What ‘Band’ Means
Dorreen Yellow Bird offers an example to explain the correct use of the term “band.”
By
Dorreen Yellow Bird
In Minnesota the Chippewa were once one tribe—like the Sioux. So when they divided up or the government divided them up, they were broken apart into groups they called bands. The Sioux became the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota but, if they are looked at linguistically, they are of one group. The Chippewa in Minnesota also go by different designations—i.e. Anishinaabeg, Chippewa or Ojibwe. Chippewa is the official or Bureau of Indian Affairs term, but most of the people there use Ojibwe. Band, however, is used as the group name rather than nation or even tribe.
