Reclaiming the Whirling Log
Why Native Artists Are Reclaiming the Whirling Log
The Diné symbol was suppressed for decades by a settler-dominated art market that conflated it with the Nazi insignia.
Wendigo Stories and capitalism
More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories
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 Wétiko 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 visited upon his own people in the Americas and subjugated peoples everywhere. He writes:
“Wétiko is a Cree term…which 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 wétikos do not eat other humans only in a symbolic sense. 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. That, I would affirm, is truly and literally cannibalism, and it is cannibalism accompanied by no spiritually meaningful ceremony or ritual.”
More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories
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.
The story of Swuq’us and the true name of Mt Prevost
Tribal Nations Maps is organizing a fundraiser.
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Donate to Donating Tribal Maps to underfunded schools – 2024, organized by Tribal Nations Maps
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Unangax
If it wasn’t for the music and the research I put into the artists, I’d never find beautiful videos like this one. Thank you Ya Tseen for leading me to this one.
Emiliano Zapata
Battle of the Little Bighorn
On this day, 25 June 1876, the Battle of the Little Bighorn began when a combined force of Lakota, Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne tribes routed Lt Col Custer’s army, killing Custer in the process. It was the biggest engagement of the Great Sioux War of 1876, during which the US military was attempting to force Native Americans from their land into reservations in order to mine newly-discovered gold in the Black Hills. Between 25 and 26 June, Native American warriors fought the 700-strong US 7th Cavalry, destroying five of its 12 companies, and killing its commanding officer, George Armstrong Custer, along with four of his relatives.
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By See file page for creator info., Public Domain, Link
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Residential schools Again
Nearly 100 ‘potential human burials’ discovered at British Columbia school
Residential school operated between 1891 and 1981 and has history of abuse, becoming latest to face scrutiny in Canada
Before Columbus by a long way
In tree rings and radioactive carbon, signs of the Vikings in North America
Indigenous people have many stories of trade and “treaty agreements” with them and many others including, Ireland, Pacific Islanders and Egypt. At least 470 years before Christopher Columbus reached the Bahamas in 1492.
Francis Pegahmagabow
A Canadian First Nations soldier, Francis Pegahmagabow was the best sniper on either side of World War I. But when he went back home to Canada, he still had no rights.
Meet Francis Pegahmagabow, The Most Decorated Indigenous Soldier In Canadian History
A member of the Ojibwa tribe, Canadian First Nations soldier Francis Pegahmagabow killed 378 Germans and captured more than 300 during WWI.