Do you have a question or general inquiry about skepticism or science? Or,
If you are a skeptic...
Do you as a minority encounter racism or prejudice in the community that you live in? Do you have a story of how your cultural background played a vital role or stood as an obstacle in front of your journey to skepticism? If so, what were some of hardships that you faced amongst your peers, family, or the community? To my fellow female skeptics, since there seems to be so few women in the skeptical movement, I would also like to hear from your perspectives as well. I would also accept the concept that as skeptics, we are in some sense a minority when compared to the rest of society. As skeptics, we all face the prejudices of non-skeptics. So, please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences of navigating through any of these themes.
Native Skeptic
Apache Crown Dancers 1887: http://www.firstpeople.us/photographs2/Apache-Spirit-Dancers-1887.html
Hello from New England! I had a conversation today with some friends on Twitter, who called me out for my use of the phrase "spirit animal." They described it as appropriative, which I agree with, after having it pointed out to me. (Thanks, gang!) This led to a larger conversation about whether (let alone how) it is justified for non-native atheists/skeptics to criticize the supernatural beliefs of native peoples, in the same way that they might claim to feel justified in criticizing the supernatural beliefs of, say, conservative US voters of European descent. That seems to me to be a larger conversation, about the question of "staying in one's lane", and how to recognize the boundaries of one's "lane", and what, if any, the social justification is for expressing one's skepticism, or ACTING on one's skepticism or even anti-theism, outside of one's community.
ReplyDeleteA great suggestion was to seek out a native atheist / skeptic, and ask for their guidance on the matter. That sounded smart to me, so I did some googling and came across your blog. Would you ever be interested in participating in a conversation about these issues? A related issue that I came across while searching for a possible conversation partner, is the relative scarcity or invisibility OF native atheists. That's perhaps related to the general lack of minority representation in US secularism, though perhaps there are issues specific to native/nonnative relations and privilege that account for that.
There are a lot of issues here that exist outside my area of thinking and social experience, so I'd be grateful to hear from you. In the meantime, I hope you're doing well, and that you're as safe as can be given the COVID-19 crisis...
So, funny I missed this comment...but that term, "spirit animal", is like a trope from boy scouts. One that's not a part of any indigenous cultures that I know. Everything has a spirit in my culture.
Delete