American Indian College Fund
collegefund.com
I…this…it….what?
This all comes off as mildly racist/offensive and I can’t 100% put my finger on why. It’s just…sterotypical weirdness and the ‘think Indian’ slogan is tricky. I dunno.
giving Amerindians a college fund is great and all, but these ideas aren’t inherently Amerindian, or are deliberately focused on nature/spiritualism hints and references for no good reason. As if they’re bringing something specific simply trhough their race and that is tehir defining quality.I dunno. it makes me uncomfortable but I find it difficult to explain why. all i can think of is if you turned it around to something like: ‘think black’. It’s emphasising differences rather than unity, and vauge stereotypical differences at that. I know they’re trying to be quirky and to appeal to a culture but….meh.
Anyways whatever.
College fund = yes. Mildly patronising or condescending posters = no.
That said 99% of collegue postsers are patronising, smug, condescendinga nd odd. so this fits the trend. lol
Er…well, I rather liked these images. Because they show that traditional knowledge and culture can mesh with modern issues in worthwhile ways. There are huge issues with Native people and higher education, where a lot of the time it feels like you have to give up your traditional worldviews and practices to accept Western ways. It comes from Native people and non-Natives: sometimes people are mocked for being an “apple” if they go to university, and in my experience at college non-Native people don’t see traditional Native ways to be “as good” as Western ways.
Because the fact is that Native people DO come from a different cultural background than non-Native students, and university is an environment where there’s enormous pressure to get rid of that background. These posters are saying “You don’t have to reject your experiences, or choose one or the other.”
I think the fact that it was made BY AND FOR Natives takes away any of the condescension for me. These are things that Native college students sometimes need to be told.
I reblogged this before, but I’m happy to see more info/discussion.
