Urban American Indian Identity: Negotiating Indianness in Northeast Ohio

Abstract

The number of people identifying as American Indian has increased exponentially in recent decades and the largest increases have occurred in non-reservation environments. Demographic research shows that “new” Indians, or people who did not previously identify as Indians, have contributed to this growth, but little is known about the experience of Indian identity for this segment of the population. My research draws on 39 interviews and 2 ½ years of field work in two Northeast Ohio pan-Indian communities, one comprised primarily of “new” Indians who are reclaiming Indian identities, and one comprised primarily of “old” Indians who relocated from reservation environments to the urban sphere. I explore how these distinct pathways to urban Indian identity—reclamation and relocation—manifest in different experiences for Northeast Ohio Indians. My comparative analysis reveals that both reclaimers and relocators find it difficult to assert American Indian identities in interactions with Northeast Ohio residents. Accomplishing “Indianness” in personal and public realms is particularly challenging for reclaimers, however, because they lack tangible evidence (e.g., brown skin, government issued identification cards) to support their Indian identity claims.