But as far as cultural appropriation and the Wendigo goes, dont you daredont you DAREtry to take our monsters away from us, PC wankers! The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. After thinking about it some more, I understand that its a kind of It was okay for these kids to pretend to be Indians but not for these kids to actually be Indians thing but I saw someone claim that it was contributing to colonisation and the death of death of their culture and that felt a bit strong. Unlike cultural appropriation, strategic anti-essentialism can be practiced by both minority cultures and majority cultures. Im just struggling to understand the significance of it. [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. It's just fiction, I thought. You're absolutively spot on! People were not really using Google until the 2000s and that kind of info might have not been available in the 90s. Hah hah! Archived post. [29], Another well-known case involving Wendigo psychosis was that of Jack Fiddler, an Oji-Cree chief and medicine man known for his powers at defeating wendigos. I agree with some of it to a point, but disagree with most of it. Just as the vampire and werewolf do not belong exclusively to people of European descent and the Mummy doesnt belong to Egyptians. 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. [10], The Wechuge is a similar being that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. Oh yeah, Marvel. As a result, in 1907, Fiddler and his brother Joseph were arrested by the Canadian authorities for homicide. . Even before it went live, she was being criticized for her apparently blatant cultural appropriation of Native American folklore, and since publishing the criticism has only grown more pointed. Indigenous peoples have seen culturally . The "Dark Horse" singer . 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.). He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. are not cryptids, and don't even traditionally have deer skulls for heads. 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. A classic example is wearing a Plains Indian war bonnet (see the 80s band The Village People). And I accept that the Wendigo can symbolize for them that exploitation. 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. So, thanks, Dave! No one can try to stake a singular claim to it. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Ill admit, my initial reaction was very dismissive. The e-book is here, and you can get a paperback copy here.). so no, if you're some white kid hearing crying in the forests of california you're not being "lured into the As a concept, wendigo can apply to situations other than some Native American-European relations. Idiots have just made a religion out of being racist about culture and only allowing genetic descendants to participate in cultures. As it so happens, I am currently working on a project involving a Wendigo, so this is personal to me. But its none of your concern what turns someone on! It will survive on it's own. So some of it may be that natives don't want people to be waking this monster. These things feel formulaic, quantitative, mathematicbalancing equations and subtraction. It sounds like you did research which is more that J. K. Rowling so I think yes? Only assholes think thats offensive. The line between what differentiates cultural appropriation from cultural appreciation can be razor-thin, not to mention highly . BTW, I love rainbow farting unicorns! For Indigenous peoples in Canada, cultural appropriation is rooted in colonization and ongoing oppression. In an as-yet unpublished urban fantasy novel of mine, I basically did the same thing; I made a supporting character an Acheri, completely bungling any semblance of folkloric accuracy in my attempt to come up with a "cool" and "unorthodox" monster. I really just want to learn about how to appreciate aspects of cultures that I am not included in respectfully. 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). The moral lessons contained in wendigo stories are also used to support the task of social critique in the late Native American scholar Dr. Jack D. Forbes book Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wtiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism (1978). 1. They are seen as malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural beings of great spiritual power . Humans could also turn into wendigos by being in contact with them for too long. If I don't, I'll never know what it is I'm so angry about! MORTUI VELOCES SUNT! Exactly!! 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. [2], Although distinct from how it appears in the traditional lore, one of the first appearances of a character inspired by, or named after, a wendigo in non-Indigenous literature is Algernon Blackwood's 1910 novella The Wendigo. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. Anyone who lives in a place that is exposed to more than . Jack committed suicide, but Joseph was tried and sentenced to life in prison. It was already here. His line of questioning effectively asks what if the monstrosity we face is actually not an otherworldly presence but our all too human selves?. One does not need to delve very deeply into the annals of American film, television, and literature to find an array of caricatured depictions of Native American peoples and a distortion of their knowledge. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(443401, 'c61f3219-a9f3-4b0c-95ea-f614a80c184b', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Pictured above: A portion of the poster for the film Antlers (Fox Searchlight, 2021). The novel describes its primary antagonist, a rapist whose violent crimes desecrate a sacred site, as a wendigo who must be killed because he threatens the reservation's safety. One example is Ojibwe activist Winona LaDuke who has called for a decisive shift away from what she has termed Wendigo Economics for the sake of the health of the natural world. Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge I think it's okay because you're not trying to rewrite actual history or actual legend. Myeesquatis was holding the other leg and we were praying. As researchers, most of us are lost in a wilderness filled with Windigo, Skinwalkers and various other indigenous cosmological entities, and we need to recognize we have no idea what we are talking about. By Christian Chiakulas, Contributor Writer, musician, activist, single father from Chicago. Theres something else. In some cases, this entailed killing people with Wendigo psychosis. 1. It's taking those cultural. With the comments turned off on Dollightful's apology video, I thought that maybe we could have some discussion here(if anyone ever sees this, anyway). 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. In Algonquian traditions, the wendigo monster emerges not randomly or in violent response to colonialism as it often does in popular media but through a specific set of circumstances that are unique to different tribal groupings. 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. I am so offended! He said to the boy "Hurry up. Check it out here:https://youtu.be/fHE4fkvUpWMI really just made this video to express how I am currently feeling about the wendigo doll situation and the questions I have about it. However, when reading Magic in North America, it's hard not to get the sense that Rowling did not understand the thin ice she was treading on when it came to representation of Native Americans, nor did she make any effort to treat these themes with the weight they deserve. I have always felt a distinct emotional connection to it, in fact. [25], One of the more famous cases of Wendigo psychosis reported involved a Plains Cree trapper from Alberta, named Swift Runner. Most sensible thing said ever. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet. And they are worth considering including in one's classroom teaching. no actual cases of windigo psychosis have ever been studied, and Lou Marano's scathing critique in 1985 should have killed off the cannibal monster within the psychiatric annals. 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. Writer, musician, activist, single father from Chicago. Certainly Navajo "skin walkers" are one of the more common Native American legends that non-native writers reference (the only other example I can think of that comes close is the Algonquin Wendigo), but like I said, it would be presumptuous of me to guess at Rowling's research style. That's an easy solution and I still keep my freedom to create. The legend of the Wendigo is, in fact, one of the oldest manifestations of a taboo peculiar to most human societies, and which was already widespread among Anglophone tribes: cannibalism. J.K is weird for using name like that, it isn't hard to google names, i know she wrote books before internet was as "popular" as now, but i honestly doubt that she couldn't find name and surname of east asian person, she could of used names from either celebrity ( use surname of one and name of other or something like that), she could of used name from character from some book, there were ways of finding name that isn't bad as Cho-Chang, also i find it a bit weird that said character is in "smart" house, feels way to stereotypical for me. They are afflicted with neither lunacy, hypochondria, nor frenzy; but have a combination of all these species of disease, which affects their imaginations and causes them a more than canine hunger. And they are worth considering including in ones classroom teaching. Copyright 2022 Facing History & Ourselves. Dollightful's Wendigo Doll - Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation? White authors should be able to write about non-white people. As long as theyre not shoving their porn in your face let them be as Paul McCartney sung. By Derrick Clifton. The film dives deep into cultural appropriation during those pivotal scenes in which the black crows help save the day for the titular flying elephant.
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