%PDF-1.7 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). By Christian Chiakulas, Contributor Writer, musician, activist, single father from Chicago. 0000001705 00000 n Learn how your comment data is processed. a lot of Natives and people in general don't even like saying the word itself. And they are worth considering including in ones classroom teaching. 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. Abstract. 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. Those things, the predation on the Indians by Europeans, most certainly happened. 0000000016 00000 n The Windigo also has the power to turn humans into cannibals who suffer the same . 1 0 obj 0000004651 00000 n 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. T[,%q5 0000012030 00000 n Political correctness started out as one thing, a good thing. 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. stream 278 0 obj <>stream 0000008020 00000 n ])yB\}OIZyY8 aA6Vo !C_D#!MYik.1>%'5ryZ*>fb=n#_dr;j5 { 0000009056 00000 n There, he uses the cannibalistic wendigo as a metaphor for the behaviors and attitudes central to patterns of social domination visited upon his own people in the Americas and subjugated peoples everywhere. 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). <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 841.92] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> And I accept that the Wendigo can symbolize for them that exploitation. Scan this QR code to download the app now. 0000006529 00000 n x\o7a_h ss+yHL$eW}gfw)$/D !;n*+v}}uSU|.&-y Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. It was intended to be a lesson on human greed and the damage it can cause. Native Americans, Our headquarters are located at: 89 South Street, Suite 401, Boston, MA 02111. This is a story shared not merely for entertainment but to reinforce the communal values that allow the communities in which this practice occurs to live well with one another and within their environments. I dont know who originally posted it, or where. 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. however, the w*ndigo originates from spiritual beliefs held by Indigenous peoples. So, thanks, Dave! And you know what? Okay, dont anybody get me wrong. In my blind quest to represent everyone, all I did was reinforce the problem. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. (A friend sent this screenshot to me, along with the info, because he knows how much PC-ism pisses me off. That taste of human flesh, which out of that rose the wendigo.. 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. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. 0000023412 00000 n 0000005961 00000 n During a panel at YES! <> 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. We do the same thing with a lot of mythological creatures. 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? Western appropriation has long-lasting effects on the perceptions of Native American cultures by the average consumer and even scientific communities. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. And whoever!). 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. The windigo is a per-sonal spirit that still belongs to the Native American cultures from which it has been taken, and the appropriation of this spirit harms Native American communities by poorly representing their beliefs for a marketable gain. It has no place in the world of Folklore and monsters. Still though, Im not sure I fully get the Native American spirits(?) It has become something else altogether. 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 . For more information, please see our His line of questioning effectively asks what if the monstrosity we face is actually not an otherworldly presence but our all too human selves?. 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. However, it never provents for people of that tribe to share this and that story. This subreddit is about sharing your worlds, discovering the creations of others, and discussing the many aspects of creating new universes. The wendigo is intended to embody hunger, particularly as refracted through the icy cold of winter and the monstrous things that people do when their appetites overwhelm them. Vol. Although well-documented in Western literature, the windigo spirit of stories like Pet Sematary by Stephen King and The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood are stripped of their original context and are mere stereotypes of the cultures they originate from. Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge One recurring theme across these storytelling mediums is the use of the wendigoalso spelled wtikoa monstrous figure from Algonquian mythology who exhibits an insatiable greed along with a desire for human flesh. xref Europeans may well have behaved like Wendigos when they invaded the Americasthey didbut they didnt bring the Wendigo with them. 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. Scan this QR code to download the app now. On top of that, the wendigo is a part of death. 0000010971 00000 n 246 0 obj <> endobj 0000008549 00000 n 0000003862 00000 n Handle the characters and the story with respect. 0000012532 00000 n You must be here to either learn more about social justice or answer questions from a social justice viewpoint. trailer <>/Metadata 266 0 R/ViewerPreferences 267 0 R>> Marvel Comics pay tribute to classic Monsters. 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. 3 0 obj After thinking about it more, I think I get it about the wendigos. Beyond Forbes, other Native American thinkers have also used wendigo stories to present critical perspectives on various social problems and call for their resolution. 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. 246 33 endobj My Thoughts and Questions OllieOnyx 845 subscribers Subscribe 4.5K 119K views 2 years ago I just posted a new video talking. 0 appropriation that has troubled the exchange between Indigenous . 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. 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. This is a place to learn more bout Social Justice 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. 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. 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). If you do go as a specific person, avoid figures of religious or cultural significance to a particular group to which you do not belong. 0000005304 00000 n 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. endobj If you were to look around the world about other religions, anything that is associated with death and disease is regarded upon. spellings (see Colombo 2) but is most commonly rendered as Windigo, Wendigo, or Witiko. +9*]aty``mZm/[= ${2R{!g=b{B,L0R2"T]IDa. endobj She is Native American. Ill admit, my initial reaction was very dismissive. That, I would affirm, is truly and literally cannibalism, and it is cannibalism accompanied by no spiritually meaningful ceremony or ritual., More than a commentary on the life of wendigo stories amongst his own people, Forbes deploys the metaphor of the wendigo to advance nothing less than a critique of civilization at large and describes the violence that he argues lies at its foundation as one driven by a kind of wendigo psychosis. When you comment on, Asian American and Pacific Islander History, Race and Membership in American History: Eugenics. Archived post. This space is not for debate. 17spaz 2 yr. ago But as far as cultural appropriation and the Wendigo goes, dont you daredont you DAREtry to take our monsters away from us, PC wankers! To Helheimr with it! Although this article is specifically observing the Wendigo, I argue that it is one of many caveless creatures, and the treatment of them by creators of non-Indigenous horror genre should be analysed in the future. For more information, please see our %%EOF So yeah, if anyone could offer any insight/information, thatd be appreciated. media has really misconstrued the original lore and importance of the w*ndigo to Indigenous culture. WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. As a concept, wendigo can apply to situations other than some Native American-European relations. l Ca#!LzH{t+8W5 !2*_{)rgx-`]CTXSH($g 0000020040 00000 n Posted by i enjoy his content, but the w*ndigo is part of a closed religion and is supposed to be a lesson about human greed and selfishness, not a cannibal monster story. s\&|5T!JN04hy'I0 1pv=~0-K$k}xSK"g:O*ox&zGa13(YXzy_{v-N^!c@[H 0000004071 00000 n New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 0000005554 00000 n 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. I believe that the Wendigo is far older than that, far more primal. 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. I'm just struggling to understand the significance of it. 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). 0000009484 00000 n 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. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 0000003976 00000 n 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. 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. There's nothing wrong with drawing the popular concept of a wendigo monster, or drawing any monster with antlers, and calling it a wendigo. 0000001365 00000 n As it so happens, I am currently working on a project involving a Wendigo, so this is personal to me. % Cultural appropriation is the co-optation of elements, customs, or practices of one culture by another culture without acknowledgment or consent. 4 0 obj Stolen Spirits: The Appropriation of the Windigo Spirit in Horror Literature. Cultural appropriation consists of borrowing something from another culture in mockery or thoughtless misuse. 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. Topics: 2 0 obj (Anything that isnt outright vandalism isnt likely to harm the statue at all, but I wouldnt dare do anything disrespectful around it. arent cryptids thing. The windigo is a Native American spirit belonging to the Algonquian tribes of North America and Canada. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 Cookie Notice 0000015547 00000 n 0000012791 00000 n This construction is problematic in the horror genre as it presents an Indigenous antagonist that poses a threat to white culture for its otherness and indigeneity while at the same time, misappropriating, discarding and demonising the Indigenous culture the myth comes from, at whim. U%.CI$ FKe{CiV/\Lg1DD$A!=FHD6 EInw^9qkCh&1rvR'`{7X wEB7Az~q0n8 t)$xh1rQJ,p>O/$-J)'OTk|m9(k|6U g/-JU;WM}7d5)V.yX=Qu,TDI+CA_5U|nH$WK7G3-aYaqeV2jWQV6C6OY"W5?x;f_27j3Y)/G`j|e9NHCp+-r4g7D? c! But I do notice that Eyre stopped short of saying colonialization is the origin for the Wendigo legend. Now that I have a major problem with. 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. 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. 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. <> 0000013308 00000 n Sorry, this post was deleted by the person who originally posted it. My basic rule is simple: be respectful. Privacy Policy. If so, what did you think about it? 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. 9'b_X~~@0CKYO~8yOK9I$^I>t The creation of new worlds and new universes has long been a key element of speculative fiction, from the fantasy works of Tolkien and Le Guin, to the science-fiction universes of Delany and Asimov, to the tabletop realm of Gygax and Barker, and beyond. Western appropriation has long-lasting effects on the perceptions of Native American cultures by the average consumer and even scientific communities. Participate in good faith. 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. One of those advisors I just mentioned, Chris Eyre, had this to say of the Wendigo: They [meaning Native peoples] truly, truly believe in it, because it represents greed and colonialism when we first came to the shores of what is now America, and pillaged all of their resources and forced them [into] cannibalism. so im sort of clueless how reddit works and made an account for this, so bare with me. 0000007477 00000 n Dollightful's Apology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-KBzKWvrUTo clear up the addition that I made even more, I think that it would be pretty important for the information on this topic to be easily accessible to her viewers. It may be used to justify calling. symL,JyvCq;[H~! Film, I have this character in a webcomic I want to write who is a Wendigo. Posts and comments should be substantive, and assertions backed in fact or personal lived experience. :)Looking to buy some stickers or look at some pictures of my art or my other things? Turning on Theres something else. For resources: http://reddit.com/r/SRSDiscussion/wiki/required. The paper concludes that employing the Wendigo as a caveless creature is a common practice within horror as it easily creates a villain for white protagonists to defeat repeatedly. Be supportive, this is a place for growth, not hostility. 0000010400 00000 n Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. they've been stripped of cultural context. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. Indigenous, HeyYaIQ 21 days ago. These bonnets are symbols of warrior achievements and are the equivalent of military medals. 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. And were on the right side, thats what were working on but sometimes you get that cannibal tendency. Thats just asking for trouble.) i love the videos uploaded to youtube and try to keep up with posts, so this is by no means a bash at Wendigoon. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 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. the origins don't even depict the w*ndigo with deer antlers, but a human with bitten off lips. 7 (2020): Ghosts and Cultural Hauntings. And besides that, it never hurts to include your sources. Facing History and Ourselves invites educators to explore our case study Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools, particularly our reading "Culture, Stereotypes, and Identity" which features reflection questions surrounding some of the stereotypical media representations that we touch upon at the beginning of this essay. 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 Privacy Policy. 4. wendigo cultural appropriation [26][27] During the winter of 1878, Swift Runner and his family were starving, and his eldest son died. 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. 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. 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. It springs from the well of the collective human unconscious, the communal soul. 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).There, he uses the cannibalistic wendigo as a metaphor for the behaviors and attitudes central to patterns of social domination . Scan this QR code to download the app now. Just as the vampire and werewolf do not belong exclusively to people of European descent and the Mummy doesnt belong to Egyptians. She's part of a group of young adults created in a lab (she's the only one who wasn't) who have these special abilities. Dollightful's Wendigo Doll - Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation? it's just something thats been bothering me so i thought it'd come to reddit to see what other people thought. 0000009954 00000 n The windigo is a Native American spirit belonging to the Algonquian tribes of North America and Canada. With the comments turned off on Dollightful's apology video, I thought that maybe we could have some discussion here(if anyone ever sees this, anyway). Only assholes think thats offensive. The Wendigo happens to be part of my own (Anishiinaabe) cultural heritage. How stupid to think otherwise. 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. You dont have to be French to love the Phantom of the Opera. In the course of the transformation from human to wendigo, the person exhibits increasing selfishness, violence, hunger, and greed particularly for human flesh. Hunchman, K. N. (2020). For artists, writers, gamemasters, musicians, programmers, philosophers and scientists alike!
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