May 2012
169 posts
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Really sick of academics lecturing us on how to be more ‘aboriginal’. Especially the linguists. Holy shit.
Anonymous asked: I just wanna say I really enjoy your blog and it's opened up my eyes about a lot of things. :)
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Shawn Atleo is following me on twitter? And I was just about to write a piece blasting the AFN and supporting Pam Palmater, bad timing, National Chief :D
Anonymous asked: Do you think it's appropiation for a white hispanic to imitate the style indigineous Americans? I understand this is outside your specialty but do you think it's cultural appropiation for a Spanish-descended Mexican to identify themselves with Maya or Aztecs?
adventuremorm0n-deactivated2012 asked: I'm a white chick, and I find it horrible that others would wear the headdress for fashion. I actually did a project on the genocide (a word many people are wrongly hesitant to use describing the destruction of the Native people of the Americas) and even only in the United States regions, I was shocked at the amount of abuse and torture brought upon the Native people. In school, we were only...
goddamnitprotoman asked: I want to thank you for taking the time to write about your life and your culture. Fuck that anon - you must've brought truth to them that they simply couldn't handle or understand, and it frightened them. I respect you a great deal and I wish you and your family the best.
Anonymous asked: i would disagree. they're using it as an accessory, not as a cultural symbol. of course they know it's a cultural symbol for someone else, and like i mentioned dumb people are always going to exist, which is why they need to be educated, rather than everyone told 'you can't use this. this is only for use by us' i don't know of anyone who claims to be native american...
fallbackandrelax-deactivated201 asked: I was wondering if you could recommend any reading about the political concerns specific to Native peoples in the US (e.g. present political concerns and/or their historical relationship to the United States govt). Because of the historical relationship between Africans in the Americas and Native communities, I'm sure the political strategies of Native communities can inform and educate us as...
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Anonymous asked: I really hate to be annoying but I've been trying very very hard to learn more about native peoples from the Americas. It's been really difficult for me. I don't know if the information I'm getting is reliable, if it's even from native people at all and I can't tell because I honestly don't know very much about any of the cultures. If you have ANY reliable...
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mylittlehyena replied to your post: So, I have another question, and I’m not sure if you’ve already been asked this, but I’ll give it a shot. There’s a man named Morgan Spurlock and he’s made several documentaries and had a show for a while called 30 Days. The premise of 30 Days is that a person or several people will drastically change their way of living for 30 days. On one of the episodes,...
Anonymous asked: by the way thanks again for the thoughtful reply. it was interesting to read and has certainly made me think more about the issue. please don't take my asks as a prescriptive commentary, i guess im just trying to engage in something thought-provoking which is why i might be playing devils advocate slightly. cultural genocide is a lamentable thing and as a linguist even i feel a pang when...
yggdrasilium asked: So, I have another question, and I'm not sure if you've already been asked this, but I'll give it a shot. There's a man named Morgan Spurlock and he's made several documentaries and had a show for a while called 30 Days. The premise of 30 Days is that a person or several people will drastically change their way of living for 30 days. On one of the episodes, Spurlock spent...
Anonymous asked: right to lay claim to anything that is earthly (the parts that make up the headdress) and tell people because you think you were the 'first' to use is that they cannot use it in ways different to you. obviously it's not as simple as this, as you said because of the balance of power and i think that's why you have to go about it in different ways
Anonymous asked: firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to write that in response to my question. the point about claiming to have a medical degree is different because i did mention about it being different if you do harm to people etc. but i think i'm going to leave that analogy because it's straying from the point. on restricted items being open to people who don't form part of your...
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Anonymous asked: so the 'restricted items' are already copied ( you can buy cheap copies of grammy awards and oscars) i've seen plenty of military badges being used in fashion, military stripes and other garments too. the medical degree part i find laughable, i don't know about the usa but where i come from you will not be arrested if you 'claim you have a medical degree' (of course...
Anonymous asked: No, I'm asking you why you are rude in general. And yeah, that would've been a lot simpler but it didn't occur to me until like a half an hour ago. I tend to unconsciously complicate things, and then realize it later on, and that's what happened here. So basically, instead of all the asks I've posted already, I just want to ask why you are rude. What's the agenda, and...
scarecrowdreams asked: That sounds more like what I thought was your opinion. I guess I just misunderstood what you said. Thank you for clearing it up though. :)
Anonymous asked: i don't really see why any indie hipster or fashion designer should shy away from using what your religion?/culture? (probably both) deem 'sacred'. they haven't shied away from using things christians deem 'holy' or most other religions. of course people need to keep in mind that it might offend certain people, but to be honest i don't think that people should be...
Anonymous asked: You wanted me to be specific so you could answer properly. I was, and then you said you didn't owe me an answer. I know you don't owe me anything, but I was trying to be honest and you just keep being rude. Okay, that's your tone, whatever. But I just can't understand why you are okay with being rude. Maybe that's just me, but I was taught to be polite, and I try to be....
scarecrowdreams asked: Hi, in one of your earlier posts you said the following: "In our cultures, women and men are equals, and this is not something we struggled to achieve after centuries of enforced inequality" and "sorry but we don't need feminism to save us, our traditions include gender equality." However I don't understand on what basis you say this, because in 'Making Space for...
Anonymous asked: I didn't accuse you of anything, I hinted and asked questions that you did not bother to answer, which is pretty rude. I wasn't the politest either, and I do apologize for that. No, you did not call on me for doing any of those stupid things, as a matter of fact I messaged you once, talking about spreading the message about sacred objects because some idiots over here thought it would be...
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I don't debate bullshit.
I will discuss any range of issues related to indigenous peoples…taxation, ‘affirmative action’, alcoholism, sovereignty, land rights, you name it.
But I can’t discuss these things with you if you can’t marshal an argument. Or specific questions. Or specific examples. I can’t read your mind, I have no idea what motivates you to say certain things.
If you...
Anonymous asked: (I'm the one who brought up the lack of stigma against taking on the opposite sex's gender roles) Excellent! I thought to myself right after sending that that surely there were also women warriors, but the men taking on traditionally female roles were what jumped to mind immediately, since by most European estimations doing so makes a man 'weak'.
Anonymous asked: Thank you for undermining me as a decent human being, that was real nice of you. You don't know a thing about me and my education. All I wanted to know is why you are so extremely bitter and often rude, and you just got ruder. It doesn't even have anything to do with you being of a different culture than me, it could be about anything. I'm simply asking why your way of communication...
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wickedknickerbockers replied to your post: Do you think you’re better than everyone else because you’re a native American? I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but you come off like you look down on people who are not of your own origin, and you’re often quite rude, bitter and sometimes even a little ignorant towards other cultures in your answers. Maybe you should consider that other people...
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invisiblelad replied to your post: Funny, that’s exactly what I thought when reading some of your posts. I want to note that you have no idea whether I have any knowledge of the subject, you had simply decided beforehand that I was a racist, ignorant jerk. And that makes you no better than those who are. What I’m trying to say, is that you won’t gain supporters if you keep biting the hand that...
Anonymous asked: Funny, that's exactly what I thought when reading some of your posts. I want to note that you have no idea whether I have any knowledge of the subject, you had simply decided beforehand that I was a racist, ignorant jerk. And that makes you no better than those who are. What I'm trying to say, is that you won't gain supporters if you keep biting the hand that feeds you. People who...
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If you want to justify cultural appropriation...
…just point out that drinking coffee is appropriation and clearly not a bad thing, thus appropriating sacred objects is just like getting a double-double at Timmy’s.
Which logical fallacy is this, btw?
Anonymous asked: I may have been told falsely, so feel free to correct me, but in addition to gender roles in most Native cultures being equal, I've heard that it's much less stigmatized to take on the gender roles that are opposite of your sex. Which would also point to it not being sexist, since in European culture if you take on what people view as the 'wrong' gender role you tend to get a...
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How best to spend your time...
…depends on what you need.
I have a lot of things to do, as is always the case. But I’m sitting in my classroom with the windows open, listening to Silvio Rodriguez & Luis Eduardo Aute, which always always always reminds me of warm nights in Chile, sitting in a stadium packed with 80,000 people on the 25th anniversary of the coup. The way the crowd on this album sing along with...
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Anonymous asked: I'm trying to understand but I just don't understand how "acknowledging different gender roles" can be anything but sexist. I'm sorry, I'm trying to figure it out though and I appreciate your posting on the subject.
Anonymous asked: Do you think you're better than everyone else because you're a native American? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but you come off like you look down on people who are not of your own origin, and you're often quite rude, bitter and sometimes even a little ignorant towards other cultures in your answers. Maybe you should consider that other people also deserve respect....
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You have to be FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW
nockknock:
they want me to re do the application from the fucking start.
THEY HAVE FOUR FUCKING COPIES ON FILE.
I AM SO FUCKING DONE WITH THIS FUCKING BULLSHIT I JUST DON’T CARE ANYMORE. I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE FUCKING HOOPS I CAN JUMP THROUGH.
fuck everything.
Deep breaths.
Yes. This is frustrating. They are fucking with your life. This is not just paperwork to you.
When you...
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Edmonton Police Services harrasses a native woman...
Fuck everything about this.
Ah yes, Edmonton. Still sucking ass and treating us like shit. Fuck you.
Welcome to the 21st century, where this shit is still going on.
A former employee of the Edmonton Police Service says racist behaviour of her colleagues and her boss forced her from her job.
“I was told by my sergeant within the victim services unit to be less aboriginal at...
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Is it wrong...
to see the big fat groundhogs running fearless around campus and think, ‘lunch’? I don’t even need a snare!
Seriously, these animals are massive in Quebec. It’s wild. Raccoons the size of dogs, squirrels the size of ground hogs, and ground hogs the size of marmots. They’re all wrong sized!
But I bet they’re tasty these winasakâcihpak…
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Many asks
…I’ll get to them later.
yggdrasilium asked: Hello, I guess I just have a question. Later in the year I have the marvelous opportunity to attend a pow wow with the rest of my American Studies class. I was just hoping you could give me a little advice so I don't end up insulting anyone. I feel I'm pretty good at being respectful, however, I am admittedly biased. So, a few pointers would be lovely. Thank you so much for your time. C:
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Today Is The Most Beautiful Day Yet.: The Star... →
spaceforyourface:
The Star Dancer is a powerful girl
Long black hair without a curl
She walks with the trees
Picking berries to her grandmother’s appease
She awakes in the morning in her den
and makes a meal for her tribe’s men
She waits for the moment when
night falls and she dances with the stars again
…
Oh, were you an Indian in your past life?
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Hi, I'm a native woman.
What’s that? No honey, the fact that the okimâwastotin (that headdress worn by clueless hipster girls all the time) is generally reserved for males in Plains cultures is not sexist or patriarchal. You can stop trying to ‘save us from sexism’ thanks.
In fact, we were centuries ahead of you in the gender equality department. There are of course a great diversity of...
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Reconciling being anti-war, but respecting native...
It gets me every time. Grand entry. I’m okay, it’s just a little moving. The posting of the flags. Swelling feelings all messing up with my breathing. The POW/MIA flag, hot damn I’m tearing up, the salute, the veteran’s song and I’m pretending there’s dust in my eyes. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it. I’m always a bit of a wreck for a...
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Someone loves this boy.
Early twenties at the most, I suppose. He’s wearing nice clothes, hip but neat. He rocks back and forth in his seat and he mumbles to himself. This draws attention, and the ladies next to him are visibly uncomfortable. They are waiting to see if he is violent…this is a human trait I think. We filter out the ‘normal’, and go on high alert when there is a deviation in...
strawberryrougir asked: Ok I definitely will, that sounds interesting. I apologize again, I didn't mean to upset anyone, I'm sure I'd be angry about all this if I were in your place.
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strawberryrougir asked: I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to offend anybody. My mum bought them for me because I love things like that, the cards and nature and such, and I didn't mean to offend anyone with that post, so my deepest apologies that that's what has happened and begun to happen and that you seem to be upset that someone new became a part of it.. I didn't really mean anything by just...
Anonymous asked: "It's Law, eh?" -- 'were you aware' eh? Eh? Eh? You breakn' da law? eh?
