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A NOTE ON THE USE OF LAKOTA, DAKOTA, AND SIOUX

José has both Lakota and Dakota ancestry on his mother’s side. The Lakota and Dakota are divisions of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate (Seven Fires Nation), or Sioux, the name given them by early French traders. The Dakota and Lakota people speak different dialects of the same language and share many cultural and spiritual traditions. Today the Dakota people’s homelands are located primarily in Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas, while the Lakota are settled primarily in western South Dakota. José uses Lakota, Dakota, and Sioux to describe his ethnicity, but does not use them interchangeably. He asserts one or the other branch of his Native heritage depending upon the topic and to whom he is speaking.