Perceptions – most of us carry visual pictures that we associate with different words. If I say “dog”, most of us will pick a specific dog we know; or a breed of dog we like. This is true for flowers, music. It is also true when we hear the names of other cultures. We may either have a positive or negative connotation that we associate that culture with.
A few days ago I ran across a link for montage-a-google. This program collects images based on the term you type in. I typed Native Americans. (http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google/app/#/native+americans) The image I got is shown in this link. Many Americans when they hear the words Native American or Indian will see similar visual images in their own minds. I found it interesting that the majority of the images are of Native leaders; clothing and images of the past. The subtle message that everyone hears and sees in most media and books is that Native Americans are from the past. It takes reprogramming are understanding to make our images current. Contemporary Native Americans are among us in all walks of life achieving dreams and goals like everyone else.
