Originally published in at Red Rising Magazine, July 2016. Their website relaunch is coming soon, to continue showcasing indigenous writing from indigenous writers. “Sure, our music has native characteristics sometimes, but we (as natives) don’t just play powwow drums and flutes, war songs. We show natives can do more than smoke a peace pipe. We’re […]
Category: Native American
The #BorderPersonalityDisorder Connection & Extreme #NativeAmerican Hobbyism
In the years of my observation and research on Indian hobbyists, whether personally or professionally, there are significant similarities between many of the most extreme in Germany, including their age group. Most often those born 1940-1970 or so, but can include others. As any social scientist can attest, those terrible events of Nazi Germany and WWII also had an effect on German society.
One was a need for escapism, conscious or unconscious, to a lesser or greater degree, and the avid interest and appropriation of other cultures, while still “being German” in their methods and mentalities. This is neither good nor bad, in and of itself. It is simply an after effect, but it does contribute to the sub-culture of Indian hobbyism and non-native “native” spiritualists.
Healthier personality types who more often came from homes with little or no abusive behaviors parentally or environmentally and who had positive reinforcement, may also have natural interest in other cultures but without attempting to “lose themselves” within them. Comparatively, those who grew up receiving frequent personal criticisms, for example, especially with added other stresses or abuses can develop a variety of psychological issues, one of which is borderline personality disorder.
Though having a name and description of the mental issue, behavioral traits aren’t always recognized, so the disorder (like others) can go undiagnosed or be “hidden” by the individual as long as their desires are satisified. When their desires and expectations are not? Behavior can quickly become emotive, extreme and shocking even to those closest to them. It is also frequently directed at those closest to them or those they feel closest to, whether or not having a relationship and/or connection to them (i.e. someone they perceive as a threat to their happiness, such as someone via Internet). In the particular case of hobbyists, native enthusiasts or “pseudo-Indians”, it is when the desire for validation, recognition or acceptance as their chosen culture is thwarted or challenged. Continue reading “The #BorderPersonalityDisorder Connection & Extreme #NativeAmerican Hobbyism”
“Forget Winnetou!” Our #Documentary on #NativeAmericans in Germany, Stereotypes & Reeducating the Resistant
“Whether from novels, non-native historians and so-called native experts, US systematic, institutional racism and white privilege caused the spread of misinformation and misinterpretation of natives around the world. In the US, native stereotypes and Eurocentric perspectives at times nearly subsumed real natives and their reality. From kindergarten to post-doctoral university, misinformation and skewed history has […]
The #Psychopath’s Logic of #NativeAmerican Erasure & the Need for #Decolonization
Yesterday I was browsing through a literary portal, casually perusing magazines and journals open for submissions, some of which I pass along if they sound interesting or unique. I came across Reed Magazine, which proudly bills itself as the oldest such “west of the Mississippi”. After I read more about their “history”, the inevitable appeared, although I’d been hoping it wouldn’t. This all reminded me of a meme that’s been heavily circulated the past week, and what Decolonization movements are about:
Mr. Reed, a survivor of the Donner party, had “made a Gold Rush fortune”, a key reason hundreds of thousands of Native Americans were slaughtered in California other areas of the west, but it was particularly vicious and systematic in Cali. He later “donated” land to the city of San Jose, a comment made with especial pride and though factual, ignored pertinent additional facts that any land “owned” (then and now) was stolen, and during that era the slaughter of indigenous peoples was still actively on-going. Genocide due to the greater presence of gold and prime land craved by Europeans and new Americans at any cost. This is just another way natives are erased from “American” history under the guise of Anglo accomplishments.
My Poem in Red Rising Magazine Issue #3: Land & Water-Coming Mid-May!
Red Rising is a nonprofit Indigenous magazine from Winnipeg, MB. “Issue #3 “Land and Water” coming May 13th features new pieces from Christi Belcourt, Red Haircrow, Tabitha Martens & more.” “Red Rising Magazine will have a launch party featuring Winona LaDuke at the Circle of Life Thunderbird House at 715 Main Street from 6:00 to […]
Red Haircrow 
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