The dangers of a single story

[submarine_bells]

Following on from the Racefail debates earlier this year, I've been reading a lot of really interesting articles on the topics of racism, cultural appropriation and privilege. It's a big and complicated issue, and there's a lot of really eye-opening material being written on these related topics. One issue that strikes a chord with me is the

Comments

[reverancepavane]

An impoprtant litmus test for me as to whether somebody is really worth listening to is how they refer to the source of their knowledge. For example, someone referring to Indians, Amerinds, or Native Americans is usually a total loss. Someone who uses the "White Man's Name" for a people is about middle road [most of the names given to the peoples were actually the names they were known by to their enemies* (natural enough, as explorers asked who were the people who lived across the river)]. Finally comes the people who refer to the various people by their own name. Them, I will definitely listen to.
Similarly I have African friends. Some are white Kenyans; others are Maasai (which is also a reason why I don't really have any good Mau-Mau friends). [I feel one of the blights left by African colonialism is the imposition of borders that cross ethnic boundaries – it makes the practice of racism much easier for the Africans (to the point of genocide in many cases).]
As for matters of Cultural Imperialism, well, it's a big problem that

[pir_anha]

*nod*nod*. i came across it first via deepad, and agree, it is very much worth listening to. makes me think a lot.

[erin_c_1978]

Thanks very much for posting about this!