#indigenous stuff

[crazyheronman]

this came to me in a dream

[misery-lake]

HEY GUESS WHAT

Cool indigenous shit below the cut

I pulled an otter out of the road when I was on my way to talk to my old quilting guild with my big boss (they give us quilts to give to people in states of transition)!!

Anyway we took her to the water and did a little ceremony for her and I gifted her a rock and usgdjjsis. We decided to keep her pelt and... well, no one was available so my boss and I fucking did it this morning.

Pulled into my parents garage at 11 this morning, lit some tobacco and... went for it. Between the two of us we've done a little bit of field dressing but nothing bigger than a fox (and I've mostly done fish and birds). But last night I had a trapper from up North give me a call and was like "cut here, cut there, and trust your instincts. You can do this"

And honestly? I could do it.

I'm white passing, it's very obvious looking at me, but if you're from the area I'm very obviously indigenous (high cheek bones, round face, a specific little chin I can point out in photos of my great, great grandma). I'm from here, I speak and dance and don't wear shoes in the summer. But because I didn't have the pleasure of growing up doing our traditional ceremonies I was labeled not indigenous enough

When I was growing up my experience was people were not willing to give out their teachings so it was very nice to have an absolute stranger just... give me the teacher Inga.

My Mohawk teacher in grade 8 was my first fucking cultural bully.

(never mind the fact that like.... hello my grandma never let her children do that to fucking protect them; like this guy was fucking stupid he's paler than I am????)

Not indigenous enough!

How fucking Insane. Its in my blood and I let this stupid fucking asshole take that from me for like 20 years.

BUT.

After the first cut it felt... right. I did it and I could do it. It was almost intuitive. I don't wanna be like I felt the hands of my ancestors guiding me but I kinda fucking did.

My boss has some issues with her grip strength so she coudlnt really help so it was mostly my activity. But the air was so light. We laughed and talked and just... just enjoyed each others company. We were both buzzing yesterday and I could feel us both coming down as I cut into Bernie.

Also we had named him Bernadette when we thought it was a girl but uh, he was indeed a boy. So we renamed him Bernie.

Once the pelt was removed (with only 2 punctures!) we took the rest to his body to a place on my rez that is considered to be pretty sacred. As we were walking up the hill my boss absolutely ate shit. While she was rolling around laughing I couldn't help but feel at absolute peace. I was crying helping her up and she was crying and we were both laughing. I had my boss in one hand and Bernie in the other and it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever experienced.

After I got the tears out of my eyes I could see there were people tapping trees and I could hear coyotes yipping further up the hill and it was quiet. I love visiting this hill. I hate that there's so many beer bottles around but I can see why people may choose it to come chase their woes.

It's peaceful. My boss asked if it was haunted and I said I didn't know or care. It was the right place to be.

I found a spot at the base of a tree where I could lay Bernie down. As I carried him I looked at his little face, his naked little body, and it kind of felt like I was carrying a child.

I placed him and covered him in the rest of my tobacco and the cedar branches my boss gave me. I covered him in leaves and moss while the coyotes moved in closer and the cold bit at my cheeks.

I thanked him for changing me and apologized for how he died. It wasn't fair and it certainly wasn't a good death. As I was holding my boss's hand (she was uneasy on the snow and mud) we could look back and see the coyotes trotting done the hill, right to Bernie. I said how's that for fast food and she laughed.

As we walked out of the tree line back to our cars I felt different. I felt affirmed. I'm doing the right thing and I'm becoming who I was supposed to become.

I have gaps in my knowledge, my language skills are less than stellar, my dancing is shaky, my crafts are janky, but God fucking dammit I am enough.

[chokecherryfemme]

White women cutting their hair in protest is not an act of unity. It's as performative as the blue bracelets.

You people REFUSE to listen to listen to non-white activists and you're EXCLUDING black & indigenous and any other culture where HAIR is sacred.

Cutting your hair in an act of grief is sacred, but creator KNOWS white "allies" are going to turn around and BLAME those of us who won't cut a sacred part of ourselves off, because we're not "playing nice".

We can't even get white people to ACCEPT that it's sacred to us. Fuck you guys.

[luxusdollhouse]

Hi…. More ephemera art because im insane……

This was the reference photo i used for this ! Its op’s friend in the middle of teaching, i screenshotted it because i knew i’d want to draw it later with ephemera because i loved it so much lmaoooo anyways go follow her too her instagram is @ inkstitcher she’s inupiaq and makes crazy cool art + is a traditional inuit handpoke tattooist which is always sick

[awkward-idealist]

Hey all you mp100 folks!

So I know y’all have been freaking out about Ć̸̞͂̿͝ͅL̸͇̈́̀̾A̵̡͛R̵̩̱̂̕Ķ̷̗̜͚̀̾̇͠ ̶̲̩̠̆̀N̸̬̑É̸̻̮͉̜͘W̴͙̞̣͝ͅM̵̞̍͑̏A̷̤͙̲͊̄N̴̻͔͑ Reigan Arataka

[ID: a screenshot from a cartoon showing an Alaska Native man and a blond man posing in a picture, which a hand is gesturing at]

But also, I’ve been seeing a lot of folks just say that he’s in “a PBS show”

So I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows exactly which show he’s in for two seconds.

Please meet! Molly of Denali:

[ID a group photo of the Molly of Denali characters standing outside a building surrounded by pine trees, with the show’s title in the air above them]

Molly of Denali is a new (as in less than a year old) kids cartoon about the titular Molly Mabray

[ID: Molly, a cartoon character with olive skin, brown hair, and black irsies, wearing her red summer parka, jeans, and tennis shoes, smiling and waving]

She’s an Alaska Native 10-year-old girl (who is also voiced by an Alaska Native girl, Sovereign Bill). She likes going adventuring around her home, hanging with her friends (a Japanese/Alaska Native boy and a Black girl), playing basketball, and helping her parents who run a trading post.

It’s a really neat show that’s fun to watch, covers a variety of topics, and is The First Children’s Show to have a native/indigenous character as the main character (at least in the US/Canada).

So consider, Mob Psycho fans, when you want something a little less angsty with lower stakes, this could be a great show for you to watch ;)

[luxusdollhouse]

Happy mothers day from Ephemera and their first born ….. :)

[luxusdollhouse]

In honor of it being the last day of Gathering of Nations. Blaine in his hoop dance regalia because i said so . He’s a Diné hoop dancer to me

[antiqua-lugar]

The indigenous knowledge of aliberal, exotic peoples is located and embodied, while the white European episteme is subjectively unspecific and immune to identity politics. This matters because it is precisely this belief in the disembodied and dislocated epistemic neutrality of the unmarked white subject that structures its entitlement. It allows this white subject to assume that the public sphere is always home to their opinions, even on topics, concepts, and experiences they are more than willing to admit knowing very little about, if nothing at all; the dislocation of this white subject allows it to claim everything and everyone as a potential object of knowledge or representation that is always already intelligible, knowable, translatable, and accessible. Because the white possessive also functions socio-discursively to inform and shape white subjectivity and the law, Moreton-Robinson explains, possession “ontologically shaped the formation of white subjectivity” and hence possessiveness exceeds the materiality of settler-colonial proprietary claims over territory and sovereignty.

Cornellier, Bruno. Extracting Inuit: The of the North Controversy and the White Possessive (q.ted Aileen Moreton-Robinson, The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty)