This blog is dedicated to the representation of Indigenous people in Fantasy and Fiction. We will post advice on representing Indigenous people, showing content made by Indigenous people and content of Indigenous people. We also try to combat anti Indigenous racism in media and fandom. Submissions and asks are encouraged.
Skábma is an adventure game inspired by the old beliefs and folktales of indigenous Sámi people. You play as Áilu, a young reindeer herder, who goes on a journey to find the source of a mysterious disease spreading across the land.
The game is developed by Red Stage Entertainment, a small indie studio in Finland. It’s the first major game developed by a Sámi-led team, the first to be produced in the North Sámi language, and the first to be firmly rooted in Sámi folklore and tradition.
I just cleared my askbox cus it was like 500+ so if I hadn't gotten to ur ask then you might have resend it because I probably didnt see it. This includes my art blog and IndigenousFantasy.
some of you are not ready for this discussion but. the fact that the animal/anthro/beast races in most fantasy settings are almost always coded as poc is. kinda racist. and its particularly egregious when the coding attributes aspects of black and brown ppl to said beast races, like we dont already have enough of a history of being exoticized, dehumanized, and compared to animals by whites. im tired of seeing white ppl make bank on this like coding a race of creature-people as black or brown is such a kool new unthought of idea. man i just want white ppl to stop giving beast races black traits and hairstyles, acknowledge thats fundamentally racist and maybe try taking another approach with their own wordbuilding and stuff. idk what to tell yall expect that you should be able to create settings in which beast races arent blatant and dehumanizing references to poc, and dont have to encompass racist caricatures and stereotypes that exist in the real world.
i think, in many instances, white creators sometimes do this in a misguided attempt to make it “different’ or w/e…as if believe that making races with specific cultural coding and references from poc and nonwhite cultures into creatures instead of actual humanoids somehow subtracts from that fact? like “look these arent actually black or brown people theyre cats/lizard/etc people!” when really, even if it may not be the intent, due to the fact that black and brown traits are being heavily ascribed to said beast races in the lore and wordbuilding, what you get is just another instance of white people dehumanizing and misrepresenting peoples and cultures that they do not fully understand. intent doesnt necessarily justify or excuse results.
ykw. if it were just like. one or a rare few instances of this happening. i wouldnt really be speaking on this? but its a fairly consistent issue across the board. when there are beast races in fantasy settings, theyre almost always accompanied by lore containing copious and blatant references to cultures of colour. i understand that its an uncomfortable truth that many ppl have avoided discussing, but if youre a white creator and you feel uncomfortable or called out for this, then just think of how black, brown, and/or indigenous ppl feel when we see our cultures referenced blatantly in fantasy, reduced to creatures and/or problematic caricatures, time and time again.
if your fantasy wordbuilding cannot exist without dehumanizing black/brown/indigenous people (and while this happens with a myriad of different people and cultures. im merely speaking for my own here), then perhaps sit down and ask yourself why that is.
the khajiit in elder scrolls are coded as a bunch of things, including romani, and the khajiit are often regarded as unscrupulous, being homeless/migrant, thieves, and drug addicts, etc. – stereotypes present in anti-romani racism.
the dunmer literally use islamic art and imagery from MENA/SWANA cultures, as well as east asian, and they land theyre from is called the barbaric and alien east.” ive literally heard ppl say shit like this about the region im from. its not a fucking coincidence or a “reach” to see those statements paired with a race of ppl who deadass use words borrowed from akkadian, utilize Islamic imagery in their architecture, their culture, and even religious phrases adapted from muslim sayings.
the bosmer are coded as a lot of things, including indigenous, and theyre often reduced to being feral and animal-like. which. is a sentiment present in a lot of anti-indigenous racism.
the qunari in dragon age are also coded as black and brown MENA/SWANA ppl, and theyre also depicted with the orientalist stereotype of “evil barbaric easterners.”
the haradrim in tolkien’s work are literally described as black and brown people who come from a desert; theyre literally said to be evil, “lesser” dark-skinned people who are regularly put in contrast to the “good” men of the west, who are more often than not described to look like white people with fair skin and light hair. funny how that works.
and i could go on forever. there are many, many more examples of this in different fandoms/settings, and i’d encourage other people of colour to add on with examples i’ve missed.
while i will grant you that some cases are obviously not as egregious as others, and that obviously not all fantasy writers are like. rabidly antiblack or likely to physically attack poc in the street or w/e, the replication and misrepresentation of nonwhite cultures in fantasy settings that render them as animal-people paired with racist stereotypes that just get regurgitated in their lore is shitty and needs to be addressed.
also, if there were more animal/anthro people in fantasy who were culturally and racially coded after white folks? itd be slightly less of an issue, although im personally not going to dismiss white writers making obvious antiblack references in their work. i gotta wonder why people want to see and defend racist caricatures in their media so bad.
Would a Mexican American and Yaqui character living in California be more likely refer to his grandmother as “grandma”/“grandmother,” “abuela”/“aubuelita” or with a Yaqui word?
It depends on their connection with their culture and how they grew up or are connecting
There's a few words in Yo'eme that you can refer to your grandma as
But if they grew up in Mexican culture, it would be the Spanish word.
There is a Yaqui band in California, but i don't believe it's a reservation like in Arizona. And it also depends on how close to the Border, bc theres the Rio Yaqui in Sonora whom are where we are originally from so if they lived near there they might visit family members that would most likely speak both Spanish and Yaqui (and maybe some English)
So basically it depends on how connected they are, how connected is their grandma, where they live, how much exposure to the Yaqui culture/ language and Spanish
If they grew up with both Mexican and Yaqui Culture speaking Yaqui and Spanish, if they grew up in Cali surrounded by people who speak Spanish and English they might use all 3 depending on the situation.
Maybe they speak yoem noki at home, and with English speaking friends or situations they use grandma and with Spanish speaking friends or situations they say abuel(a)ita.
Or if their grandma only speaks yoem noki then it would be Haaka/Haka (if he's a man)
If she only speaks Spanish it'd be abuela
etc
There's quiet a few factors and you can have fun figuring out your characters situation!
Here's a video with familial names:
unfortunately it looks like he deleted his past videos? someone please let me know if you can find all the ones where he uses a white board bc maybe im not looking in the right place.
But yeah. Think of how he grew up, what language and culture his grandma grew up in if he is getting to know his grandma or if he's known her all her life
I call my Yaqui grandma "Grandma", because I grew up with English in a white house hold, and she speaks English and I didn't grow up with her. I live in Washington
My Dad (her son) is also Yaqui but didn't grow up in the culture and lives in Cali. He speaks English
My Yaqui cousin lives in Cali and he speaks English, more connected to being Yaqui but idk how much he grew up with. But from what I know he grew up with English so he speaks English
There are programs for language revival because kids (which I'm sure a lot of tribes have this problem) either aren't interested in learning Yoeme, or dont even have anyone to teach them
Members on the Pascua Yaqui res speak Spanish more fluently than the Yaqui language. Those in Sonora speak Spanish and Yaqui fluently
My first thought would be English, then Spanish, then Yaqui.
In Cali the most spoken language is English, followed by Spanish. So at most I'd say English in English speaking situations, Spanish in Spanish speaking situations, and a mix between the two if they are fluent in both English and Spanish
So yeah again there's a lot of factors even ones I havnt gone into. But hopefully this was helpful enough
Would a Mexican American and Yaqui character living in California be more likely refer to his grandmother as “grandma”/“grandmother,” “abuela”/“aubuelita” or with a Yaqui word?
I’m not Yaqui or Indigenous Mexican but I’m sure all three ways would be fine tbh. But if not then lemme know in the comments.
“Nine companions. So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring.“
Anonymous asked:
hi! feel free to ignore or tell me to go away, but what are your recs when researching for writing indigenous characters?
i know a lot of the stuff online is racist/full of stereotypes and such, and as a white person, i want to make sure i get my information from accurate sources :)
thanks!
There aren’t that many resources for proper Native representation, you could follow on Native bloggers and see what we say and talk about how we want to see ourselves represented. A couple good blogs are
They often also talk about Native representation in media so their good resources. I haven’t posted a lot lately on this blog but I also have some resources here.
“It is long since we had any hope. My father is a noble man, but
his rule is failing. And now our people lose faith. He looks to me to
make things right and I would do it. I would see the glory of Gondor
restored.”
I finally have like a week off work so I can answer a bunch of asks and messages because I've really been procrastinating cus works been so stressful and time consuming so I'm also very sorry if it feels like I ignored you I promise I'll get to you. This goes for indigenousfantasy too, especially.
