Your People

[shanmonster]

A weird thing happened over the weekend. Someone asked me about my background, and I told them I came from a hunter/gatherer/farming family and grew up in rural areas and wilderness. They then asked me if I'm indigenous. I am, not that indigenous folks all grow up this way, or that living in such a way is specific to indigenous people. But rather than get into all that, I said, "Yes."

"Oh! Which peoples?"

"Inuit and Mi'kmaq," I said.

They got quite excited and said, "I spent time with your people last summer."

"...My people?" I was confused.

"Yes! I was at Six Nations."

"I'm not from Six Nations."

I think it's peculiar how so many people assume that all indigenous groups are part of a homogenized culture. I guess it's not necessarily their fault. After all, if you should ever seen a reference from most places, it will say something like "traditional English proverb," or "traditional Irish remedy". Conversely, citations from First Nations, Inuit, or Métis will get distilled down to "Native American belief" as though the Aztecs and the Innu had the same belief systems. (I see the same thing happening to references from African nations. I had a book of music, and some lyrics would say "traditional Welsh melody, 17th century" whereas others would say "traditional African melody"--as though Moroccan melodies are the same as those from Swaziland! Africa is big. Like, really really big.)

Comments

[valkryor]

Weirdly, I am finding the mass grouping of things (African, Asian, First Nations, etc) really grating lately. "Oh, that's African!" "Which part of Africa?" "You know, Africa!" Africa's pretty massive, like continent massive. Is it SO HARD to distinguish even general areas, given the diverse cultures/religions/beliefs?

Hell, it took me a fuck of a long time to get it through my thick Germanic skull that Egypt is African and not Middle East.

It's not hard, but it takes EFFORT, and often more effort than most people are willing to put in. :(

[jequirity]

The truly sad thing is that if anyone should be educated to know that indigenous groups aren't part of a homogenized culture, it should be Canadians. Canada talks a good game but the truth is that it pretty much let's down its indigenous citizens at ever turn. :(

[cinnamaldehyde]

I appreciate you sharing bits about your heritage, and life... it's always interesting and enlightening.

I was at a Indigenous Artisan Marketplace recently and was super excited to recognize some Mi'kmaq swag. And humbled to realize how many other groups I know nothing about!