Turkey Day Mini-Links Roundup

By On November 24, 2011 · 7 Comments

Thanks to the mighty Jessica Yee for pointing us toward that vid. While it’s always good to have a chance to catch up with the people in our lives, it’s important to remember that “Thanks-taking,” as Jessica once called it, is problematic for many reasons. But however you’re spending the weekend – celebrating or not – be safe, and we’ll have new content this coming Monday.

Oh, and while we’re here, thanks to our contributors, our co-conspirators and our readers, for sticking with us. In the meantime, a few links for you.

Documentary Shows Language Saved From Extinction

MARTIN: But, you know, isn’t this part of everyone’s history now, though? This is part of the foundational story of this country. I guess what I’m really curious about is, Troy Currence, I read that the Wampanoag classes are only open to Wampanoag. Is that still true? And why is that? I mean, one does not have to be Jewish to study Hebrew.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

CURRENCE: Right now, it is. It’s based on household, so you could be Wampanoag and you could have someone who’s not Wampanoag living in your household and it is open to the household. The idea behind that is we’re trying to get as many native speakers who are Wampanoag or are in a Wampanoag household speaking that language because some people don’t want to feel embarrassed, like, well, hey, this person knows my language and I don’t.

So I think, once we get a better grasp of that as Wampanoag people, then who knows what the future holds?

MARTIN: Well, I mean, really, I’m pressing the question because now – couldn’t one argue that that’s kind of racist?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

5 Ways to Face Race at the Thanksgiving Table—and Not Choke

When the rabid right-winger just can’t resist his racist rant, roll with it. You don’t have to take the bait. Talk on your own terms—when, how, and with whom you want. Not everything and everyone is worth your time.

For every close-minded racist, there are 10-times more people who’d rather be on the side of racial justice. They may not have a clue about what to do, but may be quite willing to entertain your constructive and productive suggestions. They’re the ones worth your time and energy.

That doesn’t mean letting racist remarks slide. You can call those out clearly and quickly. When your resident Tea Partier pours it on thick, take a deep breath. Don’t take it personally or defensively or you’ll only be an accomplice in this set-up for disaster. After another deep breath, make a thoughtful choice about how you can spend your energy initiating the kinds of conversations you want to have.

Turkish Women’s Magazine Searches for Intersection of Islam and Fashion

But don’t tag it as an Islamic Vogue. Âlâ Art Director Esra Sezis asserts that that the notion of Islamic fashion contradicts the Islamic idea of women modestly covering their bodies. “[The magazine] is only meant to be a helping guide for conservative women — where can they shop, what clothes can they combine,’” Sezis said in an August 20 interview with the Turkish daily Sabah. “[I]n short, there cannot be Islamic fashion; just details.”

In online social media forums, critics nonetheless claim that the glossy, high-end monthly tries to “westernize the idea of modest Islamic dress,” and tries to turn veiled women into the prototype of Vogue-reading, spend-thrift fashion victims; concepts contrary to Islamic ideals. The magazine features photos of both professional models and ordinary readers in Islamic garments.

“To try and squeeze modest Islamic dress into fashion patterns is as absurd as trying to squeeze Islam into a Western lifestyle”, writes journalist Aysegül Genç in the monthly Genç Magazine. “If this magazine, already contributing to ongoing degeneration, would like to minimalize the damage it will cause, it has to think as much about how to be a beautiful veiled girl as it has to find answers to the question of how to be a veiled girl with a personality.”

 
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  • Sarah

    Re: Intersection of Islam and Fashion; a total rejection of this is bizarre. There are a number of “hijabi fashion blogs” that feature young Muslim women who try and navigate through fashion and religion. A simple google search can show you that.

    I wish I had something more substantial to say, but I’m actually perplexed that there are people arguing that Muslim women can’t be fashionable and that modesty is being defined as someone who not only covers her body, but who shuns capitalist consumption and self-expression through clothing. I always knew that “hijab” was a term that meant much more than a headcover, and was actually a mode of being that applied to both men and women, but to my knowledge it’s never been defined as refusing to care about fashion (rather, it focuses on generosity of spirit, being humble etc. etc.) I would think that trying to dress in an Islamically compatible way would actually reinforce personal religion– forces you to be more conscientious about clothing choice and ensures that your religion ties into self-expression. 

    http://www.politiciansathogwarts.blogspot.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/galiotica Nejasna ちゃん

     You can still be modest when fashionable.  Muslim women around here can pass for any random woman that just happens to cover more. My grandmother wears both a scarf and dimije (“harem pants”), but other than some old village people nobody else does, except for folk dancers/performers.

  • Lyonside

    Saw this on Facebook, and thought it was an interesting bookend to the Kids Reenact Thanksgiving. The white dude’s lines are like a Bingo Card of hipster racism. And while I object a little to the idea that Native peoples never harmed the landscape or ecology (They did, because that’s what people do, they just had different technology and smaller populations, so the damage was less severe), among other issues (only showing North America? And not Central or South? Really?). But it is interesting…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z50ebdZNxiw&feature=player_embedded

  • Mickinickharp

    Undoubtedly, the choice is an attempt at multiculturalism, however historically inaccurate.  

  • dersk

    Well, the whole smallbox blanket thing was about 150 years after that first Thanksgiving, so I don’t think historicity was a particular goal of the video. 

  • Lyonside

    BUT the native tribes around the Plymouth Colony were wiped out by smallpox (brought by European traders and slavers – just because they didn’t have a permanent settlement didn’t mean they were never there) years before the Plymouth Colony got their contract. Which is how Squanto knew English – he’d been a Spanish and English slave, worked his way back, only to find his tribe and all the neighbors dead. After a few seasons of that, you’d be anxious to talk to anyone, even if they were more white people.

  • dersk

    Yep, the vast majority of the genocide was caused by disease. There’s a huge difference between giving someone smallpox and giving them smallpox-infested blankets, though. Obviously not if you’re the person who catches the disease, but there’s a huge ethical difference.

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