Unless I get paid for my time, allayou can find someone else to bother. I have little energy left for explaining to and educating people who have access to a far more extensive network of scientific sources than I ever will without enrolling in a university and I’m sick and tired of being treated like an object instead of a person with thoughts and agenda, which seems to be the default role of anybody non-academic.
I’m with you on this.
It takes me minimum five hours to put together a post on my main blog. Five to 10 hours of research, composition and sourcing, all of which is only as good as the lifetime of studying I’ve done on the subject to be able to synthesise it at all. I have been paid $100 in total in the six months I’ve been blogging to a wide audience on HuffPo, rabble, Indian Country Today and in other publications (OpenFile Montreal commissioned an article). I am frequently asked to blog on a specific news story of the moment, and lately I’ve taken to turning these requests down. I don’t get paid for interviews, I sometimes get honorariums when I speak, but essentially I’m doing this for free, and frankly I can’t afford to spend this much time and energy and not get paid for it.
So I have to remind myself why I write in the first place, and not get caught up in the idea that somehow it’s going to be my career. It isn’t. I teach right now, and that is my focus. The other stuff is a hobby.
I’ve got university professors using my blog as source material in their classes…which is great, I’m all for it, because I don’t actually expect to get paid for what I do. Not because what I’m doing isn’t valuable, but because I’m not going to start getting uptight about this. The other side of the coin is…I’ll bloody do it when I feel like it, and I’ll write about what I want to write about.
Tumblr is my ‘blowing off steam’ place. I’m considering disabling asks for a while so that I continue to get out of tumblr what I want to get out of it, and to avoid feeling guilty about all the things that yes, I’d love to be able to do, but am too busy supporting my family to be able to do. Particularly when the people receiving the benefit don’t realise what it costs to produce.
Really sick of academics lecturing us on how to be more ‘aboriginal’. Especially the linguists. Holy shit.
May I ask for context? I have similar experiences esp. about a particular white dude who’s made a few dictionaries—a valuable act in itself, but seems to think that means he also has a say in our internal affairs and gets to decide who of us are proper Saami and who are not, which is ludicrous.
More than once this particular linguist has waxed eloquent on how to be properly non-confrontational and ‘more traditional’. I agree with him on a number of things, but this…belief he has that from studying the language and reading the old texts he somehow has a better grasp of my culture than me, is in itself grating. He may be more familiar with certain traditional principles, but he glosses over the factors that have lead to us having to change our approach in many ways (especially when dealing with settlers rather than within our groups). He likes to talk about how we don’t pay enough attention to how ‘white’ groups have been treated, and he has claimed that the situations are comparable.
He also told me that he’s the only person ‘of his background’ that would listen to anything I had to say, and that I’m ‘doing it wrong’ (i.e. not being non-confrontational enough). Essentially, he polices tone and dictates cultural norms, using his expertise as a linguist to justify this.
I can articulate what pisses me off about this, but I imagine many people he interacts with cannot. No wonder he is not very liked among native academics. But where do you even begin with this approach? “Ha ha you have to be non-confrontational cuz that’s your culture and otherwise you’re just someone who’s been colonised, but I can be aggressive and all those other things because I’m not from your culture. Though I am an expert on it.”
*sigh*
[video]
I am too busy right now to answer most asks. I have no intention of telling you whether you are ‘native enough’, giving you insights into ‘native american spirituality’, or providing you with reams of resources on diverse topics aside from the ones I’ve already compiled on my main blog. Sorry, but I do not have the time, or the interest right now.
And because a snotty anon actually suggested this, let me make something clear. I post on this tumblr for me. Not for you. I have not put myself here on tumblr to teach anyone and I certainly do not owe anyone my time or attention.
Yes, it’s good you are asking some of these questions, but I’m not necessarily the ‘go to’ person, especially right now.
Thanks.
Anonymous asked: I kinda meant anything on any native cultures would be appreciated... individual or regional or... yeah
There are so few resources I feel are accurate enough to pass on (with many caveats about inaccuracies, incompatible worldview’s and plain old flights of fancy).
I’m not the one to provide these recommendations, sorry.
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. :)
Yay!
Hollywood headband with feather? Check.
Random ‘warpaint’? Check.
Random dream catcher? Check.
Some more ‘tribal’ accoutrements? Nose piercing and some teeth on a necklace, check.
Oh look. Someone ‘new’ dreamed up some great ideas about how native people look and wants praise for this ‘work’.
DENIED.
What nation is this woman supposedly from?
The Made Up Fake Ass Settler Dream of a Native Nation.
nostalgia
What on earth are you nostalgic about? Generally one is nostalgic when remembering times gone by…but this picture is an excellent example of how the colonial, racist mentality of settlers is alive and well in the present day. No need for nostalgia, you have that for which you yearn for smeared all over your face.