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Cultural appropriation is perhaps the stupidest example of the stupidest concept , political correctness , that has ever been argued. Monsters like Wendigos often represent, in the imprecise language of emotion, a common cultural fear. appropriation, or - as I argue - misappropriation, of the Wendigo as a 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. Cultural appropriation, feel like a real blur to me but I never worry about it I feel it can dampen the creative process. By the mid-1990s, it had gained a solid place in academic discourse, particularly in the field of sociology. 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. Strictly speaking, cultural appropriation is the adoption of some element of another culture -- food, language, practices, fashion, etc. While Bieber's locs may be perceived . With teepees, Im not sure I get it. I just posted a new video talking about cultural appropriation and art! I am ashamed I watched all the movies. Character can be mean, evil or complete asshole but you still should be respectful while writing said character. As a result, in 1907, Fiddler and his brother Joseph were arrested by the Canadian authorities for homicide. 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. The Indians asked the Windigo if there was any fat on them. They travelled too much. Now neither Christian culture is by any means endangered to become a minority (although some US Bible Belt hate preachers consistently claim so) nor is Chinese culture, so both are out of ansatz here. For this screenshot controversy, I am actually going to go over a video game for this. The question of how to challenge the wtiko psychosis as described by Forbes and Wendigo Economics as described by LaDuke is a difficult one, but the mythic force of the concept of the wendigo helps to underscore the urgency of these questions. I dont know who originally posted it, or where. I believe cultural appropriation is Only when someone of another 'race' or culture creates something and passes it off as if it is authentic. [56], Various characters inspired by the legend, or named for it, appear in Role-playing video games, such as 2018's Fallout 76 by Bethesda Game Studios, where wendigos are featured as one of the cryptid enemies found in the area of Appalachia, mutated from people who consumed human flesh in isolation. The Windigo also has the power to turn humans into cannibals who suffer the same . [16] Whenever a wendigo ate another person, it would grow in proportion to the meal it had just eaten, so it could never be full. The Wendigo happens to be part of my own (Anishiinaabe) cultural heritage. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet. I don't don't value cultural pluralism. The wendigo is a terrifying presence that feeds on negative energy and human flesh, making it a natural addition to the horror genre. It was created by Mayuki . This form of cultural appropriation is deeply intertwined with systemic and institutionalized racism rooted in capitalism. 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. If ANYTHING is disrespectful to woke (does not exist in the real world) culture then I say: DO IT - AND DO IT BIG!!! It's taking those cultural. [13] They were strongly associated with winter, the north, coldness, famine, and starvation.[14]. "[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. [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. I mean, I have native heritage, grew up with the culture and I even have a wendigo character in my own comic that's based on the pop-culture version with the elk skull and whatnot so I honestly don't see an issue with it but if you're really concerned then perhaps try a different monster called the Leshy from Slavic folklore? The Wendigo is by far one of the most mysterious and feared monsters in not only in the Algonquian folklore which it is attributed to, but also other . Don't tell lies to those Indians." If an idea has merit, it doesn't need protecting. Further, cultural appropriation often occurs as the backwash of colonization, and contributes to widening existing divisions and perpetuating patterns of historic dispossession and oppression. If Hello Kitty and the Minions from Dispicable Me being considered acceptable Halloween costumes wasn't the exact point I stopped taking Halloween seriously as a holiday, Wendigos being considered a form of disrespectful "cultural appropriation" was. Topics: The appropriation, and reclamation, of Native American mythology', Journal of . [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. 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. It first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #162 (April 1973), and again in the October 1974 issue. People were not really using Google until the 2000s and that kind of info might have not been available in the 90s. By Christian Chiakulas, Contributor Writer, musician, activist, single father from Chicago. We should show proper respect to our Cryptids at all times, and Im rightfully righteously indignant at the thought of anyone doing otherwise with Mothman. ". 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. Copyright 2022 Facing History & Ourselves. We do the same thing with a lot of mythological creatures. Archived post. I believe that the Wendigo is far older than that, far more primal. 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. I wouldn't be offended if someone dressed as a stereotypical Scottish person whatever that looks like lol. wendigos originate from spiritual beliefs held by Algonquian Indigenous peoples, whom are from the north eastern part of north america. (1961). I really just want to learn about how to appreciate aspects of cultures that I am not included in respectfully. 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.). 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? Ojibwe scholar Brady DeSanti asserts that the wendigo "can be understood as a marker indicating a person imbalanced both internally and toward the larger community of human and spiritual beings around them. In my blind quest to represent everyone, all I did was reinforce the problem. And I accept that the Wendigo can symbolize for them that exploitation. Cultural appropriation by a dominant culture is harmful to underrepresented cultures because it reduces cultural significance and reinforces double standards. For Indigenous peoples in Canada, cultural appropriation is rooted in colonization and ongoing oppression. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. [10], The Wechuge is a similar being that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 That, I would affirm, is truly and literally cannibalism, and it is cannibalism accompanied by no spiritually meaningful ceremony or ritual., More than a commentary on the life of wendigo stories amongst his own people, Forbes deploys the metaphor of the wendigo to advance nothing less than a critique of civilization at large and describes the violence that he argues lies at its foundation as one driven by a kind of wendigo psychosis. 11. These things feel formulaic, quantitative, mathematicbalancing equations and subtraction. Now time to go back and make some changes. You dont have to be French to love the Phantom of the Opera. No they ain't. [58] Several of these creatures also appear in the game's cover art.[59]. I mean yeah I see what your saying, personally I do research on what its about even if I don't use it in it's entirety. Cultural appropriation definition, the adoption, usually without acknowledgment, of cultural identity markers from subcultures or minority communities into mainstream culture by people with a relatively privileged status. No they fucking aren't. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 As much as I would love to tell everyone to just read her sources and then be able to understand everything better, I just don't think that's realistic for most people(because they are not easily accessible to most, and I don't think that was her intention by including these in her description. Not so for anyone who isn't a straight, white male, and this trend in entertainment forces many people to seek out "niche" markets to find characters who look like them and are portrayed honestly and realistically. One time long ago a big Windigo stole an Indian boy, but the boy was too thin, so the Windigo didn't eat him up right away, but he travelled with the Indian boy waiting for him till he'd get fat. I can't say for sure how much research Rowling did when writing her series, but others have pointed out that it doesn't seem like much. "Why is indigenous culture suddenly more sacred than any other culture?". I can't even think about bank without getting mad, why did she need to make them like that..EVERY name is filled with stereotypes , well every name from minority .I don't even want to talk about Fantastic Beasts problems. But overall I can't stand JKR. It also includes the unauthorized use of parts of their culture (their dress, dance, etc.) 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. It really depends who you talk to. Marvel Comics pay tribute to classic Monsters. . The Wendigo, also known as the Hollowed, was a type of Creature of Grimm that was proposed to appear in the animated webseries RWBY. But as far as cultural appropriation and the Wendigo goes, dont you daredont you DAREtry to take our monsters away from us, PC wankers! 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. [17] Therefore, wendigos are portrayed as simultaneously gluttonous and extremely thin due to starvation. Guillermo del Toro, producer of the film, developed the wendigo on the basis that the more the creature eats, the more it gets hungry and the more it gets hungry, the weaker it becomes. That borrowing and exchanging of cultural elements is what makes America the melting pot of the world. My tongue and my brain do not speak the right language. I have to look! Maybe ask a person of Chinese heritage. [43] These works set the template for later portrayals in popular culture, at times even replacing the Native American lore. They got Thor and Loki all wrong and what the hell? You're just making up a story. Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge :)Looking to buy some stickers or look at some pictures of my art or my other things? Mistgod Edited Oct 11, 2020 Hobbyist Traditional Artist Apparently, wendigos are sacred creatures from several indigenous cultures. You're absolutively spot on! 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. Watch popular content from the following creators: Thorn (@shr00mermaid), Thorn (@shr00mermaid), Nuoance(@nuoance), MattHatterPlays(@matthatterplays), Aidan Mattis(@theaidanmattis) . Now that I have a major problem with. 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. 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. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. What is cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation? The book's cul-tural importance granted it not one, but two movie adaptations, the first in 1989 and the second in 2019. I know people who are absolutely terrified of them, branching out from their fear of deer. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. I can write whatever fiction I want, and draw whatever I want. Joe Lockhard, English professor at Arizona State University, argues that wendigos are agents of "social cannibalism" who know "no provincial or national borders; all human cultures have been visited by shape-shifting wendigos. MORTUI VELOCES SUNT! 1. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 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). We have to stop guarding cultures and subcultures in efforts to preserve them.. It's also linked to the many cultural taboos against these negative actions and behaviors. It's like saying vampires are sacred. It only becomes cultural appropriation when an element of culture is adopted from a marginalized group without respect for its cultural meaning or significance or with the purpose of exploiting the culture No cultural appropriation in it, I promise! I agree with some of it to a point, but disagree with most of it. Wendigo) from its cultural context and its movement by non-Indigenous creators (a large majority being white) into a space of the horror genre that displays negative or antagonistic qualities. creators (a large majority being white) . Beyond Forbes, other Native American thinkers have also used wendigo stories to present critical perspectives on various social problems and call for their resolution. What makes the wendigo any different from other culturally important mythological creatures like unicorns? Differing thinking is one of the cherished assets of democratic cultural pluralism. 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. The heroes of books I read, movies I watched, and games I played almost exclusively looked like me when I was growing up, people I could easily identify with. 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. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 17spaz 2 yr. ago Ojibwe scholar Dr. Brady Santi has developed this guide for teachers who would like to teach students about her communitys unique belief systems with an emphasis on the wendigo as it appears in popular films. This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. 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. It will survive on it's own. Most sensible thing said ever. You dont have to be of Afro-Caribbean descent to talk about, write about, or make movies about zombies. The Wendigo may be a figure from American Indian mythology, but it belongs to all of humankind. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. No it isn't cultural appropriation, as long as it is researched and accurately presented in the story. Only assholes think thats offensive. Some controversial new studies question the syndrome's legitimacy, claiming cases were actually a product of hostile accusations invented to justify the victim's ostracism or execution."[35]. Just as the vampire and werewolf do not belong exclusively to people of European descent and the Mummy doesnt belong to Egyptians. BTW, I love rainbow farting unicorns! The Windigo had a knife and he'd cut the boy on the hand to see if he was fat enough to eat, but the boy didn't get fat. 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. They're monsters. It was already here. wa, which may have meant "owl". Wendigo psychosis is a fascinating condition with a storied history. In Ojibwe, Eastern Cree, Westmain Swampy Cree, Naskapi, and Innu lore, wendigos are often described as giants that are many times larger than human beings, a characteristic absent from myths in other Algonquian cultures. 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. 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. 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 do not know whether Algonquin People indeed consider Wendigo depictions in mainstream media so culturally sensitive or taboo as the "woke" in your lead comment implied I would somehow doubt it but do not know for sure. When I got over my initial bout of self-defensiveness, I realized I was totally wrong. "[37] This application allows Native Americans to describe colonialism and its agents as wendigos since the process of colonialism ejected natives from their land and threw the natural world out of balance.