ABSTRACT
Ethnicity is a set of categories based on cultural, historical, geographical, or other “identity” differences. Social theorists have tried to define ethnicity or ethnic group in such a way as to make the idea concrete and useful. Some of the similarities and differences between race and ethnicity can be seen in Manning Nash’s analysis of ethnicity, in which he identified the three major components of “bed, blood, and cult.” The contact experience of Native Americans varied dramatically depending on the specific time and place of contact, as well as whether that contact was with Spanish, Dutch, French, or English settlers. One unique relationship between Native societies and the American government is the treaty relationship, continuing an earlier practice of the British colonial administration. A fascinating case of the controversy over Native American identity arose in 1996, when a skull and some bones were discovered on the banks of the Columbia River in Washington State.
