The paper discusses the appropriateness of using the word Indian in the Czech language and gives reasons why it is correct to spell it using a capital letter. The second part of the paper deals with the naming of the various Native American ethnic groups in Czech.
This paper discusses some aspects of past and present debates concerning the English terms used to collectively refer to members of Indigenous peoples in the United States, and relates them to the Czech controversy about the capitalization of the “i” in the Czech word “indián“ (Indian). The paper follows the history of referring to the Native population, arguing that the inability to find a term in the language of the dominant Anglophone culture that is not controversial reflects the deeply problematic relationship of that culture to the cultures it has colonized and whose identity it has damaged. In this context, it is interesting to ask whether the Czech dispute over the capital “I” in the word “Indián” is a purely orthographic matter, or whether it points to more complex, albeit unreflected, issues of colonization and cultural oppression.
The paper defends the opinion that the term “Indián” should be written with a capital initial letter in the Czech language, despite the latest edition of the Czech Spelling Rules, which classify this term among anthropological names like “běloch” (white person) or “černoch” (black person) etc., which use a lowercase initial letter in Czech. The author criticizes this classification, as well as the incorrect reasoning behind it, arguing that “Indian” is a demonym designating the first inhabitants of the continent. Although the term originated from a historical error — confusing America with India — it has been widely recognized and used in the Czech lands. The paper suggests that the romanticizing term “Indian” should be reserved only for popular scientific discourse aimed at the general public. However, in academic contexts, the term Indians should be replaced by the term “Původní obyvatel/é Ameriky” (Native peoples of America).
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