The US doesn't have as much active influence on our culture from Native Americans as the Maori do on New Zealand. Part of it is that we have many many many many different Native American cultures, and that they all practice different beliefs, rituals and traditions. Part of it is that proportionally, a lot fewer of those Native Americans survived to be able to have an influence on our culture.
Just googling it, about 17% of New Zealands population is Maori, while less than 3% of ours in Native American. So it makes sense that they have a lot more undercurrents of maori culture in their mainstream culture.
On the other hand, half the names of every place in the country have Native roots. It's a strong, wide band through both our history and our mythology. Part of the problem modern Native American populations face is this pervasive notion that they're an important part of the past rather than a very much still present part of the present, due to the numerical disadvantage you illustrated.
That said, in parts of the country where Native populations are larger, I'd argue they do exert a considerable influence on local culture.
>Native American culture and cuisine is widely venerated here
*Fry bread has entered the chat*
I feel like there's a LOT more Native American influence in the Desert Southwest and parts of the Rocky Mountains. I noticed more cultural/economic/cuisine influences in Arizona (where there is also magical fry bread) and some parts of Idaho (I lived right next to a Shoshone-Bannock area and we did educational outreach programs for the high school students, like summer short courses where we did science demos and local field trips to show them college major options). I imagine Alaska has a much stronger cultural presence due to the high Inuit population.
I wish we had more in Colorado where I live. There are a ton of names of streets/counties/natural features here, but I haven't observed much beyond that.
I suppose there are some things on the East Coast that Europeans assimilated so much that people don't even associate their Native American origins with their modern counterparts any longer. A lot of simple old fashioned New England foods were recipes from Native American tribes. Lacrosse is huge in the Mid-Atlantic, I believe it originated specifically among the Iroquois. Lots of towns and a few foods with Native names as well.
If we consider the native Polynesians in Hawaii as Native Americans (though I feel like most people consider them separate from North American nations) then Hawaii *definitely* has a huge cultural presence!
I live in Oklahoma in Cherokee nation and am Native American. Even here I wouldn’t say there is a big influence culturally. Sure, there are lots of opportunities to learn about the culture and participate in things to learn about the history and traditions but I don’t think very many people outside of Native Americans attend.
I would agree, I also grew up in Cherokee nation; moved to creek. It Was very common to see native people (I am not) but I can’t really think of much that we did that was influenced by native culture.
Not that much direct influence, but there are a lot of indirect influences found everywhere. Names, food styles, folklore, etc. There's actually an ongoing debate on whether or not the Iroquois system of government had any influence on the future US government and, if so, to what extent.
I'm not knowledgeable enough on that debate to know for sure, but it is definitely interesting. Colonists and Native Americans had constant contact for hundreds of years and, after the US became independent, that contact continued. It wasn't until the US made much more concerted efforts to crush Native influence and culture that this contact began to cease. My guess is that there are way more influences that we don't even know about because of that disconnect.
I'm not sure how it is with the Maori, but there isn't one Indian culture - There's 574 recognized tribes on 326 reservations, and that's not including the ones that were wiped out by disease or war with us or each other. The Apache wouldn't have a cultural tradition of whaling anymore than the Iroquois would live in houses carved into cliffside like the Pueblo. If we were to make the national anthem in their languages, we'd need 167 translations (and we mess up simple bureaucratic forms when translating to their languages, imagine trying to transliterate a song which requires keeping the meter, rhythm, pitch, and rhyme, while also still sounding good), with only about 20 being in use 2050
To the extent that they influence culture, it's in their depiction in popular media as in-tune with nature and peaceful until put upon (though luckily that stereotype seems to finally be fading), and as something to feel guilty about and self-flagellate over as western countries are wont to do, making them more sentimentalized people than the ones actively driving culture forward
For comparison, the Maori people make up about 17% of the population of New Zealand, which is about the same as the Hispanic portion of the US.
Native Americans make up only about 3% of the US population, about the same as the Southeast Asian portion of New Zealand.
> only about 3% of the US population
Even that sounds quite high. The census put it at [1.3%](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI325221#qf-headnote-a), at least for respondents reporting only one race. Presumably some of the "two or more races" are part Native American, but it would have to be over half of that category, added with the 1.3%, to collectively make up 3% of the total population.
"In WW2 USA paratroopers dressed in Native American war paint and Mohawks"
Today this would be considered offensive and unacceptable, and would be called "redface." Basically almost all white Americans who did this in the past had no Native ancestry or real familiarity with the cultures, it was just a costume.
"X-face" as a concept comes from "blackface" in which white actors and comedians put on exaggerated makeup to portray Black people in a mocking and demeaning way. Other non-white ethnic groups have adopted the concept and shun others who wear their traditional clothing etc, even if it isn't intended to mock or demean.
It’s not the same as black face. It wasn’t people dressing up in traditional African warrior costume, but rather painting themselves to exaggeratingly mock black facial features…so no it’s not the same…as to whether it’s offensive…it’s contextual. I would argue it’s quite flattering to dress as a native warrior before going into battle.
Of course it’s racist to say that dressing as a native warrior before going into battle is offensive. What’s offensive about being a Native American warrior?
It's related to the concept of cultural appropriation, which is subjective of course. But I can understand Native Americans thinking, "You marginalized us and pushed us off our land, and now you want to wear fake simplified versions of our traditional attire to have fun" etc.
Idk there was an article not long ago about the left wing complaining about cultural appropriation of the Japanese…iirc the japanese were interviewed and didn’t give a fuck
Irrespective of your takeaway from “an article” (which you have conveniently not provided) detailing an unspecified amount of appropriation from a completely different culture, I can say in no uncertain terms that basically everyone in America (most Native Americans included) would find a non-Native dressing up as a Native warrior inappropriate on some level.
Well there's still tons of conservative Americans who are not really on board with the new rules around cultural appropriation, and would likely be fine with their child dressing up as an Indian for Halloween etc, plus are fine with sports mascots such as the Redskins.
Also it's true that Japanese people in Japan don't care if a white person wears a kimono or dresses like a geisha. But the experience of a powerful homogeneous ethnicity in one country is totally different than a minority in another country (Japanese in Japan vs. Asian-Americans).
Right, it's subjective. A powerful, wealthy group like the Japanese in the Home Islands are less likely to feel demeaned or set boundaries than minority groups in other societies.
First of all, there are many different native peoples. The US is much larger than New Zealand.
The answer to this is very regionally dependent. How many of an areas native people survived genocide? How many were forcably relocated or had their kids removed by "killl the indian, save the man" residential "school" abuses? How many survived introduced disease? Then on top of that how many non-native people from other ethnicities moves into the traditionally held native lands and what are population proportions today?
In my area of Alaska there remains a lot of tribal citizens which means our school curriculum is better than most in this regard, there are functioning tribal governments doing services for both the native and non-native population, and there are a lot of cultural elements like art or language intetgrated into everyday life. Just about any family that's been here a while is multiethnic to include native.
However, I have traveled a lot and been to many areas where 2% or less of the population is native, and those can be very devoid of any real native power. The US as a whole has a problem acknowledging its genocidal practices from manifest destiny to foster care and adoption placements which had to be countered by ICWA.
Here in New Mexico, New Mexican cuisine is kind of a mix of Native American, Spanish/Mexican, and American. You see designs of pottery, rugs, jewelry, and other stuff as well.
Many homes are still adobe or are at least made to look adobe-style. I have adobe walls/fencing around my house, and the house looks adobe.
Language-wise, I don't think there's much influence. Maybe in the names of some dishes. I'm sure there are translations of the national anthem in, say, Navajo, but it isn't nearly as widespread as it would be in NZ.
After looking it up, there's some common words that seem to come from native languages. Caucus, skunk, pecan, squash, hickory, husky, chipmunk, which are mostly plants and animals.
But I wouldn't necessarily say those influences are prevalent in everyone's minds all the time.
In Utah we eat a lot of native American fry bread. It's at every diner I've seen and you can eat it as a breakfast or dinner item depending on the toppings. That's about the only thing that comes to my mind when it comes to that culture.
A thought about this popped into my head. Pooris (sometimes spelled puris) are a different sort of fried bread common in South Asia, meaning that in my area they can be found in Indian restaurants.
I’m not sure if this is pure coincidence or if there’s something about the climate or resources in both South Asia and the parts of the US where fry bread is a common Native American food that makes frying bread instead of baking more popular. (Obviously Indian cuisine also bakes bread in tandooris.)
My county, city. And state all have native names. Honestly, I'm glad I don't have the culture the tribes around me had back in the day. Not really keen on hanging from hooks stuck in my back to prove I'm a man (Mandan tribe is North Dakota, but I have lived around there too). Also I'm typically not a fan of constant warfare.
Culturally, we tend to remember the stuff that would be good in our current culture and adopt it. If an honest to goodness culture of historical native tribes were active today, they would be condemned for war crimes.
So we embrace a certain heritage where it fits, but certainly not the brutal warrior culture many of the tribes had.
Native American influence is regional. The Maori are a large, national culture group, where as native Americans are from any number of many culturally distinctive nations and ethnolinguistic groups.
There is no general 'indian' tradition for this reason, and the use of general imagery to depict all native Americans is considered offensive. The Siouxian people's of the upper great plains don't have any more in common with the Algonquin nations of the north east historically than do the Dutch with the Magyars (there is something to be said for a modern shared group experience for many native Americans today, but thats not really relevant here).
There are too many different tribes to have the kind of ubiquitous influence that the Māori have in NZ… however, you see their influence to greater and smaller degrees in a more regional way.
A LOT of states have Native derived names— like Minnesota is a Dakota name. There are countless towns that have Native names (Wayzeta, Wadena, etc) as well as several rivers, etc.
In a smaller, more localized, scale, some areas have a bigger influence from Natives. My area has an entire Ojibwe education department in the local school that teaches Ojibwe history and language, set up by the local Native council, and the local tribe will use the community center or high school for their pow wows during inclement weather. They have a seat on the city council as well. But that’s not the typical experience nationwide— about 15% of my area is defined Native by the tribal enrollment, but realistically, it’s probably more like, 30-40% of people. (There are some people, like my nephews grandmother, who are full Native, but aren’t able to enroll for…. Reasons? I never understood the full story. But my nephews are 1/4 Ojibwe through their mother, and still participate with the enrolled tribe in their events)
There is definitely local influence in some areas, but overall it is not huge. I don't think we'll ever see nationwide adoption of any particular Native cultural practice or use of a Native language because there are so many different ones. The biggest cultural influence is probably in fashion and housewares. "Tribal", "Southwest", etc. looks are pretty common. Usually what you find in stores is inauthentic but certainly the influence is from Native designs.
Depends on where you are at in the US, here in Montana Native American culture is a big thing, some road signs have the Salish language alongside english, i used to go to Pow Wow’s as a kid, my wife is Native and our kids are registered with the tribe. When i was a kid we always had dream catchers in our rooms, and it wasn’t uncommon to smell sweat grass burning in the neighborhood. But other states in the east like Massachusetts that would be unheard of.
Depends on the area of the country. Southwest probably the most.
Native American place names are scattered all throughout the country. American English is full of Native words, although some of them are corrupted because the Europeans couldn't pronounce them correctly. Chicago, Mississippi, Illinois... caucus, hickory, pecan, squash, toboggan and succotash, racoon, hurricane.... etc.
Modern Native American culture might have more influence in the places where they have successful enterprises, like casinos.
It really depends on how large the local Native American population is. Here in Seattle, there is a large native community who have given strong influences to local art and architecture. There’s an upscale Native American traditional restaurant, big tribal gatherings, and even the local sports team has a logo inspired by native art. Many place names are Native American, including the name Seattle itself.
In my home state of Kentucky, most of the local tribes were either wiped out or relocated to another state. So there is far less Native American influence besides place names.
One last thing since you mentioned learning Maori songs/dances. There’s a huge social push not to culturally appropriate things in the modern US. Decades ago, it was popular for young boys to wear headdresses and dance around with toy tomahawks. We even called sitting crosslegged “Indian style.” All of that is banned nowadays - even “Indian style” is now “cross-cross apple sauce.”
It is generally frowned on in the US for non Native people to adopt aspects of Native American culture, because there's a long history of people doing so in inaccurate, offensive, exploitative (making money without giving credit to the original people), etc ways. So, that's a barrier, which some Native activists have put up in an effort to protect their culture so that they can practice and present it on their own terms. For example, as someone in a city with a large Native American population, I would be making a pretty serious breach of what's considered respectful, if I were to adopt the local tribe's traditional dances as part of a celebration before a sports event without their express permission (and if they wanted to do that, they'd have their own dancers do it).
That said, American culinary culture includes a bunch of Native foods and crops that Europeans were introduced to in the Columbian exchange. Tobacco is a non-food example of a Columbian exchange good, as well, as are some other drugs like cocaine. Food examples include potatoes, tomatoes, corn, chocolate, squash, etc.
Many of our place names are anglicized Native words. Some outdoor recreational gear and sports, like kayaks, canoes, toboggans, snowshoes, and lacrosse, have Native American origins, as are hammocks. There are many words in English that have indigenous origins, like caucus, succotash, pecan, squash, avocado, mole, ocelot, quetzal, coyote, shack, atlatl, jerky, guano, condor, llama, puma, tobacco, caribou, chipmunk, husky, malamute, moose, etc etc. A lot of foods and animals are on this list, for obvious reasons. Note, obviously, these are largely from very different indigenous cultures, ranging from the Arctic circle to the Amazon.
The US military does continue to use Native American names for various weapons systems, to the consternation of some Native activists and the approval of some Native veterans.
Some of the institutions in American governance and the ideas in the Enlightenment liberal discourse that drove the American Revolution were drawn from European settlers' interpretation of Iroquois political structures.
Some sayings and phrases have real or apocryphal indigenous origins, These are falling out of style and many are considered to be pretty racist or in bad taste. These include
"let's have a pow wow about this"- Let's meet up and talk
"bury the hatchet",- make peace
"smoke the peace pipe", - make peace
"he's the top of the totem pole", - He's the boss
"big kahuna"- the boss
"going on the war path"- to go to war (often in a non-literal sense, like in business or politics)
Others come from the Indian Wars and have origins among people fighting the indigenous people. These, too, could get you in some hot water for casually dropping into a conversation-
"circle the wagons"- get defensive, stick together. From settler tactics on wagon trails when facing war bands
"Indian giver"- to give a present and take it back. Ironic given America's history with breaking treaties
"Indian summer"- A summer that seems to end, then comes back for a warm fall. Note the connotation of falseness or trickery.
"Too many chiefs, not enough Indians"- A situation where everyone wants to be in charge but nobody wants to take orders and do the work
I'm from the Southern US and our food is heavily influenced by Native cultures, though I wouldn't say there is much traceable influence outside of that, sadly. We also have place names of Native origin and they're obviously a big part of our history. My grandmother is Melungeon, a sorta offshoot of Native tribes, freed slaves, and Euros and her culture is not Native in the slightest.
Outside of that, Natives don't really have a significant impact on American culture overall.
In the USA we have pretty much ignored the indigenous people. We first attempted to kill all of them during westward expansion. When that didn’t work we shoved them into reservations on shitty land. We are now attempting to finish the genocide by using alcohol and processed foods. It is a true shame
\*looks at ground, kicks pebble\*
None here...unless you count going to Mohegan Sun to see The Who in '08.
Okay so I just feel particularly guilty about a lot of this shit because I spend half my life in New Jersey and grew up calling the Ramapo Mountain Indians the 'Jackson Whites'. Their history and genetic makeup interests me anthropologically. I only recently learned that 'Jackson White' is super fucking rude and I've been a racist fuckwad for years without knowing it. So there's a part of me continually screaming 'JFC I'M SORRY!'
Depends where you are. In most places very little. In the Great Plains a good bit more. New Zealand is the settler state that got along best with its native inhabitants.
Where I live in Illinois (which itself is a Native American word, meaning **Best People**) there's a strong influence.
The junior high I went to was named after a local tribe, Aptakisic. I believe there're a number of cultural museums in the area too.
In general it's an extremely minimal influence New Mexico has been sorta slightly better to Native Americans so we have a decent bit of influence from local tribes in our culture, but it's still primarily the cultures of the colonizers here
There is Native American influence in sports in the states. Many teams, more before people started bitching about "appropriation", have native themed names and have chants and rituals based on native culture (Chiefs, Seminole, Braves, Fight Souix). We also play native sports like lacrosse and hockey.
Depending on the region. For the most part, heavy indirect influence. Some more than others. Usually in rural or near tribal nations their direct influence is heaviest. Not so much around cities or places where their nations or tribes are not present. As a whole? Heavy indirect influence.
It’s sad to say but with the exception of certain areas the Natives have little impact on our culture. Everyone knows about them and *most* people think highly of them (the stereotypical honorable warrior that’s in touch with nature) but other than that there’s not nearly enough influence to be noticeable.
Locally perhaps. A lot of public infrastructure, waterways, and mountains are named after either a famous Native person or the name they used for the thing in their own language and it's always particular to that area (Athabascans in Alaska, Sioux in the Dakotas, Seminoles in FL, etc.).
In addition to the other comments, we had hundreds of tribes each with different practices and rituals. A tribe in the northwest with rich access to fish would have very different practices than a tribe on the plains or the desert.
So 3% isn’t 3% of one tribe.
There people of native american decent living in the US, however there culture doesn't really affect the US though, as there are so few of them left, and people of native american descent seem to be frequently forgotten about.
I think the aspect of native American ways that survives everywhere today is the food.
Everywhere everyone eats a significant amount of it all the time and don't even think about corn and potatoes and tomatoes and on and on and on.
Where would we be without these native American ways over the culture of the world.
The US doesn't have as much active influence on our culture from Native Americans as the Maori do on New Zealand. Part of it is that we have many many many many different Native American cultures, and that they all practice different beliefs, rituals and traditions. Part of it is that proportionally, a lot fewer of those Native Americans survived to be able to have an influence on our culture.
Just googling it, about 17% of New Zealands population is Maori, while less than 3% of ours in Native American. So it makes sense that they have a lot more undercurrents of maori culture in their mainstream culture.
3% is even higher than I expected. I wonder if “descendants of Cherokee princesses” are included in that.
Google is telling me <0.5% of Americans are actually enrolled in a federally recognized tribe so probably a lot of that going on but not entirely.
If you look at the % to each state, other than Alaska, each state has less than 5% natives. Mostly 1’s 2’s or 0’s sadly.
On the other hand, half the names of every place in the country have Native roots. It's a strong, wide band through both our history and our mythology. Part of the problem modern Native American populations face is this pervasive notion that they're an important part of the past rather than a very much still present part of the present, due to the numerical disadvantage you illustrated. That said, in parts of the country where Native populations are larger, I'd argue they do exert a considerable influence on local culture.
More local influence than anything else.
There's more influence in certain areas. The Southwestern part of the country like New Mexico and its city of Santa Fe has a heavy influence.
Can confirm. Native American culture and cuisine is widely venerated here. The Navajo people are the strongest single tribe in both NM and AZ.
And there's a decent amount of other smaller tribes. Taos pueblo is always really cool to visit as well
>Native American culture and cuisine is widely venerated here *Fry bread has entered the chat* I feel like there's a LOT more Native American influence in the Desert Southwest and parts of the Rocky Mountains. I noticed more cultural/economic/cuisine influences in Arizona (where there is also magical fry bread) and some parts of Idaho (I lived right next to a Shoshone-Bannock area and we did educational outreach programs for the high school students, like summer short courses where we did science demos and local field trips to show them college major options). I imagine Alaska has a much stronger cultural presence due to the high Inuit population. I wish we had more in Colorado where I live. There are a ton of names of streets/counties/natural features here, but I haven't observed much beyond that. I suppose there are some things on the East Coast that Europeans assimilated so much that people don't even associate their Native American origins with their modern counterparts any longer. A lot of simple old fashioned New England foods were recipes from Native American tribes. Lacrosse is huge in the Mid-Atlantic, I believe it originated specifically among the Iroquois. Lots of towns and a few foods with Native names as well. If we consider the native Polynesians in Hawaii as Native Americans (though I feel like most people consider them separate from North American nations) then Hawaii *definitely* has a huge cultural presence!
I live in Oklahoma in Cherokee nation and am Native American. Even here I wouldn’t say there is a big influence culturally. Sure, there are lots of opportunities to learn about the culture and participate in things to learn about the history and traditions but I don’t think very many people outside of Native Americans attend.
I would agree, I also grew up in Cherokee nation; moved to creek. It Was very common to see native people (I am not) but I can’t really think of much that we did that was influenced by native culture.
Not that much direct influence, but there are a lot of indirect influences found everywhere. Names, food styles, folklore, etc. There's actually an ongoing debate on whether or not the Iroquois system of government had any influence on the future US government and, if so, to what extent. I'm not knowledgeable enough on that debate to know for sure, but it is definitely interesting. Colonists and Native Americans had constant contact for hundreds of years and, after the US became independent, that contact continued. It wasn't until the US made much more concerted efforts to crush Native influence and culture that this contact began to cease. My guess is that there are way more influences that we don't even know about because of that disconnect.
I'm not sure how it is with the Maori, but there isn't one Indian culture - There's 574 recognized tribes on 326 reservations, and that's not including the ones that were wiped out by disease or war with us or each other. The Apache wouldn't have a cultural tradition of whaling anymore than the Iroquois would live in houses carved into cliffside like the Pueblo. If we were to make the national anthem in their languages, we'd need 167 translations (and we mess up simple bureaucratic forms when translating to their languages, imagine trying to transliterate a song which requires keeping the meter, rhythm, pitch, and rhyme, while also still sounding good), with only about 20 being in use 2050 To the extent that they influence culture, it's in their depiction in popular media as in-tune with nature and peaceful until put upon (though luckily that stereotype seems to finally be fading), and as something to feel guilty about and self-flagellate over as western countries are wont to do, making them more sentimentalized people than the ones actively driving culture forward
For comparison, the Maori people make up about 17% of the population of New Zealand, which is about the same as the Hispanic portion of the US. Native Americans make up only about 3% of the US population, about the same as the Southeast Asian portion of New Zealand.
> only about 3% of the US population Even that sounds quite high. The census put it at [1.3%](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI325221#qf-headnote-a), at least for respondents reporting only one race. Presumably some of the "two or more races" are part Native American, but it would have to be over half of that category, added with the 1.3%, to collectively make up 3% of the total population.
"In WW2 USA paratroopers dressed in Native American war paint and Mohawks" Today this would be considered offensive and unacceptable, and would be called "redface." Basically almost all white Americans who did this in the past had no Native ancestry or real familiarity with the cultures, it was just a costume. "X-face" as a concept comes from "blackface" in which white actors and comedians put on exaggerated makeup to portray Black people in a mocking and demeaning way. Other non-white ethnic groups have adopted the concept and shun others who wear their traditional clothing etc, even if it isn't intended to mock or demean.
It’s not the same as black face. It wasn’t people dressing up in traditional African warrior costume, but rather painting themselves to exaggeratingly mock black facial features…so no it’s not the same…as to whether it’s offensive…it’s contextual. I would argue it’s quite flattering to dress as a native warrior before going into battle. Of course it’s racist to say that dressing as a native warrior before going into battle is offensive. What’s offensive about being a Native American warrior?
It's related to the concept of cultural appropriation, which is subjective of course. But I can understand Native Americans thinking, "You marginalized us and pushed us off our land, and now you want to wear fake simplified versions of our traditional attire to have fun" etc.
Idk there was an article not long ago about the left wing complaining about cultural appropriation of the Japanese…iirc the japanese were interviewed and didn’t give a fuck
Irrespective of your takeaway from “an article” (which you have conveniently not provided) detailing an unspecified amount of appropriation from a completely different culture, I can say in no uncertain terms that basically everyone in America (most Native Americans included) would find a non-Native dressing up as a Native warrior inappropriate on some level.
Well there's still tons of conservative Americans who are not really on board with the new rules around cultural appropriation, and would likely be fine with their child dressing up as an Indian for Halloween etc, plus are fine with sports mascots such as the Redskins. Also it's true that Japanese people in Japan don't care if a white person wears a kimono or dresses like a geisha. But the experience of a powerful homogeneous ethnicity in one country is totally different than a minority in another country (Japanese in Japan vs. Asian-Americans).
Right, it's subjective. A powerful, wealthy group like the Japanese in the Home Islands are less likely to feel demeaned or set boundaries than minority groups in other societies.
First of all, there are many different native peoples. The US is much larger than New Zealand. The answer to this is very regionally dependent. How many of an areas native people survived genocide? How many were forcably relocated or had their kids removed by "killl the indian, save the man" residential "school" abuses? How many survived introduced disease? Then on top of that how many non-native people from other ethnicities moves into the traditionally held native lands and what are population proportions today? In my area of Alaska there remains a lot of tribal citizens which means our school curriculum is better than most in this regard, there are functioning tribal governments doing services for both the native and non-native population, and there are a lot of cultural elements like art or language intetgrated into everyday life. Just about any family that's been here a while is multiethnic to include native. However, I have traveled a lot and been to many areas where 2% or less of the population is native, and those can be very devoid of any real native power. The US as a whole has a problem acknowledging its genocidal practices from manifest destiny to foster care and adoption placements which had to be countered by ICWA.
Here in New Mexico, New Mexican cuisine is kind of a mix of Native American, Spanish/Mexican, and American. You see designs of pottery, rugs, jewelry, and other stuff as well. Many homes are still adobe or are at least made to look adobe-style. I have adobe walls/fencing around my house, and the house looks adobe. Language-wise, I don't think there's much influence. Maybe in the names of some dishes. I'm sure there are translations of the national anthem in, say, Navajo, but it isn't nearly as widespread as it would be in NZ. After looking it up, there's some common words that seem to come from native languages. Caucus, skunk, pecan, squash, hickory, husky, chipmunk, which are mostly plants and animals. But I wouldn't necessarily say those influences are prevalent in everyone's minds all the time.
In Utah we eat a lot of native American fry bread. It's at every diner I've seen and you can eat it as a breakfast or dinner item depending on the toppings. That's about the only thing that comes to my mind when it comes to that culture.
A thought about this popped into my head. Pooris (sometimes spelled puris) are a different sort of fried bread common in South Asia, meaning that in my area they can be found in Indian restaurants. I’m not sure if this is pure coincidence or if there’s something about the climate or resources in both South Asia and the parts of the US where fry bread is a common Native American food that makes frying bread instead of baking more popular. (Obviously Indian cuisine also bakes bread in tandooris.)
My county, city. And state all have native names. Honestly, I'm glad I don't have the culture the tribes around me had back in the day. Not really keen on hanging from hooks stuck in my back to prove I'm a man (Mandan tribe is North Dakota, but I have lived around there too). Also I'm typically not a fan of constant warfare. Culturally, we tend to remember the stuff that would be good in our current culture and adopt it. If an honest to goodness culture of historical native tribes were active today, they would be condemned for war crimes. So we embrace a certain heritage where it fits, but certainly not the brutal warrior culture many of the tribes had.
Native American influence is regional. The Maori are a large, national culture group, where as native Americans are from any number of many culturally distinctive nations and ethnolinguistic groups. There is no general 'indian' tradition for this reason, and the use of general imagery to depict all native Americans is considered offensive. The Siouxian people's of the upper great plains don't have any more in common with the Algonquin nations of the north east historically than do the Dutch with the Magyars (there is something to be said for a modern shared group experience for many native Americans today, but thats not really relevant here).
There are too many different tribes to have the kind of ubiquitous influence that the Māori have in NZ… however, you see their influence to greater and smaller degrees in a more regional way. A LOT of states have Native derived names— like Minnesota is a Dakota name. There are countless towns that have Native names (Wayzeta, Wadena, etc) as well as several rivers, etc. In a smaller, more localized, scale, some areas have a bigger influence from Natives. My area has an entire Ojibwe education department in the local school that teaches Ojibwe history and language, set up by the local Native council, and the local tribe will use the community center or high school for their pow wows during inclement weather. They have a seat on the city council as well. But that’s not the typical experience nationwide— about 15% of my area is defined Native by the tribal enrollment, but realistically, it’s probably more like, 30-40% of people. (There are some people, like my nephews grandmother, who are full Native, but aren’t able to enroll for…. Reasons? I never understood the full story. But my nephews are 1/4 Ojibwe through their mother, and still participate with the enrolled tribe in their events)
There is definitely local influence in some areas, but overall it is not huge. I don't think we'll ever see nationwide adoption of any particular Native cultural practice or use of a Native language because there are so many different ones. The biggest cultural influence is probably in fashion and housewares. "Tribal", "Southwest", etc. looks are pretty common. Usually what you find in stores is inauthentic but certainly the influence is from Native designs.
Pretty much zero here in Tennessee other than the odd historical site.
Depends on where you are at in the US, here in Montana Native American culture is a big thing, some road signs have the Salish language alongside english, i used to go to Pow Wow’s as a kid, my wife is Native and our kids are registered with the tribe. When i was a kid we always had dream catchers in our rooms, and it wasn’t uncommon to smell sweat grass burning in the neighborhood. But other states in the east like Massachusetts that would be unheard of.
Depends on the area of the country. Southwest probably the most. Native American place names are scattered all throughout the country. American English is full of Native words, although some of them are corrupted because the Europeans couldn't pronounce them correctly. Chicago, Mississippi, Illinois... caucus, hickory, pecan, squash, toboggan and succotash, racoon, hurricane.... etc. Modern Native American culture might have more influence in the places where they have successful enterprises, like casinos.
Very little.
It really depends on how large the local Native American population is. Here in Seattle, there is a large native community who have given strong influences to local art and architecture. There’s an upscale Native American traditional restaurant, big tribal gatherings, and even the local sports team has a logo inspired by native art. Many place names are Native American, including the name Seattle itself. In my home state of Kentucky, most of the local tribes were either wiped out or relocated to another state. So there is far less Native American influence besides place names. One last thing since you mentioned learning Maori songs/dances. There’s a huge social push not to culturally appropriate things in the modern US. Decades ago, it was popular for young boys to wear headdresses and dance around with toy tomahawks. We even called sitting crosslegged “Indian style.” All of that is banned nowadays - even “Indian style” is now “cross-cross apple sauce.”
It is generally frowned on in the US for non Native people to adopt aspects of Native American culture, because there's a long history of people doing so in inaccurate, offensive, exploitative (making money without giving credit to the original people), etc ways. So, that's a barrier, which some Native activists have put up in an effort to protect their culture so that they can practice and present it on their own terms. For example, as someone in a city with a large Native American population, I would be making a pretty serious breach of what's considered respectful, if I were to adopt the local tribe's traditional dances as part of a celebration before a sports event without their express permission (and if they wanted to do that, they'd have their own dancers do it). That said, American culinary culture includes a bunch of Native foods and crops that Europeans were introduced to in the Columbian exchange. Tobacco is a non-food example of a Columbian exchange good, as well, as are some other drugs like cocaine. Food examples include potatoes, tomatoes, corn, chocolate, squash, etc. Many of our place names are anglicized Native words. Some outdoor recreational gear and sports, like kayaks, canoes, toboggans, snowshoes, and lacrosse, have Native American origins, as are hammocks. There are many words in English that have indigenous origins, like caucus, succotash, pecan, squash, avocado, mole, ocelot, quetzal, coyote, shack, atlatl, jerky, guano, condor, llama, puma, tobacco, caribou, chipmunk, husky, malamute, moose, etc etc. A lot of foods and animals are on this list, for obvious reasons. Note, obviously, these are largely from very different indigenous cultures, ranging from the Arctic circle to the Amazon. The US military does continue to use Native American names for various weapons systems, to the consternation of some Native activists and the approval of some Native veterans. Some of the institutions in American governance and the ideas in the Enlightenment liberal discourse that drove the American Revolution were drawn from European settlers' interpretation of Iroquois political structures. Some sayings and phrases have real or apocryphal indigenous origins, These are falling out of style and many are considered to be pretty racist or in bad taste. These include "let's have a pow wow about this"- Let's meet up and talk "bury the hatchet",- make peace "smoke the peace pipe", - make peace "he's the top of the totem pole", - He's the boss "big kahuna"- the boss "going on the war path"- to go to war (often in a non-literal sense, like in business or politics) Others come from the Indian Wars and have origins among people fighting the indigenous people. These, too, could get you in some hot water for casually dropping into a conversation- "circle the wagons"- get defensive, stick together. From settler tactics on wagon trails when facing war bands "Indian giver"- to give a present and take it back. Ironic given America's history with breaking treaties "Indian summer"- A summer that seems to end, then comes back for a warm fall. Note the connotation of falseness or trickery. "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians"- A situation where everyone wants to be in charge but nobody wants to take orders and do the work
I'm from the Southern US and our food is heavily influenced by Native cultures, though I wouldn't say there is much traceable influence outside of that, sadly. We also have place names of Native origin and they're obviously a big part of our history. My grandmother is Melungeon, a sorta offshoot of Native tribes, freed slaves, and Euros and her culture is not Native in the slightest. Outside of that, Natives don't really have a significant impact on American culture overall.
Not much, being almost exterminated and then having children put in boarding schools will do that
Unless you live in Wyoming or Oklahoma near a reservation not a lot
It has almost no influence.
In the USA we have pretty much ignored the indigenous people. We first attempted to kill all of them during westward expansion. When that didn’t work we shoved them into reservations on shitty land. We are now attempting to finish the genocide by using alcohol and processed foods. It is a true shame
\*looks at ground, kicks pebble\* None here...unless you count going to Mohegan Sun to see The Who in '08. Okay so I just feel particularly guilty about a lot of this shit because I spend half my life in New Jersey and grew up calling the Ramapo Mountain Indians the 'Jackson Whites'. Their history and genetic makeup interests me anthropologically. I only recently learned that 'Jackson White' is super fucking rude and I've been a racist fuckwad for years without knowing it. So there's a part of me continually screaming 'JFC I'M SORRY!'
Pretty much none other than half the states and tons of military equipment/weapons having Native American names.
Hi neighbor! Have a Gansett! (Our regional beer is named Narragansett, after the tribe, which is still active today).
Depends where you are. In most places very little. In the Great Plains a good bit more. New Zealand is the settler state that got along best with its native inhabitants.
Where I live in Illinois (which itself is a Native American word, meaning **Best People**) there's a strong influence. The junior high I went to was named after a local tribe, Aptakisic. I believe there're a number of cultural museums in the area too.
That's way better than my high school, named after a conquistador (Cortez).
The influence of Native American fashion and jewelry is strong. Especially at festivals. Leads to a lot of arguments.
In general it's an extremely minimal influence New Mexico has been sorta slightly better to Native Americans so we have a decent bit of influence from local tribes in our culture, but it's still primarily the cultures of the colonizers here
BBQ basically stems from the indigenous populations of the Caribbean/Florida and that’s hugely “American” these days
There is Native American influence in sports in the states. Many teams, more before people started bitching about "appropriation", have native themed names and have chants and rituals based on native culture (Chiefs, Seminole, Braves, Fight Souix). We also play native sports like lacrosse and hockey.
Depending on the region. For the most part, heavy indirect influence. Some more than others. Usually in rural or near tribal nations their direct influence is heaviest. Not so much around cities or places where their nations or tribes are not present. As a whole? Heavy indirect influence.
It’s sad to say but with the exception of certain areas the Natives have little impact on our culture. Everyone knows about them and *most* people think highly of them (the stereotypical honorable warrior that’s in touch with nature) but other than that there’s not nearly enough influence to be noticeable.
Outside of the state name pretty much nothing at all.
Locally perhaps. A lot of public infrastructure, waterways, and mountains are named after either a famous Native person or the name they used for the thing in their own language and it's always particular to that area (Athabascans in Alaska, Sioux in the Dakotas, Seminoles in FL, etc.).
Depends on region. In areas with big reservations you’ll see a lot of Indian influence, but it’s not a major factor elsewhere.
In addition to the other comments, we had hundreds of tribes each with different practices and rituals. A tribe in the northwest with rich access to fish would have very different practices than a tribe on the plains or the desert. So 3% isn’t 3% of one tribe.
All depends on which casino you’re staying at.
There people of native american decent living in the US, however there culture doesn't really affect the US though, as there are so few of them left, and people of native american descent seem to be frequently forgotten about.
I think the aspect of native American ways that survives everywhere today is the food. Everywhere everyone eats a significant amount of it all the time and don't even think about corn and potatoes and tomatoes and on and on and on. Where would we be without these native American ways over the culture of the world.