Blog #2 : Sorry

The racial aspects of Sci Fi, Fantasy and other forms media

NO. 1

One of the blog posts I have written before was titled ‘Mean World Syndrome’, which talked about how race and media affects everyone on a global scale. Racial aspects of sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media have long been a source of controversy. From the stereotypes of aliens in Star Trek to the whitewashing of characters in movies like Avatar, Prince of Persia, etc. these issues have been a major source of discussion in the media landscape. In many cases, racial stereotypes have been used to create a sense of ‘otherness’ for the characters of color in order to reinforce a sense of white superiority. This has led to criticism from fans, activists, and academics who have called for more representation of people of color in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media.

NO. 2

In the entertainment business, inclusivity is hard to come by, and in some cases, the representation of characters of color in these genres is inadequate and often offensive. Characters of color are often relegated to the sidelines and made to serve as the backdrop to white characters’ stories, or they are depicted as tokens and stereotypes. This lack of meaningful representation has led to a push for more diverse casts in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media. ‘‘Like many social sciences, international/intercultural/interethnic communication and media studies are primarily an Anglo-American media images have always been critically dissected, often by scholars with some kind of privileged tie to other cultures—Most makers of these blockbusters are mostly white males with English as their mother tongue, mutli-millionaires or aspiring to become one as soon as possible. They usually internalize a mid-Atlantic view of global history and geography, its central myths and legends. So many blockbusters remain ethnocentric, even today—they tend to make non-Westerners look at the world through Western eyes.’’

NO.3

In addition to representation in the stories themselves, the casting of actors to bring these characters to life has been another source of debate. Many actors of color have argued that they are often typecast into roles that are stereotypical or that do not reflect the true diversity of the world. Films or TV shows with fantasy/sci-fi themes on Netflix, like Chambers or Raising Dion are not being properly advertised because, like Inclusive Advertising: What’s Holding the Industry Back? claims, ‘‘The industry itself is not diverse: The advertising industry — across the ecosystem and at all levels — is not representative, which is itself a barrier to creating representative and inclusive content. Only 19% of in-house and 23% of agency survey respondents reported that their leader almost always considers the demographic diversity of their team when developing content. That, and individuals (in these marketing companies) lack awareness of and access to the knowledge, skills, resources, and tools to create representative and inclusive content. Individuals are confident in their ability to create representative and inclusive content, but only if provided with adequate tools and resources.’’

NO. 4

Of course, there will always be people who dislike seeing a more diverse setting, especially against the established order of Western ‘‘whiteness’’ ideologies. Ultimately, the best way to ensure diversity in these genres is to continue to create stories that feature diverse characters and cultures. If authors, producers, and casting directors make a conscious effort to create more imaginative stories that are inclusive and reflective of the real world, then audiences will be able to experience a more authentic and meaningful experience.

The Massacre of Wounded Knee

The Massacre of Wounded Knee was one of the most devastating, horrifying acts of cruelty committed by soldiers of the U.S Army. Innocent men, women, and children of the Lakota tribe were shot to death, and over fifty-one were wounded, who soon succumbed to their injuries later. Over 250 people tragically died on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. And what exactly was the victim’s crime for death? The sacred dance, ‘Ghost Dance’.

‘‘The Ghost Dance, created by a Pauite Indigenous man from Nevada by the name of Wovoka, is an indigenous religious movement that envisioned the coming of a Native Messiah and a millennium marked by the return of the depleted game, the resurrection of deceased Indigenous relatives, and the supernatural disappearance of Euro-American colonizers. Misconstructing the Ghost Dance as insurrectionary, the U.S Government sent troops to suppress the feared threat to American sovereignty. The 7th Calvary, on December 29, 1890 held Lakota Chief Big Foot and his people in custody at the site; as the troops disarmed the Lakota people of weapons the next day, when an errant shot fired which lead to the resulting chaos.’’

Twenty-five soldiers also died and thirty-nine were also injured, and six of them succumbed and died later on. The army had rushed in additional forces under Colonel James W. Forsyth, who had quickly surrounded the encampment. To the army, disarming the Lakota people was seen as a peaceful measure, designed to eliminate the tribe’s capacity to launch the violent outbreak. To the Lakota and Big Foot’s followers, the plan appeared to leave them vulnerable to violence. ‘‘For all the Lakota’s obvious displeasure at the disarmament order, neither group seemed prepared for a fight that morning. For their part, the Lakota were not only outnumbered, out-armed, and flying a white flag of truce; they risked placing their families in danger if they launched any violent resistance. Because of the disarmament procedure, the two groups were so close together when the fighting began that most combatants had little time to reload. The initial conflict thus rapidly devolved into a bitter hand-to-hand struggle. Once the soldiers closest to the Indian camp had either fallen or retreated, however, the supporting troopers were able to bring their fire to bear on the camp with deadly effect. Particularly devastating were the four Hotchkiss cannons. Few Lakota warriors had ever encountered this weapon, which could fire almost fifty rounds per minute. In less than an hour, Indian resistance to the troops collapsed.’’

On May 28, 1903, five thousand Lakota’s assembled, coming to dedicate a monument to honor the Minneconjou Lakota Chief Big Foot and more than two hundred of his followers. ‘‘The obelisk emerged from the Lakota’s engagement with the politics of memory—the narrative accepted by the government and dominant society—of ‘the Battle of Wounded Knee’, in compensation claims and in their memorial practices. The Lakota’s monument was a rare intervention by indigenous peoples in a western memorial landscape largely controlled by Euro-Americans. As Edward Tabor Linenthal and Micheal A. Elliot have surmised, Americans erected monuments to honor George Armstrong Custer and other white soldiers killed in the Indian/Indigenous wars. Even when whites killed large numbers of Indigenous, Americans found ways to memorialize massacres as necessary acts that brought peace and progress to the nation, as Karl Jacoby and Ari Kelman have demonstrated. Although army officials have disagreed over exactly what happened at Wounded Knee, the War Department ultimately upheld the Seventh Calvary’s claim that ‘treacherous’ and ‘fanatical’ Ghost Dancers had attacked unsuspecting troops, thereby disavowing any responsibility for the deaths of women and children.’’

This article is written in daily remembrance of the deaths of millions of indigenous or diverse people, and the acts of continuous violence that plagues this country because of bigoted and ignorant people, but especially at the hands of people who claim they are here to protect and serve. These acts were and still are commonplace in American society, and to not write about the horrors in their originality would be pointless, and otherwise claim that they never happened at all.

I'm a grad student y'all! I'm so happy.

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

Belly Dancing

NO. 1

The art of belly dancing is a Middle Eastern practice that has, over time, gravitated towards Western white American women. The way American women dance is this is a ‘glamorization’, and more focused on the power of reception, rather than cultivating it and respecting the practice. Originally, belly dancing is based on ancient folk and social dances in North African and Middle Eastern countries, particularly Egypt and Turkey. The dance is characterized by various hip, torso, shoulder, and chest movements. ‘‘The images projected by Westerners in the performance of belly dance and other forms of oriental dance raise the thorny issue of orientalism. The vocabulary of the dance and its position within the framework of the West, especially the United States, as ‘other’ provides an ‘empty’ location, as in ‘not part of my culture’, for the construction of exotic new fantasy identities. At the same time, as a repository of media stereotypes and thus Western fantasies of women, it also provides physical images via the femme fatale which the (generally female) dance emulates in order to play an assertive sexual role in a male-dominated Western society.’’

NO. 2

Of course, here in the West, its meaning has changed, especially in America when gained popularity over 100 years ago when ‘dancing girls’ from different countries showcased in Chicago’s World Fair. ‘‘Because of the movements of body parts, such as the stomach, that were expected to be tightly constrained during the Victorian era, controversy surrounded these performers, and belly dance became associated with burlesque, stripping and prostitution. Despite perceptions of belly dancing being associated with sex work, the dance has a variety of meanings for participants, like spiritual, communal, and feminine qualities. For most dancers in the United States, the dance is a form of leisure. Leisure is a voluntary activity that people pursue with a positive state of mind during their free time. For many dancers, belly dance is an enjoyable form of recreation, rather than a primary source of income. Women in most large and mid-size cities around the country take belly dance classes at studios, gyms, and recreation centers.’’

NO. 3

Belly dancing is a key icon of the Middle East and is a site for performing and interpreting. It is appealing because it expresses ‘imperial feelings’, or the complexity of psychological and political belonging to an empire that is often unspoken, sometimes subconscious, but always present, the ‘habits of heart and mind’ that infuse and accompany structures of difference and domination. We can call on U.S imperialism as an example, as it rests as a multicultural nationalism. Belly dancing has become a ‘‘site for staging a New Age feminism and liberal Orientalist perspective on Arab and Muslim women, illustrating what Edward Said called, ‘new-Orientalism’ of the present moment. Orientalism continues to be a deeply appealing, binary frame for imagining the ‘West’ in opposition to the ‘Orient’, or to the East—a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient’, through the production of an ‘idea that has a history and tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary that has given it a reality and presence in and for the West.’’

I like Mulan better

Secrecy in anthropology

  NO. 1

 Anthropology is the scientific study of human beings, and social anthropology is the study of behavior in certain societies. Studying patterns of behavior means studying how humans think, react, and evolve in society, but that also means understanding human secrecy through ethnographic research. But what is secrecy? In the ethnographic record, initiatory secrets often stand for the quiddity of culture, and the revelation of concealed realities is an organizing trope in much ethnographic writing.

NO. 2

   ‘’Intellectual historiography shows that the concept of secrecy has carried overwhelmingly negative, antisocial, and primitive connotations in learned Western discourses since the Enlightenment and that early anthropological research often supported such an implicitly social evolutionist stance. Secrecy and risk are closely connected. Secrecy engenders risk insofar as concealment entails the possibility of unwelcome revelation; non-circulation also creates a risk of its own, such as the breakdown of social relations or cultural reproduction. However, risk can also, gender secrecy as a strategy to manage perilous social relations. In practice, the casual relationship between secrecy and risk can be difficult to disentangle because the subjective experience of risk and the urgency of secrecy are constitutive--in both ritual secrecy and strategic secrets of state.’’

NO. 3

Secrecy excludes outsiders, but the power it attracts lies in the possibility it may be disclosed and revealed to those same outsiders. ‘’This contradictory centrifugal and centripetal forces push and pull on secrets. Possessing secrets can make people intensely aware of the fragility of knowledge and the precariousness of their custodial position. Revelatory and initiatory practices within secretive practice activities are often carefully calibrated to induce a sense of risk. It is paradoxical also because it ‘must be performed in a public fashion in order to be understood to exist.’ The revelation of concealment is a way of socially mobilizing the secret as a form of sociocultural capital without dispersing restricted knowledge.’’ Basically, secrecy is a personal form of belonging, of being included in the intimate affairs of family, friends, or just knowing about something that you didn’t previously. 

if you're black, reblog this

if you're black, reblog this

if you’re black, reblog this

if you’re black, reblog this

if you’re black, reblog this

if you’re black, reblog this

if you’re black, reblog this

Krampus, the legend!

During the Christmas season, every young boy and girl awaits their presents and gifts with eagerness, hoping for Santa to make their way to their homes. The saying, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout is the official song for Santa Claus as he is checking his list for all the good boys and girls. But for those who are naughty children, the invention of the famed horned goat Krampus who works together with St. Nick.

NO. 2

Created in Eastern European folklore, Krampus, meaning ‘claw’, is depicted as a horned, half-demon like monster who terrorizes naughty children, hitting them and beating them with whips, other versions having him with chains, sometimes shaking them to scare the children, equipped with a sack or a basket strapped to his back, to cart off the children chosen to be either eaten or dragged to Hell. He even has a holiday dedicated just to him, celebrated in Germany and now, because of the film, in America as well, called Krampusnacht, or Krampus Night, on December 6. In this long and very funny tradition, spectators dressed up as Krampus appears in the streets, visiting homes and business, along with his devilish accomplices, evil elves and imps, the total anthesis of Santa Claus, who help Krampus scare people and onlookers in the streets.

NO. 3

Because of the resurgence of the celebration of Krampus in the late 19th century, including popular greeting cards with his image and funny rhymes and poems, not to mention the many horror movies or TV shows in North America, gaining traction and popularity every time Christmas comes around. Or maybe it’s because of the intense, heavy commercialization around Christmas time, meant for family and friends. So, here’s the question, do you celebrate Krampus, or Christmas as a whole, or do you think he’s just a myth better left to the children?

I pray in 2023 I am more organized, focused, driven, motivated, smarter, wealthier, and healthier. Do more things that feel fulfilling on a soul level. Alchemize every negative emotion and experience and trust it works out in my highest good. I romanticize life because the beauty we see in everything is a reflection of the beauty we see in ourself. 🍀

I love Fiona because she's just that good at being the top dog #Fiona's the best