If I can draw my own version of a Chinese dragon, or my own version of angel or demon, I can draw a wendigo. Is it okay for a white person to celebrate the culture. The Cambridge Dictionary, defines it as "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture."And a lot of times, it is marked by a dominant culture taking from one that has been colonized and oppressed . For example, dressing up as a Native American while using redface and using the gaudiest, most elaborate costume you can think of (using the stereotypical feathered headress, tribal print tan clothing, holding a spear, etc.). When first hearing this criticism, I, as a wannabe author of fiction (by the way, you can buy my debut novella here) rolled my eyes and whitesplained to myself why Rowling wasn't doing anything wrong. So for some woke culture types it's considered a form of disrespectful cultural appropriation to make your own Halloween monster or character based on a wendigo. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The cannibalistic forest creature is known for allegedly . She annoys the hell out of me. [5], In his 2004 treatise Revenge of the Windigo on disorders and treatments of the behavioral health industry in the United States and Canada that are peculiar to indigenous people, James B. Waldram wrote,[34]. Latvians have their own version of Thor, so I probably should be offended, as well. Idiots have just made a religion out of being racist about culture and only allowing genetic descendants to participate in cultures. In some artistic depictions, it looks similar to the pop-culture wendigo and even makes an appearance in The Witcher games but instead it's called a Leshen. There's nothing wrong with drawing the popular concept of a wendigo monster, or drawing any monster with antlers, and calling it a wendigo. I think it's okay because you're not trying to rewrite actual history or actual legend. "** 40. The Wendigo, also known as the Hollowed, was a type of Creature of Grimm that was proposed to appear in the animated webseries RWBY. You dont have to be of Afro-Caribbean descent to talk about, write about, or make movies about zombies. And unfortunately for them, this isn't the first time. Even in the face of ongoing cultural appropriation and erasure, wendigo stories are but one reflection of the survivance, wisdom, and brilliance of Native peoples. The wendigo -- a creature from Native American myth -- carries powerful symbolism and is presumably sufficiently mysterious to keep enough audience members guessing at its motives and abilities. The windigo, however, continues to seek revenge for this attempted scholarly execution by periodically duping unsuspecting passers-by, like psychiatrists, into believing that windigo psychosis not only exists but that a psychiatrist could conceivably encounter a patient suffering from this disorder in his or her practice today! As described by the Native American Cree legends, they were humans who have been mutated into cannibalistic monsters after being possessed by the Wendigo spirit, causing them to eat the flesh of other humans. By Christian Chiakulas, Contributor Writer, musician, activist, single father from Chicago. Dont look at it! (Not to put too fine a point on it, but you should totally go buy my novella. Thank god I am not from USA, where this seems to be an issue. Cultural appropriation consists of borrowing something from another culture in mockery or thoughtless misuse. This year's Met Gala theme China: Through the Looking Glass was just begging for cultural appropriation, which led many starlets to play it safe with minimal references to China.Emma Roberts, however, earned herself Twitter backlash for wearing chopsticks in her hair.. Chopsticks in the hair is one of many broadly "Asian" styles tried on by Western dressers (for what it's worth . This was the end of this Giant Windigo. The "Dark Horse" singer . Some researchers argued that, essentially, Wendigo psychosis was a fabrication, the result of nave anthropologists taking stories related to them at face value without observation. I have not always done so, and it appears that in this case, J.K. Rowling did not either. This makes them so ravenous for human flesh that they pounce upon women, children, and even upon men, like veritable werewolves, and devour them voraciously, without being able to appease or glut their appetiteever seeking fresh prey, and the more greedily the more they eat. What makes the wendigo any different from other culturally important mythological creatures like unicorns? Privacy Policy. It's fine for colonized Indians to incorporate European fitness . Draw/write what you want, I say. By the mid-1990s, it had gained a solid place in academic discourse, particularly in the field of sociology. I would not care much about what a statistically likely personally unrelated "woke" thinks about what Algonquin descendants may think about it, but only what Algonquin descendants. There's also Wendigo psychosis. Lurking in the deep woods of the Northern United States and Southern Canada lies a mysterious and fearsome Native American monster, the Wendigo. (A friend sent this screenshot to me, along with the info, because he knows how much PC-ism pisses me off. Cooper and del Toro made the conscious decision to tell the story of the wendigo in a way that is respectful to its Native American roots, which in turn helps make Antlers a more authentic horror film. Mythologynote my use of the capital M to convey that it is far more than just some made-up stories; it is stories containing deeper spiritual truthsbelongs to all of humanity. So some of it may be that natives don't want people to be waking this monster. Handle the characters and the story with respect. If ANYTHING is disrespectful to woke (does not exist in the real world) culture then I say: DO IT - AND DO IT BIG!!! In a report from the Contemporary Folklore conference covered in issue 388 of FORTEAN TIMES, the go-to magazine for all things paranormal, weird, or unexplained, a complaint is voiced about the cultural appropriation of the Wendigo, likening it to the sexualization of the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Cultural appropriation can be defined as the "cherry picking" or selecting of certain aspects of a culture, and ignoring their original significance for the purpose of belittling it as a trend. Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #culturalappropriation, #cultureappropriation, #culturalappropiation, # . And I accept that the Wendigo can symbolize for them that exploitation. minority cultures deserve a higher level of protection from being put on display than mainstream cultures," Nah, https://forum.deviantart.com/community/complaints/2612415/, https://www.deviantart.com/comments/18/2611618/4878314665, (, literally "goat-sucker") is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas, with the first sightings reported in Puerto Rico. The wendigo is seen as the embodiment of gluttony, greed, and excess: never satisfied after killing and consuming one person, they are constantly searching for new victims. In theory, art and other cultural products are created for the. Political correctness started out as one thing, a good thing. [24], Although in many recorded cases of Wendigo psychosis the individual has been killed to prevent cannibalism from resulting, some Cree folklore recommends treatment by ingestion of fatty animal meats or drinking animal grease; those treated may sometimes vomit ice as part of the curing process. Wendigos, teepees and cultural appropriation I read some stuff yesterday saying that teepees are cultural appropriation and there was a long post about how wendigos aren't cryptids and how stories about them are cultural appropriation. Okay, dont anybody get me wrong. I hate that I am defending JKR but I think a lot of people don't really think about how the internet was in in the late 90s and what kind of content was on the internet. The Windigo also has the power to turn humans into cannibals who suffer the same . Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Clunky prose aside, this is the "noble savage" trope repurposed for Rowling's universe, with just a pinch of Magical Negro thrown in for good measure. Wendigo Cannibalism in Native American Folklore. "[39] Lockhard's ideas explain that wendigos are an expression of a dark aspect of human nature: the drive toward greed, consumption, and disregard for other life in the pursuit of self-aggrandizement. Created by the writer Steve Englehart and artist Herb Trimpe, the monster is the result of a curse that afflicts those who commit acts of cannibalism. I believe cultural appropriation is Only when someone of another 'race' or culture creates something and passes it off as if it is authentic. [23], What caused us greater concern was the news that met us upon entering the Lake, namely, that the men deputed by our Conductor for the purpose of summoning the Nations to the North Sea, and assigning them a rendezvous, where they were to await our coming, had met their death the previous Winter in a very strange manner. without permission. The cultural appropriation police answer the yoga and banh mi objections with a familiar counter-argument: it's about power. Facing History and Ourselves invites educators to explore our case study Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools, particularly our reading "Culture, Stereotypes, and Identity" which features reflection questions surrounding some of the stereotypical media representations that we touch upon at the beginning of this essay. As long as theyre not shoving their porn in your face let them be as Paul McCartney sung. Since the concept of a wendigo stems from First Nations folklore, maybe someone making a cute little doll of this evil spirit figure was seen as inappropriate or making fun of their culture? In contrast to modern horror stories that appropriate the wendigo as a plot device, Forbes implies that what actually ought to be terrifying to us is that we live in societies enveloped in violence and exploitation that we struggle to identify as such. . [21] The last known wendigo ceremony conducted in the United States was at Lake Windigo of Star Island of Cass Lake, within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota.[when? Theres something else. Now why cant that be said to prudes lurking here. [44], Contemporary Indigenous works that explore the legend include the 1995 novel Solar Storms by author and poet Linda K. Hogan (Chickasaw), which explores the stories of the wendigo and incorporates the creatures as a device to interrogate issues of independence, spirituality, politics, an individual's relationship to the family, and as a metaphor for corporate voracity, exploitation, and power - all viewed as a form of cannibalism. iii 3 four quarters: Jack D. Forbes' concept of colonialism as a manifestation of wtiko psychosis; ethnographical works that feature fearsome figures from the stories of North American tribal [18], A wendigo need not lose the human's powers of cognition or speech and in some depictions may clearly communicate with its prospective victims or even threaten or taunt them. This form of cultural appropriation is deeply intertwined with systemic and institutionalized racism rooted in capitalism. [30], Fascination with Wendigo psychosis among Western ethnographers, psychologists, and anthropologists led to a hotly debated controversy in the 1980s over the historicity of this phenomenon. In some traditions, humans overpowered by greed could turn into wendigos; the myth thus served as a method of encouraging cooperation and moderation. Only those entitled to them should wear them. Still though, Im not sure I fully get the Native American spirits(?) He was eating the juice (marrow) from the inside of the bones of his legs that were cut off. For this screenshot controversy, I am actually going to go over a video game for this. No they fucking aren't. Thats just asking for trouble.) Cultural appropriation is a huge red flag that the brand has minimal diversity or representation behind the scenes," she explains. [51], Television series employing the figure include Teen Wolf, Supernatural,[52] Blood Ties,[53] Charmed,[54] Grimm,[55] and Hannibal, where an FBI profiler has recurring dreams or visions of a wendigo that symbolizes the titular cannibalistic serial killer. Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge to tell a new tale. In addition to denoting a cannibalistic monster from certain traditional folklore, some Native Americans also understand the wendigo conceptually. I have always felt a distinct emotional connection to it, in fact. Wendigo psychosis is a fascinating condition with a storied history. The Indians asked the Windigo if there was any fat on them. Halloween is literally a holiday (most Americans see it as a good excuse to dress as a sexy cat or whatever, but there are actually still people left who believe it's sacred and who perform rituals etc for the holiday). I won't pretend I know everything about NA culture, but I believe that headresses and that kind of finery is only used on special occasions and was not how ordinary NAs dressed all the time. One of those advisors I just mentioned, Chris Eyre, had this to say of the Wendigo: They [meaning Native peoples] truly, truly believe in it, because it represents greed and colonialism when we first came to the shores of what is now America, and pillaged all of their resources and forced them [into] cannibalism. [25], One of the more famous cases of Wendigo psychosis reported involved a Plains Cree trapper from Alberta, named Swift Runner. (the proceeding statement may contain some levels of sarcasm.). Strictly speaking, cultural appropriation is the adoption of some element of another culture -- food, language, practices, fashion, etc. Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. [10], The Wechuge is a similar being that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. Creative freedom is a beautiful luxury too many do not understand; it wasn't but a hundred years ago when art was said to have an objective hierarchy, and that was how it was for thousands of years. 8.1.2014. In 1661, The Jesuit Relations reported: First, he gives definitions of the key concepts of "appropriation" and "arts," and delimits his investigation as one concerned with "cultural" appropriation. I would refuse to be shackled by political correctness. He said to the boy "Hurry up. Watch popular content from the following creators: Thorn (@shr00mermaid), Thorn (@shr00mermaid), Nuoance(@nuoance), MattHatterPlays(@matthatterplays), Aidan Mattis(@theaidanmattis) . "Cultural appropriation refers to the use of objects or elements of a non-dominant culture in a way that reinforces stereotypes or contributes to oppression and doesn't respect their original meaning or give credit to their source. I really just want to learn about how to appreciate aspects of cultures that I am not included in respectfully. I wouldn't be offended if someone dressed as a stereotypical Scottish person whatever that looks like lol. The deaths of tens of millions of Jews, Slavs, etc., at the hands of the Nazis, the deaths of tens of millions of blacks in slavery days, the deaths of up to 30 million or more Indians in the 1500s, the terribly short life spans of Mexican Indian farm workers in the US, and of Native Americans generally today, the high death rates in the early industrial centers among factory workers, and so on, all clearly attest to the fact that the wealthy and exploitative literally consume the lives of those that they exploit. More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories, often presented apart from its original cultural contexts, At Facing History and Ourselves, we value conversationin classrooms, in our professional development for educators, and online. For Indigenous peoples in Canada, cultural appropriation is rooted in colonization and ongoing oppression. And how many would have known that in the past - and even now - the originators of the cornrows, the headdresses, the bindis, would have been persecuted for wearing them? No they ain't. It turned its hunger on the Americas, a wendigo so hungry that it consumes its own lips if there is nothing else for it to eat. I can write whatever fiction I want, and draw whatever I want. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. That will depend on who you ask. "To the people present, it was suspected that Moostoos was becoming a 'Whitego', an insane person capable of murdering and cannibalism.41 To the natives without jails or asylums, there was only one thing to do. In their most recent music video for 'How You Like That', fans spotted a Ganesha idol kept on the ground, in the background of the music video. The idea that diversity and representation can be addressed simply through a "balance between four guys and four girls" or through the removal of "traditional phallic stabbing" troubles me. They heard the Windigo calling the boy. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 Im glad, because I dont believe that it is. From Stephen Kings Pet Sematary to the television series Hanibal, the flesh-eating image of the wendigo is often presented apart from its original cultural contexts where it carries deep moral significance. No it isn't cultural appropriation, as long as it is researched and accurately presented in the story. 12. wendigos originate from spiritual beliefs held by Algonquian Indigenous peoples, whom are from the north eastern part of north america. But I do know the actual description of it. We should talk about how Thor and Loki are cultural appropriation of Norwegian mythology. Theyre revered spirits to the point where people wont speak their name so it must be frustrating when people are just like Oh yeah, I saw one of those, it was so spooky or have an aesthetic called wendigocore. C'est la maladie dont ces dputez furent atteints; et comme la mort est l'vnique remede parmy ces bonnes gens, pour arrester ces meurtres, ils ont est massacrez pour arrester le cours de leur manie. But I do notice that Eyre stopped short of saying colonialization is the origin for the Wendigo legend. To fully understand its consequences, though, we need to make sure we have a working definition of culture itself. I agree with some of it to a point, but disagree with most of it. wendigo appropriationplymouth township mi police scanner. Monsters like Wendigos often represent, in the imprecise language of emotion, a common cultural fear. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. I'm just struggling to understand the significance of it. Eat what you want to eat, tattoo yourself with whatever you want to tattoo yourself with, wear what you want to wear, and let those ove Continue Reading More answers below However, PCism taken to its extreme would say that neither Cooper, nor I, should be telling stories about Wendigos at all, since were not of aboriginal descent. Have you encountered wendigo stories in films, television shows, or books? With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets; the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. In most traditions, the wendigo is human in origin and becomes a monster through a process that results either from acts of starvation-induced cannibalism or from possession by a spirit.
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