Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!

I hope everyone has an awesome Indigenous Peoples Day.  It only seems like yesterday that our pioneer ancestors landed on the shores of BabaKiueria and learned to peacefully coexist with the local pale-skinned population.

Enjoy!






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Reel Injun and other Native Responses to "Indians" in Mass Media

Reel Injun is a new documentary film that explores the phenomenon of the Hollywood Indian. For over 100 years, Indigenous North Americans have appeared in more than 4000 films.  Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond explores the many depictions of Indians on celluloid and its impact on every filmgoer's understanding or misunderstanding of Native people.

I caught an abbreviated hour long version of Reel Injun on Independent Lens- the award-winning public television series that highlights new drama and documentary films.  I was very impressed with the film and its humorous and poignant insights into the Hollywood Indian.

The most impressive part of the film is its portrayal of Native actors and filmmakers in the earliest days of cinema.  From the silent era through the first talking films, Native people had a surprisingly active role in film production.  It seems only when the studio system became dominant that real Native people took a backseat role (if not wholly disappeared).






Reel Injun proves that one of the most effective ways to examine and question Indigenous depictions in mass media is with mass media itself!  And so long as there have been these Indigenous depictions, so have there been Indigenous people ready to counter them.  Here are a few of those:



Eska Water's new ad campaign: "Eskan Warriors"

Mohawk activist Clifton Nicholas expresses his dismay over a new ad campaign for Eska Water.  It depicts a fictional band of "Eskan Warriors."  According to Nicholas, these ads depict a negative portrayal of Native people even if it is a fictional generic "Native" group.




Time for "THE INDIANS SHOWBAND" to retire!

The Irish showband "The Indians" who perform in stereotypical Indian garb and perform songs like Wigwam Wiggle and Squaws along the Yukon have met their match online.  A protest group on facebook is calling for the group to retire saying they make a mockery of native culture through their stereotypical representation of Native Americans.
 
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110714922354367

Here's Wigwam Wiggle:





AIM Santa Barbara takes on The Dudesons

Way back in May 2010, I broke the story about the new MTV show The Dudesons and their tasteless depiction of American Indian culture in the episode Cowboys and Findians.  Here is part one of a three part series of young AIM activists discussing their concerns about The Dudesons.





Ask an Indian: Cultural Appropriation

Simon Moya-Smith is an Oglala Lakota Sioux journalist and activist who describes himself as a "rug lifter" trying to reveal the many American Indian issues swept under the rug.  He blogs over at http://iamnotamascot.blogspot.com/ where his passionate commentary is always good for a hearty laugh and thoughtful reflection.  Here he is decrying Native appropriation while window shopping.




The Stream - Don't Trend on My Culture - Adrienne Keene

Adrienne Keene is a Cherokee blogger and activist who analyzes a constant stream of Native cultural appropriation over at her blog http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/.  Thanks to her prodigious efforts at tracking this phenomenon, she is making appearances in more mainstream media such as this interview on The Stream on Al Jazeera English.





Dr. Greene's AB-original Pain Reliever

And finally here is Oneida actor Graham Greene with a humorous take on Native appropriation in marketing.  Enjoy!






Additional reading:

Reel Injun Discussion Guide

Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film. Edited by Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor.  University of Kentucky Press (2003).

From Drawing on Indians:

Drawing on Indians: The Wacky World of TV Tropes

Forget Avatar: 10 Compelling Films of Real-Life Indigenous Struggle


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"My Indian name is..." T-shirt Holiday Shopping Reminder

T-shirts with supposedly funny or witty tag lines that are in fact utterly demeaning are nothing new.  Take the following examples:

Source: My Indian Name is...T-shirt

What is new is seeing a prominent government body call these things out for what they are...


The Michigan Department of Civil Rights released the following holiday shopping reminder on December 15:

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights reminds both retailers and shoppers that what may be funny to one person, can be offensive to another. We ask that companies refrain from selling, and that shoppers refrain from buying such items. Of particular concern are items of clothing emblazoned with messages intended to be fun, that are in fact no more than bad jokes told at the expense of others.

We ask that anyone who has already bought such an item for themselves, or who receives one as a gift, consider the effect it will have on others before wearing it in public.

One particular line of products being promoted this season is the “My Indian name is...” t-shirts and related items. While such a shirt could be worn with pride by an American Indian who has been given such a name, this clearly is not the intent of those marketing these items. Companies are suggesting such “Indian” names as “runs with beer,” “drinks like fish,” “chief of remote,” and “bets on horse.” At best, this trivializes a proud tradition of America’s Native peoples. In many instances it also promotes inaccurate and unacceptable stereotypes.

And, of course, this is by no means a uniquely American Indian issue. Too often, individuals wear something on a shirt that they would never say out loud in public. Ethnic jokes are no more appropriate when worn in public than they would be if piped in on a public address system. “Humor” that denigrates or maligns people has no place in society.

Whatever one thinks of this sort of humor, there is one inescapable fact. Many people, particularly those targeted by the message, find it to be offensive. No considerate person would promote or purchase such items for wear in public.

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights simply asks that, in this season of peace, joy, and goodwill, everyone take care to ensure that their holiday cheer is not achieved at the expense of others. After all, the spirit of the season demands no less.

Thank you Michigan Department of Civil Rights for having the political guts to put out this statement and tell it like it is.

I do have one question though: Why do they keep insisting you have to be the target of the message to be offended?  I'm offended and I'm not Native.

It's also strange that they went with a "psuedo non-apology apology" reasoning for why these t-shirts are wrong.  I don't really "find it offensive" but rather think the t-shirt is itself offensive.  They seem to think it's the act of being offended that makes it wrong and not the inherent message of the t-shirt.

So does that mean if I wear it in private and not out in the public it is no longer offensive?  I suppose the Department doesn't want to get too involved in dictating personal behavior.

Then again, the problem with such a t-shirt is that it does have an impact on the non-Indian wearer.  It reinforces common stereotypes about Indian people.  It also trivializes a very serious and often misunderstood custom.  Yes, it is just a t-shirt, but all these subtle negative messages over time build up and have very real consequences.

Source: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/127103/

Image: Bob King / Duluth News

Here's the contact info if you want to fire off an angry e-mail:

http://www.personalcreations.com/CustomerService-ContactUs.aspx

For more on Indians and clothing check out:

Indians and Knights T-Shirt

For another perspective check out this Newspaper Rock post:

Zazzle's "Indian name" t-shirts

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The Onion Parodies Amazon "Civilization"

The satirical magazine The Onion, which bills itself as "America's Finest News Source," has just come out with a new article about the "lousiest civilization ever."  Here is a brief snippet:

Archaeologists Unearth Lousiest Civilization Ever

Archaeologists working in a remote section of the Amazon Rainforest announced Tuesday that they have discovered the ancient remnants of what they claimed may be the lousiest civilization in human history.

According to Dr. Ronald Farber, a professor from the University of Minnesota who is leading the excavation, the "half-assed" culture existed from about 450 B.C. until 220 B.C., when it abruptly disappeared—an event he said was "honestly no big loss" for our understanding of human culture.

"From what we've unearthed so far, it appears this pre-Columbian civilization was pretty much just copying what other, more superior groups nearby were doing—albeit to a much shittier degree," Farber said. "They sucked. You should see the useless mess of a calendar these dumbasses came up with."

The article goes on to reference all manner of "half-assed" attempts at copying other Pre-Colombian civilizations.  It references "inefficient" aqueduct systems, "piece of shit" pipes, "asinine" agricultural methods, and a massive sun temple whose alignment with the Summer solstice was off by two feet.  Apparently, they all "went blind" from staring into the solar eclipses they predicted.


Here is another line that rips on the archaeologists:

An ancient ceremonial headdress, believed to belong to the ruler of the civilization, is reportedly the only artifact from the site that has captured the interest of the scientific community. However, the find was only deemed worthwhile after one of the archaeologists donned the feather diadem while prancing around and shouting, "Duh! Look at me, I'm King Fuckstick, Leader of the Numbskulls!"

The article is clearly meant to be parody.  It satirizes the traditional stereotype that the Amazon was full of backwards savages and cannibals incapable of creating or sustaining any hint of civilization.  The article references all the great achievements of the Pre-Columbian Americans such as advanced knowledge of astronomy, massive public works, written languages, and the fine arts.

I suspect this parody was written in direct response to this recent article in The Washington Post about new discoveries of Amazon civilization:

Scientists find evidence discrediting theory Amazon was virtually unlivable
By Juan Forero

To the untrained eye, all evidence here in the heart of the Amazon signals virgin forest, untouched by man for time immemorial - from the ubiquitous fruit palms to the cry of howler monkeys, from the air thick with mosquitoes to the unruly tangle of jungle vines.

Archaeologists, many of them Americans, say the opposite is true: This patch of forest, and many others across the Amazon, was instead home to an advanced, even spectacular civilization that managed the forest and enriched infertile soil to feed thousands.

The findings are discrediting a once-bedrock theory of archaeology that long held that the Amazon, unlike much of the Americas, was a historical black hole, its environment too hostile and its earth too poor to have ever sustained big, sedentary societies. Only small and primitive hunter-gatherer tribes, the assumption went, could ever have eked out a living in an unforgiving environment.

But scientists now believe that instead of stone-age tribes, like the groups that occasionally emerge from the forest today, the Indians who inhabited the Amazon centuries ago numbered as many as 20 million, far more people than live here today...

It is the following paragraph in particular that led me to believe the authors of The Onion article had read this one:

"I think we're humanizing the history of the Amazon," said Neves, 44, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo. "We're not looking at the Amazon anymore as a black box. We're seeing that these people were just like anywhere else in the world. We're giving them a sense of history."

Hence, The Onion article absurdly "de-humanizes" the indigenous Amazon people with its foul mouthed archaeologists, all while substantially reinforcing the very real advances of their civilization!

This certainly is one of the more humorous examples of "drawing on Indians" that I have encountered recently.  Essentially, The Onion draws upon the advances of Native civilizations in order to point out the traditional prejudices of non-Native people against the so-called "primitive" Indians.  It demonstrates the hypocrisy of continuing to think of Indians as backwards people when for thousands of years Native civilizations were just as advanced or even more advanced than those in Europe!

I was also keenly aware of the fact that the article did not once use the words Native, Indian, or indigenous.  "Civilization" and "society" make much better satire anyway when paired with the archaeologist's scholarly choice of "half-assed".

What do you think?  Effective satire or just not funny?


For another take on The Washington Post article check out this write-up from the Newspaper Rock blog:

Amazon Indians weren't savages