#indigineity

[secular-jew]

[xlelife]

Chiara Baldini is currently running a gorgeous, image-saturated course for ADVAYA.LIFE on Dionysus: Rave, Ritual and Revolution.

She delves into the mythological, historical and anthropological dimensions of the Dionysian cult, a cultural lineage that accompanied Western history since primordial times. One that defines our identity in deep resonance with other non-Western cultures and can support us in rediscovering meaningful aspects of European and, more specifically, Mediterranean indigeneity.

This is part of her PhD work at the California Institute for Integral Studies and a longtime fascination of hers.

XLE.LIFE's Kai Altmann is enrolled and enthralled in the course as a guest.

ADVAYA.LIFE offers regular free webinars, paid courses and meetup events, with a primary hub in London. Focusing on ideas around spirituality, culture, history and theory, they present comparative lectures and exploratory discussions on pressing de-colonial and holistic issues, featuring some of the world's leading thinkers on the topics. Vandana Shiva and Timothy Morton have been recent presenters!

(Bursaries are available for the courses, apply at their site.)

[sanguinarysanguinity]

This is a central pillar of the Western liberal myth of a level playing field: recognizing Indigenous peoples have legitimate grievances stemming from awful things that were done in the past, but [believing that] the advent of modern democracy means we are now all equals and we have an obligation to behave as such.

Chelsea Vowell, Indigenous Writes

[sapphia]

So for anyone who doesn’t keep up with nz politics, which i’m assuming is most of you, our new radical right government have decided one of their main aims of their term will be to re-interpret the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Treaty is an agreement between Maori and the Crown, now the NZ government. It is the founding document of new zealand and is recognised as a constitutional document today; it is the only treaty of its kind/time still honoured, and it is the steps we’ve taken through the Treaty to provide restitution and build an ongoing relationship with Maori and their iwi (tribes) that has allowed the relationship between Maori and the government to thrive where other indigenous groups have struggled to achieve recognition of their rights.

This is going to be entirely undone. Not only is this issue inflammatory and a threat to race relations in Aotearoa, leaked documents show the proposed “reinterpretation” wants to negate pretty much the entirety of the legal rights provided to Maori under the treaty. For example, the treaty article that guarantees land rights for Maori will be reinterpreted to guarantee land rights for “all New Zealanders”. Which means this article would be essentially meaningless for Maori.

By removing Maori from the context they are trying to put Maori on an “equal footing” with all New Zealanders; they are riding the idea that Maori have special rights and privileges above that of the average New Zealander. Obviously this is bullshit but it’s effective rhetoric and there’s a grain of truth to in that the extent of Maori rights hadn’t been clearly defined due to the ongoing nature of the process. So this has got a lot of people with a poor grasp of the issues very upset and baying for change.

There is a hui (meeting) being held today for all the iwi to begin discussions of how Maori will respond to this. New Zealand politics isn’t very interesting usually, but our progress on indigenous rights, until now, has been absolutely ahead of the field. If you care about indigenous rights globally, you should care about this, because in the same way Australia’s referendum loss has spurred on this action, the loss of rights here will spur other right wing governments to be similarly bold to their own indigenous groups.

Indigenous rights in New Zealand are under attack. They are meeting today to discuss it, and New Zealand will be listening, but I want the world to be listening. Because our government needs the shame of being called out by more than just the people who they’ve already decided don’t vote for them.

Maori have a long and proud history of fighting for their rights, and they’ll do it again here. And I’ll be on the pickets beside them, but there’ll be plenty of my own pickets to attend, because this government is radical in every sense of the word.

So please, even if you’re very far away, stand behind them in this. Keep your eyes on us. Amplify their voices. Don’t let the racism drown them out.

[artfilmfan]

Chase Iron Eyes & Tokata Iron Eyes in Oyate (2022)

[gothgleek]

Michelle Dee, Miss Phillipines 2023, wore a dress as a tribute to the last and oldest living Kalinga (Indigenous Filipinos) tattoo artist, Apo Whang Od and her work

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

So my post on Oklahoma making it legal to take indigenous children from their parents without tribal consent is blowing up, and I'm glad people are horrified. But what I need people to know is that this might happen on a national level.

The Supreme Court is debating overturning the Indian Child Welfare Act.

What this act does is give Native American and Alaska Native tribes and nations control over the foster and adoption placement of their children. To overturn it would be to say tribes and nations aren't sovereign, and it would also allow the U.S. government to forcibly assimilate indigenous children into other cultures.

Please:

Spread the word about what is happening.

Read online news articles about this; the more traffic on those articles, the more likely the press is to write more articles.

If there are protests in your area, join them.

If there are indigenous nations or tribes in your area, ask them how you can help.

Donate to indigenous rights organizations like Native American Rights Fund.

Write to your representatives.

If ICWA falls, keep all of the above up. Don't just shrug and think it's over.

[reasonsforhope]

"In an open-air courtroom set up in a nature reserve in Western NSW, a four-nation clan has secured one of the largest native title claims in the region's history. 

Far from the four walls and formalities of a federal courtroom, Justice Melissa Perry delivered her determination at Newey Reserve in Cobar on Wednesday, recognising the native title rights of the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan and Wayilwan peoples.

The decision marks the successful end of a 12-year legal battle that began in 2012.

The claim covers more than 95,000 square kilometres of land and water from the Barwon River in the north, to the Lachlan River in the south, the Castlereagh River in the east and Ivanhoe to the west. 

It recognises native title rights including the right to hunt, fish and gather resources, the right to access and camp on land and right to protect places of cultural and spiritual importance.

A legacy for future custodians 

Aunty Elaine Ohlsen, a Ngiyampaa Elder from Cobar and one of the original applicants, said the decision brought her "mixed emotions".

"I just persevered," she said.

"We've been through a lot of trials and tribulations to get here, but I'm someone who won't give up fighting for our people."

"These sorts of things need to happen all the time, because we need to know who we are and where we come from and where we are in this country."

Aunty Elaine hopes the determination will inspire future generations to continue their ancestors' legacy.

"Hopefully, this will encourage them to stay connected to their country, heritage, and culture, and to carry on the hard work we've done," she said.

Vision for the future

Wangaaypuwan man and claim applicant John Shipp recently camped on country with four generations of his family.

He said the recognition of native title meant they could continue to do so without fear of being moved on.

"It's just those little things that give us our connection back to our land, our heritage, our culture," he said.

The native title holders have now formed the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan Wayilwan Aboriginal Corporation (NNWW Corporation) to manage their rights.

As a director of the NNWW Corporation, Mr Shipp sees the determination as the beginning of a new chapter...

As for Mr Shipp's message to other Indigenous groups fighting for recognition?

"Keep going — it's getting better, it's getting shorter, it's happening, just keep going," he said."

-via ABC News Australia, August 14, 2024

[sayruq]

[neogenic-artum]

why am i the patterns minority. i am truly so so so bad at drawing patterns sorry

[entheognosis]

[mindblowingscience]

We often hear that Aboriginal peoples have been in Australia for 65,000 years, "the oldest living cultures in the world." But what does this mean, given all living peoples on Earth have an ancestry that goes back into the mists of time? Our new discoveries, published July 1 in the scientific journal Nature Human Behaviour, shed new light on this question. Under the guidance of GunaiKurnai Elders, archaeologists from the GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation and Monash University excavated at Cloggs Cave near Buchan, in the foothills of the high country near the Snowy River in East Gippsland, Victoria.

Continue Reading.

[mypilot-fr]

Preface: I am native.

I've seen posts asking for the connections to native mythology to be changed, to be erased. I saw one saying coatls should have their name changed because of its connection to quetzalcoatl. I think the belief that staff can't pull from indigenous mythology is unfair both to staff and to natives, when fantasy itself as a genre exists almost entirely based off of cultural mythologies. Dragons themselves are mythology. Yetis are mythology. Quetzalcoatl is mythology. There's wisps, there's dryads, there's kelpie. A game about dragons is going to have connections to mythology around the world, it is the nature of fantasy.

I love how much the FR community supports one another, but please don't ask native mythology to be removed. We exist and our mythology is the same as any other, and I think it's lovely when it gets explored and inspires creativity. Ask for it to be done tastefully, yes! But don't ask for it to be removed entirely, please.

[thatspectacularpigeon]

Listen up please

This is incredibly important.

The united States government has been trying to remove the protections of native children mainly via possibly overturning the ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act)

This will allow white families to continue to take native children from their lands their family and their culture just like they did for centuries before the ICWA was passed.

This is both incredibly important and incredibly personal as my family was permanently harmed because of children being taken away from their families.

So please spread awareness about this and I have a link below that you can go to the first Nations website learn more about this and and write a response that they can use about how we should be saving the ICWA

[brucelinas]

Eddard Stark

[ssavaart]

Day 14 of my Hair Journal was painting during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI).

I reached out to Professor Wayne Quilliam who specialized in photography of Aboriginal people (who works with the Aboriginal people and gets permission to photograph them) and he gave me permission to reference his photography for my portrait.

https://aboriginal.photography/

For the background, I referenced the traditional Aboriginal Dot Painting.

I always find it so interesting to paint people from all over the world. Though I bet traveling and doing it in person would be far more interesting than from my little Hobbit Hole.

Still... I really enjoyed it.