The Cherokee Syndrome is a lighthearted, personal look at the search for Native American ancestry. I have been truly amazed at times by the numerous European Americans I know who have some Native ancestry. It runs upwards of 90%.
My friends and colleagues who've been through the Indigenous Mind program, however, are not desperate to over-emphasize this lineage, but are encouraged to embrace all their ancestors, remembering that we all had "a sense of place and connection" as Mary Annette Pember writes.
I don't want to encourage people to claim lineages that aren't theirs, but wouldn't it be different if all the people who do have some Native American heritage fully claimed it and took their caretaking of this land seriously?
Comments