<p>Knowing that many parents on this board are very educated with strong writing skills, I thought it’d be favorable to ask this question here.</p>
<p>“The natives are suffering from malnutrition in Uganda.” </p>
<p>^ Why is “native” a derogatory term in that sentence?</p>
<p>I think it’s better to say… </p>
<p>The native people of Uganda are suffering…</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>The citizens of Uganda are suffering…</p>
<p>or </p>
<p>The people of Uganda are …</p>
<p>Just calling them “natives” sounds undignified and disrespectful. It almost dehumanizes them.</p>
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<p>It harks back to a time not so long ago when “natives,” especially natives in Africa or other undeveloped areas, referred to tribal people, possibly half-naked and almost certainly backward and illiterate. Most people would be offended to be thought of in such a way, so it’s best not to use language that implies that.</p>
<p>Try this: substitute “natives” with another word. “Children are suffering from malnutrition…” The new sentence creates a very different picture. I visualize photos that I’d see in National Geographic with “natives”, but “children” conjures up recent photos I might see in the front page of the NYTimes. </p>
<p>Why the difference? I see children everyday, and I can feel empathy towards young children who live in “bad situations.” These problems are real to me. But “natives” are a group of people far from my sterile world. However, I don’t think the word ‘natives’ makes a derogatory statement, it just has less impact.</p>
<p>What coureur said. I just think its the connotations of the word “native”, formed by its usage in the past, that makes it politically incorrect. Indigenous population is much more PC.</p>
<p>The word “natives” harks back to the colonial era when it was used to distinguish between the colonized and the (white) colonizers. The latter were assumed to be superior to the former.</p>
<p>If one uses the term about Uganda today, one is referring to the people of Uganda, unless one is writing about tourists. Try substituting natives for Americans and see how strange it sounds:‘“the natives” celebrate their Independence Day with clambakes and firecrackers.’</p>
<p>By the way, indigenous does not sound much better than native. Again, try substituting 'indigenes" for Americans or Frenchmen or Brits. I don’t see that “indigenes” is any more appropriate for the people of independent African, Latin American and Asian countries.</p>
<p>I disagree Marite, “indigenous” is not used to refer to Americans in general because most would not fit the description. Native Americans are the indigenous population in the U.S. Many other countries, such as Uganda, are mostly composed of an indigenes. I understand that it is an expression that would not be used to describe many European populations, which are now quite ethnically mixed, but it is nevertheless, an oft-used, non-derogatory term. Mom2collegekids gives good alternative options, however, and it depends on the greater context of the phrase.</p>
<p>I agree Wildwood.
THe indigenous people of North America, are not caucasian, or black or Asian- except those who came over the land bridge.
Native sounds like Gauguin, and his " primitive", half dressed ( per European standards) women.
Indigenous to me means " here first" , " native" sounds like " backward" and " inferior"</p>
<p>I use native to describe American citizens. Just depends on the context.</p>
<p>^I agree that “native” can be acceptable in certain contexts. For example it would be fine to say “I was born in Hollywood, and that makes me a native Californian.” But when referring to a group of original residents, especially in Africa, “natives” calls up the colonial/tribal era and all that comes with it.</p>
<p>In Africa or Latin America, many of the so-called natives were not any more indigenous to the areas than Caucasians are in the US but were still called “natives” because the distinction was between (colonizers) and non-whites (colonized). Given the history of colonialism in Africa, a lot of the so-called "natives’ are probably not native to the country they happen to live in.</p>
<p>This reminds me of something a Northwestern prof once told me. A survey was conducted of the racial make-up of the faculty in that prof’s department, and everyone, except the foreign-born, checked the box “native American.” Only later did they realize that Native American pertained to American Indians, of which there was none on the faculty.</p>
<p>The Natives are getting restless.</p>
<p>What a crappy sentence! You’re trying to say “Ugandans suffer from malnutrition” or something more precise than those few words, but you abstract that into “natives” and then abstract what’s actually happening into “are suffering” and then you stick on to the end “in Uganda.” </p>
<p>You have two additional problems with “natives” in your sentence. As noted, it reeks of colonialism because you wouldn’t say “natives in America” to refer to US residents. And you create unfortunate ambiguity because now the reader wonders if you mean some subset of Ugandans. Does it mean black Ugandans versus Asiatic or White Ugandans or some specific tribal group or is it just sloppy wording?</p>
<p>coureur has the best explanation ( and I wonder about those profs at Northwestern- which dept was that?)</p>
<p>“native American” is someone born in the USA. Native American is a “politically correct” term for what we used to call American Indians. My understanding is that most Native Americans do not particularly like the term (preferring to be called by their tribal name) but politically correct terms are chosen by the elite, not by the people whose name they designate. My preference is First Nations if you are including all American Indians.</p>
<p>Years ago, when ex-colonials and helpers were still part of the African population, I can remember that missionaries in training were told to never use the word “native” - to use “national”.</p>
<p>“Native Americans” is the preferred term in New England (it took parents at our school a long while to get used to that label.) “American Indians” is the preferred term for Plains Indians.</p>
<p>No one uses the term “native American” to describe someone born in the US.</p>
<p>Ek:</p>
<p>Would you believe the profs were in the History Dept.? But it was about 30 years ago, and I assume they’ve had their consciousness raised since. :)</p>