#ndn only

[writingwithcolor]

Hello!! I wanted one character Im writing to be a fire creature, so I decided theyd be a cherufe from Mapuche folklore! Thing is, folklore says cherufe only eat human meat, and since the character lives with humans, I wanted to alter that so they eat some sort of alternative. But Im not sure if tampering with folklore from an Indigenous group Im not part of is ok. Is it?

Modifying Indigenous Monsters

No, it’s not okay to tamper with folklore/beliefs from an Indigenous group you’re not a part of.

As I’ve said with the Wendigo time and again, along with asks about Indigenous monsters in general: these monsters are meant to be cautionary tales to tell us how to interact with nature and the world around us. I’m not Mapuche, so I’m not going to answer for them about what they would like to see, but monsters in Indigenous folklore don’t exist for outsiders to strip them of their sacredness.

You want to take their context and cautions away from it, just so that it can be a friendly fire spirit that lives with humans? How is that okay? How is treating a marginalized religion as a buffet alright?

Let our monsters be monsters. Not every spirit in folklore has to be kind and palpable to Western ideals to be valuable and valid. Not all spirits are meant to be kind. Volcanos are dangerous, powerful, magical, and deserving of deadly respect. Their spirits don’t need to play nice with humans; it’s up to humans to play nice with them.

If any Mapuche want to chime in, I’ll happily add their voices (or peoples in the surrounding region who share similar beliefs) to this post.

~ Mod Lesya

[writingwithcolor]

I have a character in my supernatural novel set in Wisconsin who is a Native girl, and I've been considering having her be cursed with lycanthropy. I've thought for a long time about whether or not this would be too stereotypical or if Twilight has left a bad taste in audiences' mouths when it comes to Native werewolves, and I would like to hear your opinion. I've also considered explaining the curse by having it be placed by a German witch, since as far as I'm aware werewolves are more (1/2)

prominent in German folklore than Native folklore. Or is this just too similar to the savage Native trope? She is meant to be a sympathetic character, but I wouldn’t want to perpetrate the stereotype anyway. (2/2)

Werewolf Natives: Problems or Not?

Proceed with caution is all I can say.

Animalistic Natives is a problem, and Twilight made it worse by how abusive a lot of their Native characters ended up being (or so I’ve heard—I’ve avoided Twilight remarkably effectively for being a teenager in its peak). When you toss this in with lyconthropy, you end up with problems. As in the animalistic subtext of most Native stories got turned into the reality of the world.

There was also the problem with how the tribe in question actually did have wolves as part of their spirituality, but that got bastardized. So it’s a double-punch of Savage Natives and cultural appropriation, hence the bad taste.

If it was a curse placed upon her by a colonizer, then you’ve got an interesting angle about how the ills of colonialism have added something not exactly part of the religion, but that would require picking a tribe that uses wolves differently. Some of us have wolves in our beliefs, some of us don’t. Those who lived in the old range of wolves (so, pre-endangered population) are likely to have beliefs about wolves, and those who don’t, well, wouldn’t.

I’d suggest to make her animal and human side separate, where she is very much a human and the lycanthropy isn’t used against her in the narrative. I’d also like for her to be cured eventually, so that there’s hope for healing from colonialism.

I’d like to think it was possible for a story like this to be done well. I don’t know if it can be done well by an outsider with the Twilight aftermath being relatively fresh, and with the rampant appropriation. I feel like it would need to be a side character, just so you don’t write about our struggles from our PoV.

I’ll turn this over to community opinion.

Do you think a story like this is possible to do in good taste? Or should it be a non-Native character that gets cursed, if one gets cursed at all?

~ Mod Lesya

[writingwithcolor]

Hey! I saw that recent ask about Native American representation, and I was wondering how you guys feel about American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I love the book, but since I'm white I'm not in the position to judge the representation.

American Gods Native American representation

It’s on my tbr list, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Turning it over to the community.

~ Mod Lesya

[writingwithcolor]

I’ve done research, but I’d love the insight of actual Navajo people! I have a concept for a character in my fantasy novel. He’s a walking skeleton, presumably brought back to life. I want him to be a World War ll vet, and had the idea of him being one of the Navajo code talkers. Would a walking skeleton be disrespectful to Navajo culture? I’m not too invested in the character idea yet, so there’s still room for me to change him up.

Is a Navajo walking skeleton disrespectful?

Navajo and Navajo followers only: is this an okay concept?

~ Mod Lesya

Responses:

@scorebox420I’m Navajo and a walking skeleton is huge NO. We don’t talk of the dead, or visit cemeteries after burials. Only evil things do such things.

@iliketowritestuffsI’m half Navajo. Death is a very sensitive thing; it’s so sensitive it was a tradition to abandon a hogan that someone passed away in. So, I think a walking skeleton would be a bit much.

@willowlark369I’m not Dine, but I am Choctaw and undead is a really sensitive point for us and our closely related tribes. The fact that it’s the bones that are not resting makes it especially unsettling. If the bones are disturbed then the person cannot become one of the Ancestors, and cannot advise the People. There’s this disconnect from the natural order that I worry about. It’s like seeing a baby fetish or a pipe behind glass. Just a punch to the gut kind of thing, ya know? Again, I’m Choctaw and we’re from a different region, so maybe the Southwest tribes don’t have that taboo.

@avenger1393Not Navajo but O'odham. In the same state as Navajo’s but I’m pretty sure all Native people have some aspect of leaving the bones of the dead rested because it means that if part of the body is missing then the spirit of the deceased can’t be in peace in the afterlife. It’s just a story and unless it becomes mainstream then I don’t really see the harm? Although I did not grow up spiritually in the Native traditional spirituality so I can’t say for sure if offensive.

[writingwithcolor]

If you got any resources for Apache culture and tradition could you send them my way? I have a female character who hails from that tribe and accurate info is so slim.

Apache Resources

I’m not too well versed in the area, so turning this over to followers! When suggesting resources, please try to find tribe-authored/co-authored sources instead of people trying to reconstruct life without any input from the Apache!

~ Mod Lesya

[writingwithcolor]

I have a character in a fantasy story coded as Pueblo/Zuni. I did lots of reading but I have 2 questions. First of all, is it better to be super detailed about the culture or should I just include a few broad identifiers in order to not overstep (I'm white). Also: feathers. I have not found any good sources about this. Is it ok to have a feather in his hair or no? Every time I try to research I just find these weird hippie websites that talk about native Americans like they're all the same.

Representing Pueblo/Zuni Peoples Respectfully

1- put in details that the culture has chosen to share with the world. Native tribes do share some parts of their culture according to their guidelines, and that material is usually okay to share. When in doubt, ask the tribe if x part is allowed to be redistributed by outsiders.

But, in general, when somebody Native publishes a story on the internet, that story is considered safe to share. Note how I specify on the internet because sometimes tribes will tell you things in person but it can never be transcribed in text.

Make sure it’s published by somebody genuinely Pueblo/Zuni, and that stuff is where you should base your research.

I’d personally rather more detail than less, because when you get too fuzzy with coding in fantasy then it can reinforce the concept that all Natives are the same— and you’ll be more likely to pull from your own biases. The more research you do and the more you refine the coding to be as close to that people as you can safely get it, the more likely you are to get good representation.

2- I’ve seen a few cultures be okay with feathers in hair. This isn’t to say all of them are, but the ones I interact with are. I’ll leave this part open for Pueblo/Zuni people to answer, since I’m very far removed from that region.

~ Mod Lesya

[writingwithcolor]

Hi! I’m struggling a bit with naming one of my POV characters, a Navajo/Dine woman in a fantasy western taking place c.1885. In my research, I’ve seen several mentions of Navajo/Dine names being considered very personal to the point of being sacred and only shared with family/close friends. If this is the case with my character, do you think she would more likely use an english name among non-tribe-members, or simply a nickname that still originates from the her own language? (1/2)

(2/2) Either way, my instinct is to not reveal her true name even to the audience out of respect for it being sacred. At the same time, this feels like a bit of a cop-out if she’s using an english name, and I don’t want her to seem ashamed of her culture or eager to assimilate. I’m considering having her use an english first name but use her clan name as a surname (according to my research this was done in real life). Thoughts? Any input from Navajo/Dine folks is of course hugely appreciated.

Navajo/Dine and Sacred Names

My grain-of-salt (not Navajo/Dine) suggestion is to make mention she’s using a sacred name among family/close friends (like, “they called her by the name only they could” or somesuch), then use a name that still lines up with names-given-to-outsiders from the tribe in question.

Any Navajo/Dine input is greatly appreciated.

~ Mod Lesya

Commentary

@iliketowritestuffs said:More common last names I’ve seen are: Begay, Yazzie, Benally, Sayetsitty, Bowman, Shirley, and that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. My family’s name is Shurley.

As for Navajo names; my family isn’t traditional, so none of us have one. Women get their Navajo name during their Kinaaldah, which is a coming of age ceremony which occurs when a girl first gets her period. As for boys, I can’t be of help. Sorry.

@aisarete said:

Another grain-of-salt, not-Navajo suggestion: tell us why she chose the name she gives outsiders. That seems like it would give us valuable insight on who she is as a person. Maybe she liked the name of a character from a story, or a historical figure. Maybe she heard a name in passing and chose it arbitrarily, and only her sacred name really means anything to her emotionally. Maybe she just really liked the way it sounded, and it is a traditionally masculine name or not a traditional name at all. Salutations, Comraderie, and Marionette would all make cool name imo.

[writingwithcolor]

Paiute/Shoshone Deaf Native American Character

I’m writing a steampunk/sci-fi novel with a mute woman who is a child of the two tribes Paiute and Shoshone. She is ace with a lesbian partner who is a cowgirl/guide. The world is one where Native Americans and English refugees made and kept treaties so it’s a shared continent with many tribes and lots of crossing bloodlines. Her name is Lisette after Sacagawea’s daughter. She wears something over her nose and mouth to keep out dust, and I’m wondering if there’s anything special from the Paiute and/or Shoshone tribes I can use for that. I’m also wanting a scene where Lisette’s partner is doing something with her hair that is representative of their relationship that is specific to one or both of the above tribes if possible. Also, is there a reliable site or book that shows the Paiute/Shoshone sign language? I’d like to describe the motions of her signing at some points in the novel to break things up. I’m wanting to portray Lisette accurately and respectfully and a lot of my research has given me vague or unhelpful information. Please help! (Also, if please let me know if you want any more information about Lisette, this is my first go at writing a Native American and I want to get it right.)

The sign language you’re looking for is Plains Sign Language. You will probably have to look at the Great Basin dialect, but that’s the place to start!

Otherwise, turning this over to Native followers.

~ Mod Lesya