For those who don't watch King of the Hill, Joseph was born out of wedlock to John Redcorn, an Indian man, and Nancy Gribble, a white woman. Joseph has been raised by Nancy and her husband Dale and thinks he's their natural son. He has no idea that he's anything but white.
DMarks asserts that Joseph must be Indian because his blood quantum is high enough earn him membership in his biological father's tribe:
You can find a list of Texas tribes in various places, including here:
Texas Indian Tribes and Languages
Since Redcorn tried to open a casino, I believe his tribe is federally recognized. You could concentrate on Texas's three recognized tribes in your search for enrollment requirements.
But is John Redcorn full-blooded? You and I may have assumed that, but do we know for sure? If he's only 1/2 or 1/4 Indian by blood, that throws a monkey wrench into your speculation.
A complicating factor is that some tribes decide membership by matrilineal descent. If you're half-Indian on your mother's side, you're a tribal member. If you're half-Indian on your father's side, you're not.
Let's suppose...
Let's suppose Joseph is 1/2 Indian by blood. I still say he's a special case. Since he's 50-50, he can choose to identify himself as Indian or non-Indian. He's "chosen" (through his ignorance) to identify as a white member of the Gribble family.
I think we have to respect that position just as if he declared himself an Indian. In other words, either identity would be valid in this hypothetical situation. Joseph could legitimately call himself white, Indian, or biracial.
Until we have more facts, therefore, I'd say we can't identify him as an Indian. I'm sticking with my claim: that his self-identification as white trumps his half-or-less Indian blood. If he wants to embrace his Indian side, he has to do it consciously.
For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.
Below: Joseph before and after his growth spurt.
2 comments:
Yeah but... He looks brown, and a lot of people in the show suspect/know he's Redcorn's son. So you have the whole factor of him possibly getting treated differently even if he isn't consciously aware of it. Maybe when he gets older he'll get pulled over and checked for DUI for no reason other than he's brown looking. You know what I mean? It's deeper than just his self-identity if society is identifying him and treating him a certain way, that affects him, his personality development, his sense of self--in some fundamental way. Identity formation is a lot more complicated than you're making it sound.
I didn't say Joseph's self-identification as white would make his life easy. In fact, I think he's already had one or two identity crises.
In the real world, he'd eventually figure out his mixed parentage. This would fill him with more doubts and insecurities, if not self-loathing, probably.
But in the show's context, he easily passes for white. I don't think anyone has ever discriminated against him because of his skin color.
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