"** 40. Maybe ask a person of Chinese heritage. 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. Nitty gritty. 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? And you know what? Idiots have just made a religion out of being racist about culture and only allowing genetic descendants to participate in cultures. Hah hah! Lipsitz, writing in the the 1990s, argued that cultural appreciation becomes cultural appropriation "when an element of culture is adopted from a marginalized group without respect for its . Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. 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. Romantic scholar and documentarian Emily Zarka, also a professor at Arizona State University, observes that two commonalities among the indigenous cultures of Algonquian language family speakers are that they are situated in climes where harsh winters are frequent and may be accompanied by starvation. [33], The frequency of Wendigo psychosis cases decreased sharply in the 20th century as Boreal Algonquian people came into greater and greater contact with European ideologies and more sedentary, less rural, lifestyles. The Wendigo happens to be part of my own (Anishiinaabe) cultural heritage. 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. Copyright 2022 Facing History & Ourselves. The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation; its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. 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. 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. People were not really using Google until the 2000s and that kind of info might have not been available in the 90s. There's too much variety of opinion on the question to obtain a consensus. Cultural appropriation is the use of a people's traditional dress, music, cuisine, knowledge and other aspects of their culture, without their approval, by members of a different culture. So, now I realize, what the hell was I doing, thinking I could write about Native American folklore with anything approaching honesty? In addition to characterizing individual people who exhibit destructive tendencies, the wendigo can also describe movements and events with similarly negative effects. They are seen as malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural beings of great spiritual power . The concept of cultural appropriation began well enough, but just like everything else woke culture political correctness, it's gone way too far. creators (a large majority being white) . I think every idea can be taken to an extreme and distorted to the point where it is ridiculous. It is unknown if it would have been an entire species or a singular creature. I do know some natives believe you should not say or write its name because that may make it come or you may be infected and become it. I mentioned above that I was guilty of doing the same thing. There's nothing wrong with drawing the popular concept of a wendigo monster, or drawing any monster with antlers, and calling it a wendigo. Some of this critique was rightly directed at literal cultural theft . First, he gives definitions of the key concepts of "appropriation" and "arts," and delimits his investigation as one concerned with "cultural" appropriation. In my blind quest to represent everyone, all I did was reinforce the problem. To Helheimr with it! The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. (Not to put too fine a point on it, but you should totally go buy my novella. He writes: Wtiko is a Cree termwhich refers to a cannibal or, more specifically, to an evil person or spirit who terrorizes other creatures by means of terrible evil acts, including cannibalism I have come to the conclusion that imperialism and exploitation are forms of cannibalism and, in fact, are precisely those forms of cannibalism which are most diabolical or evil It should be understood that wtikos do not eat other humans only in a symbolic sense. You dont have to be of Afro-Caribbean descent to talk about, write about, or make movies about zombies. 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. 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. Seems to me a great deal of what people write about in fantasy stories is borrowing from other cultures & nations & communities. It's taking those cultural. 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. He just gave the boy so much time to go there and back. I do not know, nor can I. In another unaware move made by a YG artist, mega girl group BLACKPINK, were recently called out for cultural appropriation. What I do think is not so great was it could have been something that was corrected for the films, where they do have access to people and the internet was more developed in the mid 2000s. Only those entitled to them should wear them. 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. So it seems to me like the objection might have something to do with an inappropriate mixing of religious contexts from two different belief systems. In, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 02:58. (1961). And that's exactly the problem. DeSanti points to the 1999 horror film Ravenous as an illustration of this argument equating "the cannibal monster" to "American colonialism and manifest destiny". This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Windigo is a malevolent manitou or spirit whose insatiable appetite for human flesh can never be satisfied. 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. As a result, in 1907, Fiddler and his brother Joseph were arrested by the Canadian authorities for homicide. Apparently, wendigos are sacred creatures from several indigenous cultures. This country is seeking to be whole Stretching out its arms and consuming all it can. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Learn how your comment data is processed. . And were on the right side, thats what were working on but sometimes you get that cannibal tendency. It sounds like you did research which is more that J. K. Rowling so I think yes? BTW, I love rainbow farting unicorns! It never occurred to me that what I was doing might be offensive, because I've never even met a Native American person in real life. America is the symbol of inclusion, so as part of the American culture we embrace foreign influences in our society. 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]. Theres something else. 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. 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 . 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. In addition to denoting a cannibalistic monster from certain traditional folklore, some Native Americans also understand the wendigo conceptually. 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. [12] Although descriptions can vary somewhat, common to all these cultures is the view that the wendigo is a malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural being. 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. Cultural appropriation, feel like a real blur to me but I never worry about it I feel it can dampen the creative process. to tell a new tale. I think if a Native American person were telling me not to speak about wendgos or name them out loud near them, I would comply, as I don't want to unreasonably make someone feel anxious or uncomfortable. (Anything that isnt outright vandalism isnt likely to harm the statue at all, but I wouldnt dare do anything disrespectful around it. I agree with some of it to a point, but disagree with most of it. That borrowing and exchanging of cultural elements is what makes America the melting pot of the world. 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. In some traditions, humans overpowered by greed could turn into wendigos; the myth thus served as a method of encouraging cooperation and moderation. 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.). 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. Cultural appropriation consists of borrowing something from another culture in mockery or thoughtless misuse. 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. These bonnets are symbols of warrior achievements and are the equivalent of military medals. It's like saying vampires are sacred. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. If I can draw my own version of a Chinese dragon, or my own version of angel or demon, I can draw a wendigo. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 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. Cultural appropriation is a bullshit term made up by people who feel some bizarre psychological need to make up reasons to punish themselves. And I accept that the Wendigo can symbolize for them that exploitation. 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. Writer, musician, activist, single father from Chicago. 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. On the other hand, "The Wendigo" is one of the first representations of the windigo by a Pet Sematary is an important cultural artifact thanks to King's widespread popularity and recognition as a horror writer. It's fine for colonized Indians to incorporate European fitness . [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. cultural identity theft, many would argue that cultural appropriation is inevitable in a melting pot like the United States. How dare they? Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. Watch popular content from the following creators: Thorn (@shr00mermaid), Thorn (@shr00mermaid), Nuoance(@nuoance), MattHatterPlays(@matthatterplays), Aidan Mattis(@theaidanmattis) . 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. 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. I have drawn my own version of golems too, and that is Jewish mythology. PSA: These 11 Halloween "Costumes" Will Always Be Offensive. Native Americans, Our headquarters are located at: 89 South Street, Suite 401, Boston, MA 02111. If an idea has merit, it doesn't need protecting. 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 . 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. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet. By Derrick Clifton. That's just pulling a potential explanation out of my ass, though, I have no idea if its accurate or not. Return to Article Details Culturally Conceptualizing Trauma: The Windigo in Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road 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. [57] In the 2018 first-person shooter video game Dusk, wendigos are enemies that remain invisible until they receive damage. [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. It will survive on it's own. It really depends who you talk to. 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. Twenty-five miles away from emergency food supplies at a Hudson's Bay Company post, Swift Runner butchered and ate his wife and five remaining children. We have to stop guarding cultures and subcultures in efforts to preserve 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). Handle the characters and the story with respect. 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. Wendigo psychosis is a fascinating condition with a storied history. What is cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation? [11], This was the end of the wendigo is part of the traditional belief system of a number of Algonquin-speaking peoples, including the Ojibwe, the Saulteaux, the Cree, the Naskapi, and the Innu. Kaitlin Smith on November 30, 2021. Exactly!! The idea of getting down to the nitty-gritty came from the 18th century English slave trade, when nitty-gritty referred to the worthless debris left at the ship's bottom compartment after slaves had been evacuatedand evolved to include the slaves themselves. [10], The Wechuge is a similar being that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. And FWIW, I've read stories that disturbed me & even disgusted me but the author has the right to tell their story whether I like it or don't. I have always felt a distinct emotional connection to it, in fact. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 You dont have to be French to love the Phantom of the Opera. [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. My intentions were pure, as were Rowling's, I imagine. Send them to Marvel. They're monsters. Rowling tries (and fails) to mitigate these implications by saying "although it is generally held to be a mark of the very greatest witches and wizards that they have also been able to produce wandless magic of a very high quality." 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. Representation in media is crucially important, something I have become very aware of as I've grown older and consumed more entertainment. The Windigo also has the power to turn humans into cannibals who suffer the same . Lots of stories have aped Native American folklore before her, including some of mine. But as far as cultural appropriation and the Wendigo goes, dont you daredont you DAREtry to take our monsters away from us, PC wankers! After thinking about it more, I think I get it about the wendigos. I can write whatever fiction I want, and draw whatever I want. Okay, dont anybody get me wrong. He ultimately was granted a pardon but died three days later in jail before receiving the news of this pardon. 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. Privacy Policy. He said, "You bet there is, I have eaten lots of Indians, no wonder they are fat." Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #culturalappropriation, #cultureappropriation, #culturalappropiation, # . Don't tell lies to those Indians." Jack committed suicide, but Joseph was tried and sentenced to life in prison. How stupid to think otherwise. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 [42] In an early short story by Thomas Pynchon, "Mortality and Mercy in Vienna" (first published in 1959), the plot centers around a character developing Wendigo syndrome and going on a killing spree. Blackwood's work has influenced many of the subsequent portrayals in mainstream horror fiction,[42][43] such as August Derleth's "The Thing that Walked on the Wind" and "Ithaqua" (1933 and 1941),[41] which in turn inspired the character in Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary,[42] where it is a personification of evil, an ugly grinning creature with yellow-grey eyes, ears replaced by ram's horns, white vapor coming from its nostrils, and a pointed, decaying yellow tongue. 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. You're just making up a story. Funny how it's only creatures from certain culture's folklore people get pissy over and not others. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Is it Cultural Appropriation if I have a Wendigo character. I really just want to learn about how to appreciate aspects of cultures that I am not included in respectfully. "[36] Out of equilibrium and estranged by their communities, individuals thought to be afflicted by the wendigo spirit unravel and destroy the ecological balance around them. Doing so is an honorable endeavorbut only if we actually do our homework first. The "Dark Horse" singer . Cultural appropriation, defined Culture refers to the traditions, customs, beliefs, and practices of any given ethnic, racial, or religious group. I am so offended! The people who get offended over it, on behalf of someone else, are pathetically absurd. I would agree, only I am more likely to not care much even what an Algonquin cares about my monster character. Cultural appropriation is perhaps the stupidest example of the stupidest concept , political correctness , that has ever been argued. Contents 1 History 2 Gallery 3 Trivia 4 Navigation History No they fucking aren't. 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. 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. This form of cultural appropriation is deeply intertwined with systemic and institutionalized racism rooted in capitalism. The Wendigo may be a figure from American Indian mythology, but it belongs to all of humankind. Only assholes think thats offensive. I always thought these are what cannibals are turning into. If so, what did you think about it? I wouldn't be offended if someone dressed up as a stereotypical native american even though my great grandma was half blackfoot native american. 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. For Indigenous peoples in Canada, cultural appropriation is rooted in colonization and ongoing oppression. Payals, or anklets, are meant to symbolize the arrival of a wife into her husband's house. That will depend on who you ask. Beyond Forbes, other Native American thinkers have also used wendigo stories to present critical perspectives on various social problems and call for their resolution. 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. You're absolutively spot on! Cultural appropriation by a dominant culture is harmful to underrepresented cultures because it reduces cultural significance and reinforces double standards. It first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #162 (April 1973), and again in the October 1974 issue. It too is cannibalistic; however, it is characterized as enlightened with ancestral insights. 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. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. [40][41] Joe Nazare wrote that Blackwood's "subtly-demonizing rhetoric transforms the Wendigo from a native myth into a descriptive template for the Indian savage."[42]. New replies are no longer allowed. Cookie Notice I have not always done so, and it appears that in this case, J.K. Rowling did not either. [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. "[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. without permission. 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. Tell us about it in the comments. No, I read your comment. 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. 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. He said to the boy "Hurry up. We feed it because we don't know how else to live, and so we live disconnected lives watching the seasons change through windows . The game I will be going over in this is Until Dawn, a horror game made by Supermassive Games, made . [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. For more information, please see our Im just struggling to understand the significance of it. Let's stop dancing around this ugly truth: Right now, Katy Perry is pop culture's most prominent purveyor of racist cultural appropriation. [13] They were strongly associated with winter, the north, coldness, famine, and starvation.[14]. I know people who are absolutely terrified of them, branching out from their fear of deer. No they ain't. 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.