I know this is not the right blog, but I don’t like how “indigenous” has a certain and extremely racist vibe to it.
When you hear the word, you might think of old nature hippies (usually one of the Five Civilised Tribes) wearing Plains tribe war bonnets, who shed a tear after saying words of wisdom and are so brave, and never want to give up. Like, ever. Even if they’re going to die.
Maybe stereotypical islanders who wear patterns akin to Tā moko alongside leaf skirts, speaking gibberish, practicing voodoo, being unruly and needing the good white people to return them back to the civilised society.
The reality is a lot more mundane.
I know the outskirts of Arabia like the back of my hand, but at first glance you can not tell if I am Bedouin. I herd camels, but most other Bedouins don’t.
In fact, many people have mistaken me for being a Korean or Japanese foreigner, and asked me about BTS or Korean pop songs in general, then get sad when they realise I know nothing about it.
Most Bedouins live in the cities, and if they have an animal, it’s usually a cat. The same goes for most other indigenous groups, who usually have a “civilised” life.
Ignoring all that, are there any uncivilised tribes, bands, qibylas, etc?
No, because everyone has their own way of civilisation and sincerely, we would want to keep it rather than let it be erased by another.
Im still like. Upset lookism is not accepted as a real actual axis of oppression and you can get clowned on or assumed to be some sort of incel/femcel if you think that. Which is a weird reason to dismiss it because I don't just mean it affects struggles with dating I mean it pretty all encompassingly can make your life worse from social alienation and less leeway for normal human mistakes and behavior (which can be literally dangerous! So many people don't understand how important having social support is when it's a given to them. For example I have health issues and I'm forced to navigate that all on my own despite the effects the health issues have on me making it difficult to do so) to considerably lessening your work opportunities and even your capacity to get an education (if people are consistently nasty to you in those settings you may not be particularly motivated to do so). Your life can shrink to being so small and there's such an considerable difference how even strangers you're just trying to get a service from and go about your day can unconsciously treat you. You can get worse medical care and be treated poorly at your most vulnerable. And then there's the ableism and transphobia and classism tied into all of this of people assuming something wrong with you or that you're a threat when you're also just going about your day. Anyway boggles my mind it's not just considered a real thing. Random ramble and idk if i'm making sense bc I'm dealing with pretty horrible levels of brainfog rn due to mysterious health stuff and I have no idea how I come across
Lookism is absolutely overlooked in the general discrimination talks. It is also constantly encouraged in all political spheres to give less value to people.
And it's effects can be devastating in a lot of ways, that in this post I won't go into, but maybe some time in the future.
The thing is that it intersects with a lot of the more commonly/typically talked about discriminations. As if it has anything to do with your appearance it will intersect with lookism.
But this goes with everything. I'll do a list of the things that people are discriminated about and I'll try to keep updating it every now and then:
RACISM
[PT: Racism]
MISOGYNOIR [PT: Misogynoir]: Black women/feminine presenting people being deemed more masculine just based on their skin color (also intersects a lot with transmisoginoir for Black trans fems).
COLORISM/ANTI-BLACKNESS [PT: Colorism/anti-Blackness]: Black people generally being deemed masculine, also with commonly associated masculine traits (aggressiveness, anger issues, being able to withstand a lot emotionally,...). And then being deemed as dangerous for it.
ORIENTALISM/INFANTILIZATION [PT: orientalism/infantilization]: East Asian people generally being deemed feminine, also with commonly associated feminine traits (gentleness, cuteness, helplessness, etc). And then being infantilized for it.
SEXISM/INDIGEMISIA [PT: Sexism/indigemisia]: Men/masculine presenting people having long hair.
INDIGEMISIA [PT: Indigemisia]: Hate for tattoos and piercings.
ORIENTALISM [PT: Orientalism]: South Asian's people's hair being deemed oily and dirty.
TEXTURISM/ANTI-BLACKNESS [PT: Texturism/Anti-Blackness]: Curly/coily/afro hair being deemed unprofessional.
ANTI-SEMITISM/ANTI-BLACKNESS/ORIENTALISM/ANTI-ARAB [PT: Anti-semitism/Anti-Blackness/Orientalism/Anti-Arab]: Big noses being deemed as ugly and bad.
ABLEISM
[PT: Ableism]
DISFIGUREMISIA/DEFORMISIA [PT: Disfiguremisia/deformisia]: Visible body differences, that don't follow what someone conventionally is expected to be like (skin differences/amputees/etc), being often treated as body horror.
INFANTILIZATION [PT: Infantilization]: Mobility aids being deemed as ugly and the users/disabled people in general being deemed as non-sexual/non-desirable just because of their visible disabilities.
ANTI-DWARFISM/INFANTILIZATION [PT: Anti-dwarfism/infantilization]: People with dwarfism being deemed for that as non-sexual, and conflating other people's attraction to them as inherently "pedophilic" (often said like that, but actually referring to predatory behaviour, don't conflate paraphilas with abuse please).
SEXISM
[PT: Sexism]
MISOGYNY [PT: Misogyny]: Women/feminine presenting people having short hair being deemed as bad.
INTERSEXISM/EXORSEXISM/TRANSPHOBIA [PT: intersexism/exorsexism/transphobia]: People who visibly are androgynous in some way/don't seem to fit the sex or gender binary being badly threaten for it.
TRANSMISOGYNY [PT: Transmisogyny]: Feminine presenting people not fully adhering to what is socially seen as "woman" being deemed not feminine enough and being seen as predatory.
ANTI-MASCULINITY/TRANSANDROPHOBIA [PT: Anti-masculinity/Transandrophobia]: Masculine presenting people being deemed as inherently dangerous and a threat.
AGEISM
[PT: Ageism]
TO OLDER PEOPLE [PT: To older people]: Being deemed as not desirable/non-sexual.
ADULTISM [PT: Adultism]: Young people being deemed "pure" as in non-sexual (which are not synonyms by any means by the way), and if they look young being seen as too young to know what they're talking about.
OTHERS
[PT: Others]
FATPHOBIA [PT: Fatphobia]: Fat people being deemed as inherently ugly and having unhealthy habits.
CLASSISM/ABLEISM [PT: Classism/Ableism]: People who don' /can't follow the social standards of basic hygiene being deemed as lazy disgusting people.
D
FASCISM [PT: fascism]: People who dress outside the norm in regards to what's popular. Especially big on subcultures.
I saw someone on Twitter (ofc it was twitter) go “wtf is two spirit?? Like two faced??? Is it a mental disorder??” And another person called it schizophrenia
The ignorant and hateful are a dime a dozen there
This is transphobia, exorsexism, varsexism, queerphobia, indigemisia, and saneism.
(For those who don't know - Two-Spirit is an umbrella term for cultural identities within Indigenous North American tribes. It describes their non-Western identities with gender, sex, and attraction.)
This is indigemisia - bridging the gap in language to describe anti-indigenous oppression, colonialism and racism.
I saw that there was a lack of language aside from "anti-indigeneity" when describing the colonial forces that impact Indigenous peoples all over the globe. Indigenous struggles are erased - and glossed over. Colonialism, the genocide of Native Americans and other Indigenous people around the globe along with forced assimilation, displacement, etc. is hardly talked about anymore. This is why I'm suggesting that we use "indigemisia" to call out anti-indigeneity.
Indigemisia defines hatred/bigotry towards Indigenous peoples. So what does Indigemisia include?
Colonialism and enforcing colonial norms. (I.E. Modern colonial gender roles/identities, colonial dietary norms, modern health & beauty standards, modern colonial sex categories, etc.)
Indigenous erasure. (Bloodquantum. Telling Indigenous peoples that we are "white." Erasure of racism that an Indigenous person might face regardless of skin tone. "The Bering Land Bridge Theory." Rhetoric that states Indigenous people are not truly Indigenous to our lands due to migration thousands of years ago. "Everyone is indigenous to earth" rhetoric. Americacentrism; dismissal of Indigenous peoples around the globe such as Indigenous Europeans, Indigenous Asians along with other Indigenous groups. "Aliens built the pyramids/ancient cities" conspiracy, etc.)
Colorism and featurism. (Disparaging the appearance of Indigenous people due to 'ethnic features' that some of us may have. Rhetoric that suggests brown and dark-skinned Indigenous people are "dirty" or lesser than. Excluding dark-skinned and mixed Black Indigenous people from indigenous spaces. (This is also antiblackness.) etc.)
Cultural appropriation. (Identifying with sacred identities and names coming from Indigenous groups that you do not belong to. Claiming to have "Spirit / Totem Animals." "Transnative / Transindigenous" along with "Exonative / Exoindigenous" or any similar identification. "Smudging..." You're literally just smoke cleansing. Buying white sage from colonial retailers. Wearing our traditional clothing as a costume. etc.)
Glorification of colonialism. (Practicing/Celebrating "Thanksgiving." This is a holiday built off of the genocide of Native Americans. Listen to Natives when we say that it is to be referred to as National Day of Mourning. Celebrating "Columbus Day." It's Indigenous Peoples day. Sentiments that thank colonialism for things such as food, clothing, housing, technology, modern invention, etc.)
This is not an exhaustive list, just some examples. There are many ways that indigemisia can present.
In addition to "indigemisia," I am proposing the following to discuss the intersection of indigemisia with other forms of bigotry:
"Indigemisogyny" - The intersection of indigemisia with misogyny.
"Queerindigemisia" - The intersection of indigemisia with queermisia/"queerphobia."
"Transindigemisia" - The intersection of indigemisia with transmisia/"transphobia."
"Transindigemisogyny" - The intersection of indigemisia with transmisia/"transphobia" and misogyny.
"Interindigenism" - The intersection of indigemisia with intersexism.
"Interindigemisogyny" - The intersection of indigemisia with intersexism and misogyny.
"Indigeableism" - The intersection of indigemisia with ableism.
"Indigefetishism" - A form of anti-Indigenous discrimination that dehumanizes and treats Indigenous people as if we are merely objects of pleasure.
"Whoreindigemisia" - The intersection of puritanicalism with anti-Indigenous racism. Especially against Indigenous sex workers.
"Indigenoirism" - The intersection of antiblackness with anti-Indigenous racism. This could be used to describe racism towards Indigenous people who are mixed race Black individuals, or racism towards Black people as an Indigenous people and African Diaspora.
"Fatindigemisia" - The intersection of fatmisia and anti-Indigenous racism. (Inspired by @this-is-fatnoirism!)
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Indigemisists, racists (those who are also antiblack, anti-asian, etc.), antisemites, islamomisists, zionists and anti-doikaytists will be blocked on sight. Those who support the USSR or are uncritical of Marx's history of anti-indigeneity or antisemitism will be blocked. If you try to argue with me about it, you will be blocked. Ecofascists will be blocked. Those who are anti-landback will be blocked. If you think you can identify as a race/ethnicity that is not congruent with your body or lived experience, you will be blocked.
I can and will block you for any reason. This is not an exhaustive list.
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Tags:
#this is indigemisia
#this is not indigemisia
#indigenous culture is
#indigenous joy
#asks
#admin posts
#admin coins
#music suggestions
#off topic
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About the admin:
Hi, you can call me Doe! I am a mixed race Native Jew+ living in the south. I am intersex, intergender (interfemme), transfemme, androgynos, and indigequeer. I am not cis. You may use shi/hir pronouns when referring to me.
I am a Doikaytist and believe in Jewish "hereness" opposed to an ethnostate. Landback includes freeing Palestine.
" This. Entire post. "I REALLY hope i was respectful with the imagery for my flag I made for white people to LARP as indigenous people!!!" You cannot talk like that white baby.
(I'm using a link bc being off anon w/ a screenshot is scary but I would prefer if you just screenshotted the post or something because I don't want OP to be harassed because they're a child. (An indigemisic and ableist child but a child nonetheless.))"
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This is indigemisia and cultural appropriation. Additionally this is panindigenism and generalization of Native cultures when a lot of our cultures vary significantly from each other.
Asabikeshiinyag, or dreamcatchers originate with Ojibwe peoples and are not representative of all Native American tribes. Some tribes may have engaged in trade and acquired asabikeshiinyag FROM Ojibwe peoples, but this is not representative of, nor used by all Natives.
OP in the screenshot is being incredibly disrespectful, appropriative, and indigemisic.
Accusing an Indigenous person of lying about their identity, then proceeding to insinuate that their entire tribe is fake (when it's a federally recognized band of tribes), referring to said tribe with the name given by colonizers and stating that anyone who claims this tribe is a pretendian when you, yourself claim to just be a 'reconnector' is indigemisia.
Indigemisia is the fucking dreamcatchers. Everywhere. The white sage smudging and the appropriation of other indigenous practices to be more "worldly" or "cool". I guarantee to all white people that there are traditions you can partake in that don't contribute to racism!!!! The Sandman is right there!!!!!!!!!!! There's like a gajillion English folk tales and traditions out there, too, if people are unsure of their "origins".
It's so easy to find resources for white people — it's ridiculous that indigenous, closed practices are still being stolen from.
This is indigemisia and cultural appropration.
Just wanted to add, that the people who claim they're "smudging" are actually smoke cleansing and don't know what smudging is. Burn herbs if you want to, but you're not smudging.
For the whites who want to respectfully smoke cleanse, I suggest using rosemary or cedar. It smells nice. Do not use white sage, especially not from large retailers. Also, make sure to have a fire proof bowl to catch the ashes. Don't let that shit fall on your floor like in the movies. Please don't catch your houses on fire, lmao.
There are so many European belief systems that aren't some branch of Christianity. From my knowledge, most of the Anglo, Germanic, etc. Pagan beliefs are open. If you have Celtic heritage, please try and reconnect. You don't need to steal from other cultures. There are so many beautiful practices that were buried by Catholicism from the lands your people came from.
Indigemisia is people only thinking of North American indigenous groups when someone hears "indigenous" (or an equivalent synonym). Take some time today to think about and appreciate the indigenous peoples of the world.
