The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America

Two of the main accusations King makes about the larger society’s relationship to Indigenous peoples are that the larger society tries to misrepresent Indigenous identity and that it tries to erase Indigenous identity. What is similar and what is different about misrepresentation and erasure? Consider these points in formulating your response.

• How do these phenomena impact Indigenous peoples?
• Which governmental policies does King identify as aimed at erasure? How were these policies meant to function?
• How and why does misrepresentation occur? Is it the result of specific policies?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt asks students to synthesize a number of King’s ideas from throughout the text as they delineate between “erasure” and “misrepresentation.” After students have reviewed and defined these two categories, they can begin comparing and contrasting their motivations, mechanisms, and impacts. The wording of the prompt encourages students to draw evidence from The Inconvenient Indian but also leaves room for supplementary evidence from other sources; students can engage in a broader synthesis task by bringing in information from the unit’s Paired Resources as well.

Differentiation Suggestion: Literal thinkers may benefit from support in bringing together the threads of King’s ideas under these two categories, as King does not use the explicit labels “misrepresentation” or “erasure.