Blog 3

Blog 3

Indigenous People

One of the video clips presented in the lectures during this course that really stood out to me was, “I’m not the Indian you had in mind” and it’s a video clip that poses to make a statement and an attempt to break hegemony and racial stereotypes. It is about self-empowerment. The actors, in business suits, jeans, and typical urban attire are juxtaposed against the tradition clothing of a native. Through the use of stock footage, language, and common artifacts like a cigar store Indian, the viewer is encouraged to examine the profound role that these one dimensional media representations have played in shaping peoples perspectives of an entire group of people.

HOWEVER: I just personally feel like indigenous people can never be happy either way. Indigenous people want other races or particular ‘White” people to be aware of their ways, their culture. They want them to understand it so it is not taken out of context etc. So it is interesting to see how this video clip suggests there like ‘everyone else’ as in like White people? Adopting their culture, their ways, therefore does this mean the indigenous people are not in touch with the culture anymore? Therefore does this not mean there is hegemony, where the ruling class, ‘the white’ people are the dominate race in society and unconsciously emphasis there ways are right or normal?

I also find this video clip so ironic, it talks about how they are not what the media presents them to be which is fair enough but everything in the video clip is associated with ‘White’ cultural practices and the indigenous people unconsciously bypass their own culture. Like they are supposedly challenging the racial stereotypes but unconsciously reinforcing ‘White dominancy’. I suppose this is what colonisation does to you.

Also I feel as though even though White people do try to understand indigenous peoples culture it just backfires. For example Sue was discussing Māori TV and how 70% of the viewers are non-Māori people. Sue had mentioned this to another academic who suggested non-Māori people have the option to tune in and out of the culture as they please. I just think it is such a cynical way of looking at things. I feel as though nothing will be enough even if White people do try to understand any aspect of indigenous people it simply backfires. It is such a controversial topic that there will never be a yes or no answer for.

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