Hey, Storyteller!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kyoko & Mami, G, 2 x 100 words, Spoilers for Ep 3-4
For littlebutfierce's Fantastically awesome 3W4DW anime/manga/manhwa/manhua drabblefest!

( Puella Magi in their natural habitat. )

Genocide of the Mind. Edited by Marijo Moore. Forward by Vine Deloria, Jr.

Yes, this book does live within three feet of my desk.

Last quarter I took a class in "Cultural Perspectives in Information Fieldwork" (that is perhaps not the correct title, but that sums up the whole class quite brilliantly). This book was not required or even suggested reading, but because the class heavily focused on Native American perspectives in our discussions, I ended up picking up this book of essays written by Native Americans about their experiences of being native in the 21st century.

Or, or from the back blurb:

After five centuries of Eurocentrism, many people have little idea that Native American tribes still exist, or which traditions belong to what tribes. America's Indigenous peoples have been effectively stereotyped through different forms of media as spiritual gurus, pagan savages, Indian princesses, or pitiful burdens of society.

Over the past decade however, there has been a rising movement to accurately describe Native cultures and histories. In particular, writers have begun to explore the experience of urban Indians--individuals who live in two worlds struggling to preserve traditional Native values within the context of an ever-changing modern society. Genocide of the Mind is a moving and inspiring collection of essays that records the determination of people from over twenty-five different nations to bring the Native American experience into the 21st century.

First, I should say that this book of essays illustrates very well the inherent qualitative difference in works by a members of a cultural group vs. even respectful portrayals by outsiders. These are all Native or mixed-heritage writers talking about native identity from their own individual first person perspectives. The book itself is separated in to five sections which roughly correspond to, urban Indians, young Indians, indigenous languages languages, Indians as mascots, and then the longest section which is "Who we are and who we are not." It's also not all essays as traditionally thought of as essays. Poems. Poems everywhere. Beautiful. It's a clear, clear reminder that 1) Native Americans are still alive, and 2) This is despite all the effort by Whites to erase them and their cultures (yes, genocide).

Other than that, I'm not sure what to say. The premise speaks for itself as a collection of works. Some of my favorite essays were Steve Russel's "Invisible Emblems: Empty Words and Sacred Honor" (especially the opening), Leslie Marmon Silko's "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit," Tim Hays "Mantiwoc: Spirit Place in Anishinabe" (a poem written from the POV of a flute on display at the Field Museum), and Carter Revard's "Postcolonial Hyperbaggage" A Few Poems of Resistance and Survival." And more.

Also, because I'm not pretending that the choice to review this particular book doesn't have context (problematic part being the actual request, not any of the essays linking to it), one quote from many that describes why that request is NOT okay:

( description of Native American genocide )
So that "kink" of yours basically perpetuates and romanticizes part of what's responsible for the erasure of Native Americans. And context-free space only every truly exists on Bingo cards.

Because I'm actually in love-love with the "five things" trope. Five things I believe about Fanfic, and how that affects what I write.

( It's like 5 things fic, but with meta )

I should so do my pink soda post tomorrow. If I get enough work on my thesis done. Or a five things post on why I really like the five things fic structure. =P

ETA: Fixed HTML fail.

These photos were taken by me at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, and of the North American and Australian exhibits as well as the adaptations building and PENGUINS!

( Animals are here! )

So it seems like it's between this and the WTF museology (which will probably be a couple posts, as Random Collections Factoids could be a cool post in and of itself) for the meme. The neat thing was that I found out that my Aunt Bird is actually very good with remembering things, and so I ended up having a lot more family history facts than I thought I would.

When I refer to my family as ‘invisible immigrants’, I’m relating to a very specific line and members in my family. They are my Nan (grandmother), my mother, my Aunt Bird, and my Uncle Mike, plus my cousins and I who are the second-generation immigrants. This is not my complete lineage, which would include both the histories of my biological father (whom I don’t remember) and my stepfather (who is my “Dad”), but this is the “known quantity” in my background and the one that I’ve been raised to identify with.

Also, to speak of the elephant in the room ahead of time: What makes us invisible, both in the sense of passing for USians and receiving the associated privileges and in the sense that my family’s immigration story is getting erased even from our own history is the fact that we 1) are white, 2) come from a “first world” country (England), and 3) speak English as our native language, and while Nan had a British accent (I’m told, she sounded like Nan to me) my mother, aunt, and uncle did not. *


( You really wouldn't guess that my family had this history. )




One last thing, to close on something of a funny culture-shock moment. I told my mother about my potentially becoming a dual citizen. Her response: “You don’t drink enough to be English!” My Aunt Bird agreed, though she did say that perhaps my tea consumption was high enough. Apparently, when she and my aunt were in England last year, some bloke offered to buy her a drink. My mom asked for a Diet Coke only to be told my by Great-grandma Miriam that it was not only rude to refuse someone’s offer to buy a drink, but it has to be a ‘real’ drink. So some etiquette there, courtesy of my English relatives.


Notes
[*] The picky linguistic anthropologist in me wants to say that everyone has an accent. My mother has a Midwestern American accent (she picks accents up quickly), and my Aunt and Uncle sound like U.S. Southerners.