(no subject)

[elainegrey]

I am reading about appropriation of Native Culture, and i think i am beginning to get it, maybe. I do own Native American handicrafts: pottery, some wall hangings and small sculpture, and some jewelry. I think such collecting is not considered appropriation. (Appropriation: the act of taking something for one's own use, typically with out the owner's permission.)


These crafts are from a four continents: Asia, Africa, North and South America.


I got to this post about the Native star quilt pattern and a Baby Gap chevron pattern dress, and i had a bit of a problem.

I think that color gradients and parallelograms can transcend a single culture. The first quilt's eight pointed star and circular glyph look like Scandinavian patterns with which i'm familiar.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=3&q=Selburose&btnG=Search+images

Here's a Latvian echo in glass of the second quilt: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53795079@N00/2631698455/ (although, not, not entirely pieced of parallelograms).

Is the spiral pattern inside the first quilt a borrowing of the yin-yang symbol, opposites of cool and warm mixing together? Or when people work with abstract geometric designs...

I wrote more and deleted some of it and searched for more examples and -- then i came here to post it.

I know how i feel when i return to the Seagrove area of NC and find all these random potters, folks who are not part of the families who have been doing pottery in the area for hundreds of years, folks who are not using the native clay, folks who aren't building on the vernacular tradition. The privilege gap between the Cravens, Coles, and Owens and the New Yorkers on the passing through on the rail lines was not insignificant.

If i can take that feeling and try to stretch it to bridge a much greater gap, the gap between my majority white culture and native peoples -- well, i think it breaks, I don't know if i can do it.