IMO suggesting that retention of old culture - or otherwise - makes an Amerindian tribe more or less Native American is a fallacy as well as a danger concept that could adversely affect all tribes if taken to heart; for, such a concept would require a tribe to keep its culture static, essentially trapped in some yester-year likely chosen by a government not of the tribe, else risk being labelled as non-Native by them sometime in the future (thus negating that government's treaty obligations, via that government's own, unilateral rationalization). Having any Amerindian ancestry makes one Amerindian (& if admixed, then one is Amerindian plus each & every other non-Amerindian ethnicity as well). Ancestry cannot be taken away. Governments use blood-quantums to try & negate this fact administratively. One would be hard pressed to name peoples whose cultures have remained the same throughout the millenia from say between as close to 2024 B.C. as one can find to now in 2024 A.D., eh? Even the far more recent "New World" history as viewed with a Euro-centric point of view shows folk of European ancestry don't talk, write, dress, nor commonly travel in the same way now as their ancestors did early on in the Americas, eh? Are those in government willing to apply the same conditions to themselves that they impose upon Amerindian tribes - & are you willing to impose upon yourself the same conditions that you judge Amerindian tribes by? I would hope not; & therefore, I would hope that folk turn their thinking around on this very-faulty concept. Wanting to keep some tribal culture "as is" is quite understandable, but demanding that it remain "as is" regardless of changing circumstances placed upon the tribe or changing desires within the tribe is an unreasonable demand (or "litmus test" for "Native American-ness" - which isn't even a thing - or for any other people to be judged by). That's my take.
![[TH] RNT vs SPG - VCT Ascension Pacific - Day 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RUTkf8Detj8/mqdefault.jpg)
IMO suggesting that retention of old culture - or otherwise - makes an Amerindian tribe more or less Native American is a fallacy as well as a danger concept that could adversely affect all tribes if taken to heart; for, such a concept would require a tribe to keep its culture static, essentially trapped in some yester-year likely chosen by a government not of the tribe, else risk being labelled as non-Native by them sometime in the future (thus negating that government's treaty obligations, via that government's own, unilateral rationalization).
Having any Amerindian ancestry makes one Amerindian (& if admixed, then one is Amerindian plus each & every other non-Amerindian ethnicity as well). Ancestry cannot be taken away. Governments use blood-quantums to try & negate this fact administratively.
One would be hard pressed to name peoples whose cultures have remained the same throughout the millenia from say between as close to 2024 B.C. as one can find to now in 2024 A.D., eh? Even the far more recent "New World" history as viewed with a Euro-centric point of view shows folk of European ancestry don't talk, write, dress, nor commonly travel in the same way now as their ancestors did early on in the Americas, eh? Are those in government willing to apply the same conditions to themselves that they impose upon Amerindian tribes - & are you willing to impose upon yourself the same conditions that you judge Amerindian tribes by?
I would hope not; & therefore, I would hope that folk turn their thinking around on this very-faulty concept.
Wanting to keep some tribal culture "as is" is quite understandable, but demanding that it remain "as is" regardless of changing circumstances placed upon the tribe or changing desires within the tribe is an unreasonable demand (or "litmus test" for "Native American-ness" - which isn't even a thing - or for any other people to be judged by).
That's my take.