Where to Begin

If you aren't Native American, you may have little to no experience with Native communities and people. Non-native culture is rife with stereotypes and false assumptions about tribal nations and their history, culture, and modern day-to-day lives. It's easy to be seriously misinformed about where you are going and what you will experience there.

This article by Taté Walker, "Your Anti-Oppression Roadmap to Traveling Through and Visiting Indian Country," is particularly great at covering the important issues to consider about Native tourism before you go - from a Native person's perspective, which holds far more water than mine on this topic.


Every tribe is different, so you'll need to do your homework before you go, but here are a few other good, thoughtful resources:

• Powwows.com's Visitor's Guide, especially the Etiquette section, for visiting Pow Wows
• The Wampanoag Homesite at the Plimoth Plantation's FAQ Page
• Indian Pueblo Cultural Center's Etiquette page for visiting Pueblos
• The FAQ Page from the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association's (AIANTA) website as well as their gorgeous NativeAmerica.travel site.

And one final consideration when it comes to travelling in Native America -

It's easy for us non-Natives to just not see Native people all around us, to not notice their presence in the same spaces where we live, because their identities and voices have been so marginalized in mainstream American communities.

Everywhere here is "Indian Country."

You don't have to go to New Mexico or South Dakota or Alaska. You can visit with Native people and support their communities with your travel dollars in Maine or Oregon or Iowa or Texas, or wherever you call home.

For example, I live in Boston - where people shockingly, regularly speak about Native people as though they are disappeared relics from the distant past, eradicated after King Philip's War in 1678 - but there is a tribal museum about one hour's drive from my house and several more just a bit farther. Harvard University has a Pow Wow in the spring. There's a Native art installation on the Boston Common called the Ancient Fish Weir Project. Look around, you might be surprised by all the rich, living Native culture that perseveres right in your backyard with very little mainstream acknowledgement.

So get out there! Listen, learn, and support your Native neighbors while relaxing and having fun. Every tourist destination is a welcoming invitation to an America that you might not have ever seen before. Travel Native America!