructive on the Native American part (Brookeman, 1).
For instance, the general public of white Americans is not able to put to one side their own perception of what comprises a governmental and political unit. They are not able to comprehend that Native American constitution are not the result of liberal representative democracy and economic eccentricity.
Works Cited
Brookeman, Christopher. The Native American Peoples of The United States. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool John Moores University and the Contributors., 1998.
LDK Associates, LLC. How Myths, Stereotypes, and Misperceptions Affect Relationship Building with Tribes. 16 April 2012.
