Is it offensive to write about a wendigo? - Quora 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. In some traditions, humans overpowered by greed could turn into wendigos; the myth thus served as a method of encouraging cooperation and moderation. Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #culturalappropriation, #cultureappropriation, #culturalappropiation, # . And you know what? There's nothing wrong with drawing the popular concept of a wendigo monster, or drawing any monster with antlers, and calling it a wendigo. Racism 101: At What Point Does Cultural Appreciation Cross Over - LAist Is it Cultural Appropriation if I have a Wendigo character? 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. And I accept that the Wendigo can symbolize for them that exploitation. [43] These works set the template for later portrayals in popular culture, at times even replacing the Native American lore. In some cases, this entailed killing people with Wendigo psychosis. arent cryptids thing. Native Americans shouldn't be a "niche," and neither should women, LGBT people, or people of color. That will depend on who you ask. When you comment on, Asian American and Pacific Islander History, Race and Membership in American History: Eugenics. Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. 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 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 . 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. But I do notice that Eyre stopped short of saying colonialization is the origin for the Wendigo legend. #QuickBooksVictoryPose #vtuber #culturalappropriation #nativeamerican #wendigo #folklore, justin bieber interview with ellen arranged marriage, Airplane ticket off at terminal five on 2023 on the 10th 2023, enriquecrespo habla de la hija de alexandra, Command too spawn in iron in a township tale. Maybe ask a person of Chinese heritage. 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. wendigo appropriationplymouth township mi police scanner. The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation; its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. 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. I believe that the Wendigo is far older than that, far more primal. Privacy Policy. 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. Thus I support Scott Cooper, the director of the forthcoming (hopefully by next spring) ANTLERS, in his efforts to seek out consultation from Indian advisors when making his movie, which features a Wendigo. 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. All of these Indians went to where the Windigo was and cut off his legs. What lips it had were tattered and bloody Unclean and suffering from suppuration of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption.[15]. BTW, I love rainbow farting unicorns! We should talk about how Thor and Loki are cultural appropriation of Norwegian mythology. Wendigo | Myths and Folklore Wiki | Fandom [10], The Wechuge is a similar being that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. 5 Times K-Pop Made Cultural Appropriation a Trend Learn how your comment data is processed. It shouldn't be bad thing if you don't mock culture, make sure to have all information you can ( read books from culture or ask someone who grew up with said culture if they are willing to teach you) but then again they aren't from your culture and unlike creatures like vampires they are a bit more closed i don't know is it good to use them. After thinking about it more, I think I get it about the wendigos. Marvel Comics pay tribute to classic Monsters. Cultural Appropriation and the Arts | Reviews | Notre Dame How to Recognize Cultural Appropriation and What to Do - Healthline So some may be fine if you draw it but don't say its full name. [20], Among the Assiniboine, the Cree, and the Ojibwe, a satirical ceremonial dance is sometimes performed during times of famine to reinforce the seriousness of the wendigo taboo. I'm all for respecting other people's cultures, but straight up trying to tell people they can't respectfully depict a fictional creature because it's ,,stealing" or ,,evoking the creature" or something is just way too overboard. 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. Now time to go back and make some changes. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet. [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. J.K. Rowling, author of the absurdly-popular Harry Potter series (of which I'm a massive fan), recently waded into controversy with her four-part "Magic in North America" series, which outlines the Potterverse's American history. She states that the wendigo symbolically represents three major concepts: it is the incarnation of winter, the embodiment of hunger, and the personification of selfishness. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 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. Strictly speaking, cultural appropriation is the adoption of some element of another culture -- food, language, practices, fashion, etc. It's also linked to the many cultural taboos against these negative actions and behaviors. If it's so vulgar and offensive that many hate it, well they can just not look at it lmao - it clearly wasn't made for them. 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 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. I do not know, nor can I. This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. 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." Payals, or anklets, are meant to symbolize the arrival of a wife into her husband's house. 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. See more. I am so offended! 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. Film, But as far as cultural appropriation and the Wendigo goes, dont you daredont you DAREtry to take our monsters away from us, PC wankers! 1. Only those entitled to them should wear them. It too is cannibalistic; however, it is characterized as enlightened with ancestral insights. Differing thinking is one of the cherished assets of democratic cultural pluralism. 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. This was the end of this Giant Windigo. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. Cultural appropriation Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com 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. Further, cultural appropriation often occurs as the backwash of colonization, and contributes to widening existing divisions and perpetuating patterns of historic dispossession and oppression. The game I will be going over in this is Until Dawn, a horror game made by Supermassive Games, made . Still though, Im not sure I fully get the Native American spirits(?) Historically, deciding exactly what culture is hasn't been easy. [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. ][22][failed verification], In historical accounts of retroactively diagnosed Wendigo psychosis, it has been reported that humans became possessed by the wendigo spirit, after being in a situation of needing food and having no other choice besides cannibalism. PDF An Introduction to What I Hear When You Say - Pbs Replying to @luciproletariatfox #culturalappropriation #wendigoon, #yeti #wendigo #voodoodoll #culturalappropriation, #duet with @firelotusthewitch #culturalappropriation #vvitchtok #vvitch #witchywoman #pagantok #norsepagan #norsetok #pagansoftiktok #pagancommunity, I am curious to hear the opinions of others on this one. [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. He was eating the juice (marrow) from the inside of the bones of his legs that were cut off. The legend of the wendigo has long been associated with real-life problems like insatiable greed, selfishness, and violence. "[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. For more information, please see our I know people who are absolutely terrified of them, branching out from their fear of deer. Screenshot Controversy- Until Dawn - DeviantArt "[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. No, I read your comment. Is it Cultural Appropriation if I have a Wendigo character. Hah hah! "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. Dressing up as a cultural stereotype is never, ever OK. Cady Heron once remarked that, "in the real world, Halloween is when kids . We do the same thing with a lot of mythological creatures. Cultural appropriation is a bullshit term made up by people who feel some bizarre psychological need to make up reasons to punish themselves. Draw/write what you want, I say. 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. Return to Article Details Culturally Conceptualizing Trauma: The Windigo in Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road People don't get offended on scotland's behalf over the common depiction of their national animal as a rainbow farting fairy horse. To Helheimr with it! I would agree, only I am more likely to not care much even what an Algonquin cares about my monster character. Now why cant that be said to prudes lurking here. 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. I have not always done so, and it appears that in this case, J.K. Rowling did not either. I think people just need to chill out, no mater what their religion and culture is. [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. 15 Instances Where Indigenous Style Has Been Appropriated - HipLatina [25], One of the more famous cases of Wendigo psychosis reported involved a Plains Cree trapper from Alberta, named Swift Runner. 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. 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. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. Magazine with fellow environmental thought leaders, LaDuke said: Theres this conflict between the cannibals and Mother Earth, and its going on everywhere. 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. (PDF) A Creature Without a Cave: Abstraction and (Mis)Appropriation of Sacred creatures? 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. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. Sentences like "The Native American wizarding community was particularly gifted in animal and plant magic" are cringe-worthy if you give them a little thought, and the notion that only European wizards were clever enough to invent wands, which make magic "more precise and more powerful" borders on horrific levels of cluelessness. The Wendigo, The Cannibalistic Beast Of Native American Folklore As a concept, wendigo can apply to situations other than some Native American-European relations. 10 Examples of Cultural Appropriation You Never Thought About They went back again to see if he was dead. You dont have to be of Afro-Caribbean descent to talk about, write about, or make movies about zombies. so no, if you're some white kid hearing crying in the forests of california you're not being "lured into the The appropriation, and reclamation, of Native American mythology', Journal of . The reason I chose this game is due to how this game has story in it, and I think it would fit this meme well for an analysis and review. As a concept, the wendigo can apply to any person, idea, or movement infected by a corrosive drive toward self-aggrandizing greed and excessive consumption, traits that sow disharmony and destruction if left unchecked. That's just pulling a potential explanation out of my ass, though, I have no idea if its accurate or not. My intentions were pure, as were Rowling's, I imagine. It was created by Mayuki . Truly insensitive cultural appropriation is when you're taking a part of another culture and portraying it in a deliberately insensitive or disrespectful manner. I would refuse to be shackled by political correctness. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. 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. 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. 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. Is the Wendigo of Native American folklore considered cultural - Quora In addition to characterizing individual people who exhibit destructive tendencies, the wendigo can also describe movements and events with similarly negative effects. [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. "Why is indigenous culture suddenly more sacred than any other culture?". Cookie Notice 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. 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! Cultural appropriation consists of borrowing something from another culture in mockery or thoughtless misuse. It also includes the unauthorized use of parts of their culture (their dress, dance, etc.) 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. They are seen as malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural beings of great spiritual power . The Wendigo is a mythical creature that has been reported in many different forms. 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. [28] He eventually confessed and was executed by authorities at Fort Saskatchewan. And that's exactly the problem. To fully understand its consequences, though, we need to make sure we have a working definition of culture itself. So, thanks, Dave! That taste of human flesh, which out of that rose the wendigo.. Antlers: The Wendigo Monster's History, Explained - CBR [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. Im glad, because I dont believe that it is. 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. 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]. For other uses, see, Graham, John Russell; John Coates; Barbara Swartzentruber; Brian Ouellette; ", harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFSchwarz1969 (, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, descriptive template for the Indian savage, corporate voracity, exploitation, and power, "Windigo: The Flesh-Eating Monster of Native American Legend", International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, "Windigo, the Ice Cannibal (Wendigo, Wiindigoo, Windgo, Windego)", "Relations des Jsuites contenant ce qui s'est pass de plus remarquable dans les missions des Pres de la Compagnie de Jsus dans la Nouvelle-France", "The Jesuit Relations: Travels and Expectations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 16101791", "Love, and Death in Stephen King's 'Pet Sematary', "The In Character Interview with Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler", "Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler on writing an Indigenous horror story", "ANTLERS: GUILLERMO DEL TORO E SCOTT COOPER SVELANO IL SIGNIFICATO DEL WENDIGO", "Supernatural - Season 1, Episode 2: Wendigo", "Fallout 76 Creatures: Bethesda Tells Tales of the Wendigo", "The Wiitiko Psychosis in the Context of Ojibwa Personality and Culture", Seeing Wetiko: on Capitalism, Mind Viruses, and Antidotes for a World in Transition, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wendigo&oldid=1139431905, Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism, Articles with text in Algonquian languages, Articles containing Proto-Algonquian-language text, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from March 2022, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Articles with failed verification from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Teicher, Morton I. You dont have to be French to love the Phantom of the Opera. It has no place in the world of Folklore and monsters. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Lots of stories have aped Native American folklore before her, including some of mine. 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). 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. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Apparently, wendigos are sacred creatures from several indigenous cultures. By the mid-1990s, it had gained a solid place in academic discourse, particularly in the field of sociology. [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. 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. First, he gives definitions of the key concepts of "appropriation" and "arts," and delimits his investigation as one concerned with "cultural" appropriation. Questions on the Wendigo. : IndianCountry - reddit.com