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 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. Just as the vampire and werewolf do not belong exclusively to people of European descent and the Mummy doesnt belong to Egyptians. With teepees, Im not sure I get it. When the soldiers reach Ives' cave, Boyd and Reich investigate. Native Americans, Our headquarters are located at: 89 South Street, Suite 401, Boston, MA 02111. George warns those who are leaving about the Wendigo myth: anyone who consumes the flesh of their enemies takes their strength but becomes a demon cursed by an insatiable hunger for more human flesh. Why are wendigos seen as offensive? : r/NoStupidQuestions - Reddit Privacy Policy. xref
teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. This space is not for debate. The concept of cultural appropriation began well enough, but just like everything else woke culture political correctness, it's gone way too far. Magazine with fellow environmental thought leaders, LaDuke said: Theres this conflict between the cannibals and Mother Earth, and its going on everywhere. ])yB\}OIZyY8 aA6Vo !C_D#!MYik.1>%'5ryZ*>fb=n#_dr;j5 { 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. 0000010971 00000 n
This analysis will trace the process of these media, made by non-Indigenous white creators, removing the Wendigos indigeneity and placing it within fictional settings as an antagonist. Halloween Costumes That Are Actually Racist, Even if You Might - Bustle 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. Here's some links:Website - https://thesierramistify.wixsite.com/thesierramistifyEtsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/thesierramistify?ref=simple-shop-header-name\u0026listing_id=736195213Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thesierramistify/Art Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thesierramistify.art/- Music used in this video -Prime Beatz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkG3r3-ODOw <<410561E535828C4ABA4EA5627C70A225>]/Prev 78716/XRefStm 1365>>
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Big Dan on Twitter By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. So yeah, if anyone could offer any insight/information, thatd be appreciated. (Anything that isnt outright vandalism isnt likely to harm the statue at all, but I wouldnt dare do anything disrespectful around it. wendigo cultural appropriation <>/Metadata 266 0 R/ViewerPreferences 267 0 R>>
And whoever!). T[,%q5 Okay, dont anybody get me wrong. +9*]aty``mZm/[=
${2R{!g=b{B,L0R2"T]IDa. For more information, please see our For resources: http://reddit.com/r/SRSDiscussion/wiki/required. Antlers: The Wendigo Monster's History, Explained - CBR Though these misrepresentations of the wendigo beg for critical interrogation, the wendigo stories of Algonquian peoples offer a window into the endurance of cultural resources used to transmit significant moral values, and underscore the power of Native people using these stories to engage in social critique. Western appropriation has long-lasting effects on the perceptions of Native American cultures by the average consumer and even scientific communities. More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories, often presented apart from its original cultural contexts, At Facing History and Ourselves, we value conversationin classrooms, in our professional development for educators, and online. His line of questioning effectively asks what if the monstrosity we face is actually not an otherworldly presence but our all too human selves?. The Wendigo happens to be part of my own (Anishiinaabe) cultural heritage. I have this character in a webcomic I want to write who is a Wendigo. The Windigo also has the power to turn humans into cannibals who suffer the same . l Ca#!LzH{t+8W5 !2*_{)rgx-`]CTXSH($g If you were to look around the world about other religions, anything that is associated with death and disease is regarded upon. In this paper, I document the depictions of windigo in Native American mythology, those of Western literature, and the effects of appropriation and misrepresentation on Native communities. spellings (see Colombo 2) but is most commonly rendered as Windigo, Wendigo, or Witiko. Europeans may well have behaved like Wendigos when they invaded the Americasthey didbut they didnt bring the Wendigo with them. This article analyses prominent examples of the Wendigo myth in modern North American horror media and the implications of misappropriation by non-Indigenous creators for non-Indigenous audiences. But I do notice that Eyre stopped short of saying colonialization is the origin for the Wendigo legend. That's just pulling a potential explanation out of my ass, though, I have no idea if its accurate or not. 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). This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. You dont have to be French to love the Phantom of the Opera. Cultural appropriation is the co-optation of elements, customs, or practices of one culture by another culture without acknowledgment or consent. MORTUI VELOCES SUNT! (Think Noah from . Dollightful's Wendigo Doll - Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation? My This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. I read some stuff yesterday saying that teepees are cultural appropriation and there was a long post about how wendigos arent cryptids and how stories about them are cultural appropriation. media has really misconstrued the original lore and importance of the w*ndigo to Indigenous culture. 0000006529 00000 n
The windigo is a Native American spirit belonging to the Algonquian tribes of North America and Canada. I know what cultural appropriation is but Ive not been as involved in social justice as I used to be and I guess its showing. Its incredibly validating to know that other people have heard about it and enjoy the story enough to make reference to the name and concept. Basically, the wendigo was supposed to be a creature you didn't even say the name of or else you could draw the attention of one. By looking at the depictions of windigo in these specific Western stories and in Native American beliefs, it is possible to see how stripping spirits of their original contexts is harmful to Native communities. %PDF-1.7
Copyright 2022 Facing History & Ourselves. o&g( i don't know if anyone has talked about this, but i have a special interest in Native American culture, history, etc. J.K. Rowling's Cultural Appropriation Should Be A Lesson To - HuffPost The windigo is a Native American spirit belonging to the Algonquian tribes of North America and Canada. The Wendigo is a 'terrifying cannibal ice monster that has its genesis in stories of people forced into cannibalism by the long winter' (Smith and Fiore, 2010: 68). Now that I have a major problem with. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Handle the characters and the story with respect. 0000023412 00000 n
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Those things, the predation on the Indians by Europeans, most certainly happened. A Creature Without a Cave: Abstraction and (Mis)Appropriation of the Sponsored by Ball State University Libraries. 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. 278 0 obj
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During a panel at YES! 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. 0000011489 00000 n
You dont have to be of Afro-Caribbean descent to talk about, write about, or make movies about zombies. Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge Scan this QR code to download the app now. s\&|5T!JN04hy'I0 1pv=~0-K$k}xSK"g:O*ox&zGa13(YXzy_{v-N^!c@[H Im just struggling to understand the significance of it. Ravenous (1999 film) - Wikipedia Is it cultural appropriation for a white author to use a Native 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. 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. Have you encountered wendigo stories in films, television shows, or books? Theres something else. Copyright (c) 2022 Francesca Amee Johnson, https://doi.org/10.31273/reinvention.v15iS1.906, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, Accepts submissions from any undergraduate student, worldwide, including student-staff collaborations (student must be lead author), Edited by students and staff at the University of Warwick and Monash University. 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). wendigo cultural appropriation [26][27] During the winter of 1878, Swift Runner and his family were starving, and his eldest son died. Only assholes think thats offensive. 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. 0
To Helheimr with it! Turning on 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. 0000010400 00000 n
they've been stripped of cultural context. 0000012532 00000 n
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. 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. And were on the right side, thats what were working on but sometimes you get that cannibal tendency. endobj
As a creator, I believe it is my responsibility, the responsibility of any creator, if using characters that belong to a culture other than mine and exploring themes from that culture, to be accurate. 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. Cookie Notice Facing History and Ourselves combats racism and antisemitism by using history to teach tolerance in classrooms around the globe. stream
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. As it so happens, I am currently working on a project involving a Wendigo, so this is personal to me. My Thoughts and Questions OllieOnyx 845 subscribers Subscribe 4.5K 119K views 2 years ago I just posted a new video talking. 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. symL,JyvCq;[H~! HeyYaIQ 21 days ago. 4. In this paper, I document the depictions of windigo in Native American mythology, those of Western literature, and the effects of appropriation and misrepresentation on Native communities. "@TheThiccholas @realcoolJAY They can't say Issa wendigo cus of cultural appropriation props to them buuuuuut also WENDIGO type energy sooo " If so, what did you think about it? Sorry, this post was deleted by the person who originally posted it. 0000013308 00000 n
I have always felt a distinct emotional connection to it, in fact. So, thanks, Dave! Ill admit, my initial reaction was very dismissive. Apparently it's wrong to draw wendigos for Halloween arent cryptids thing. Smith and Fiore detail that, among the Cree and northernmost Ojibwa, it is a feared creature because it is understood as both a 'mythic character' and as a threat to humans (2010: 68). He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. Usually, the appropriating culture is in a relation of domination to the appropriated culture. No one can try to stake a singular claim to it. As I mentioned during our latest episode of the NYMG podcast, I've been playing Until Dawn, and the game has got me thinking about a few different things that I'd like to spend some time parsing through, like the game's representation of things like gender and race, how it is that the idea of choice seems to influence the way we think about these representations, and the manner in which . There's nothing wrong with drawing the popular concept of a wendigo monster, or drawing any monster with antlers, and calling it a wendigo. 9'b_X~~@0CKYO~8yOK9I$^I>t That is why we know about the wendigo today, it is an oral tradition like all the . I think she knew that her decision would be challenged and she wanted to let people know that she had valid reasons for doing what she did. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. And besides that, it never hurts to include your sources. 0000012791 00000 n
defence-cultural-appropriation Cultural appropriation is defined by Britannica.com as "When members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way." Cultural appropriation is a growing topic in this country that when it occurs, or is discussed, often creates controversy. As a creator, I believe it is my responsibility, the responsibility of any creator, if using characters that belong to a culture other than mine and exploring themes from that culture, to be accurate. For artists, writers, gamemasters, musicians, programmers, philosophers and scientists alike! 1. a lot of Natives and people in general don't even like saying the word itself. Still though, Im not sure I fully get the Native American spirits(?) 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. However, it never provents for people of that tribe to share this and that story. Cultural appropriation consists of borrowing something from another culture in mockery or thoughtless misuse. 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. %PDF-1.4
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After thinking about it more, I think I get it about the wendigos. It was already here. Archived post. 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? 0000020040 00000 n
When she was brought to the lab she already had the curse of the Wendigo but after she was "updated" she had visible antlers and could change her shape. It's taboo to the Anishaabe people, but the common depiction of it in media is no where near the original frozen cannibal spirit that the legends are based off of. trailer
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P\^$'$@YWSB;Td54BD?YH"'kh::a;Vqz&4|:>)xP2n |94NrOqE'6 and our Learn how your comment data is processed. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. In the course of the transformation from human to wendigo, the person exhibits increasing selfishness, violence, hunger, and greedparticularly for human flesh. WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. %
It springs from the well of the collective human unconscious, the communal soul. The latest addition to this lineup of wendigo tales is Scott Cooper and Guillermo del Toros horror film Antlers (2021) in which a Native American character provides some brief exposition before the story centered around a white community contending with the monster begins in earnest. This article's cross-media analysis covers television, film and game media; Teen Wolf (2011-17), Supernatural (2005-20), Bruce Wemple's The Retreat (2020) and SuperMassive Games' Until Dawn . When you comment on, Asian American and Pacific Islander History, Race and Membership in American History: Eugenics. 0000005961 00000 n
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J.K. Rowling's Cultural Appropriation Should Be A Lesson To White Writers Native Americans shouldn't be a "niche," and neither should women, LGBT people, or people of color. I have named this observation of the Wendigothe Caveless Creature phenomenon. 0000004071 00000 n
Is it offensive to wear a wendigo costume? For context I'm - Quora Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. 0000001546 00000 n
i love the videos uploaded to youtube and try to keep up with posts, so this is by no means a bash at Wendigoon. Far from just being a monster in an escapist horror flick, Forbes and LaDuke demonstrate that the wendigo can help us grasp the horrors of our real world so we can be here now and, ultimately, work toward solutions. Political correctness started out as one thing, a good thing. 2 0 obj
This articlescross-media analysiscovers television, film and game media;Teen Wolf(201117),Supernatural(200520), Bruce WemplesThe Retreat(2020) and SuperMassive GamesUntil Dawn(2015).