Canoes Reek of Genocide, Theft and White Privilege, Professor Claims

Give me a second, here...I'm still in shock and awe that this is not a story on The Onion.

But in any event, let's just cut to some quotes from the article HEATSTREET:

According to Misao Dean, Professor of English at the University of Victoria, the canoe can be a symbol of colonialism, imperialism and genocide due to history. She also accused the canoers of cultural appropriation because they are primarily white men and have a privileged place in society.

In a radio interview for CBC Radio, which wasn’t picked by the Internet until several months later, she claimed “we have a whole set of narratives that make the canoe into a kind of morally untouchable symbol, something that seems natural, that seems ordinary, and seems to promote values that we ascribe to.”

“But I think if you look a little further that narrative obscures or erases another narrative—and that narrative is about, to be blunt, it’s about theft and genocide”, the professor said.

“It’s not a coincidence that it was white men of a certain age … Certainly the majority of wilderness canoers are people who have a very privileged place in society. They’re frequently highly educated people. They’re almost completely white,” she said.

You are reading that correctly, folks! Here we have a university professor claiming that the canoe is a symbol of colonialism, equates to 'cultural appropriation,' and represents white privilege. And to top it all off, SHE'S BEING SERIOUS.

Okay, I posted this is the "Social Issues" forum because this politically correct asininity has not only gotten out of control, but has careened off of the highway, through a barrier, off of a cliff, exploded in mid-air, and ejected the driver (but who, luckily, survived because she landed in a canoe in the river below that was protected by the cushiness of white guilt).

When will this ridiculousness cease to exist? This woman--this human being--this professor of higher learning--truly believes that the act of rowing a canoe is all of the things that she stated (and probably more). I'm glad that the article notes that:

Naturally, people weren’t convinced by Dean’s argument. Frank Furedi, a well-known anti-PC professor at the University of Kent in Britain, called it “epidemic of idiocy” for thinking the canoe is cultural appropriation and evil.

An epedimic of idiocy indeed--and these are the people to whom we are sending or will send our children for "higher education." Give me a break.

I just...I just can't. Maybe this should have been a rant instead...

As normal, sane discussion cannot be held with these people who preach such madness, its best not to give them a platform.

Then just hope and pray that they dissipate into the feminist, leftist, snowflake, victim mentality hole in which they came.

They do give me a giggle mind

Some people just like putting there OAR in .
On a serious note , every time a see a canoe , it ain't white people who's in it .

Oh geez this culture appropriation nonsense again. I guess Black folk better strip naked because those levi jeans and t-shirts are not their culture. If they want to play fair they would get naked, shove a piece of tiger bone through their nose, maybe pack their mouth with mud. Then we can talk about culture appropriation.


My favorite comment from there I saw.

Well, I'm all for this. No more sombreros or moo goo guy pan for me. On the other hand, if you're not European or American, please give up electricity, radio, television, the internet, airplanes, motor vehicles, plumbing, antibiotics, anesthetics, and so on.

WOW!
When I think of the canoe, an over privileged white man, does not come to mind.

Especially considering the canoe was first introduced by the Carib Indian tribes.
Then the north american Indian tribes created the birch bark canoe, which is more recognisable as a canoe by todays terms. -

- Not the privileged white man.

Dang colonial white men. Paddling down our native rivers with their nose in the air.

This twit needs to give her head a shake. Wake up and smell the Folgers lady!

originally posted by: Denoli
Some people just like putting there OAR in .
On a serious note , every time a see a canoe , it ain't white people who's in it .

When I lived down south I saw lots of Black folk using canoes, with their big cane poles. Fishing is another thing you wont see many Blacks doing on the sporting outdoor channels, yet tons of them fish.

So is it OK for me to make pizza or ribs??

It's all so confusing.

If you care

MIke

a reply to: SlapMonkey This broad needed a Masters degree, bare minimum to come up with this tripe. I'm gonna guess she has at least a couple of PHDs after her name, however. You need an Ivy League type education to gather this kind of reasoning.

Every workplace has it's nuts.

White privilege - the privilege to be demonized and blamed for all ills of the world

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Apparently, it's part of a book.

Description:

If the canoe is a symbol of Canada, what kind of Canada does it symbolize? Inheriting a Canoe Paddle looks at how the canoe has come to symbolize love of Canada for non-aboriginal Canadians and provides a critique of this identification’s unintended consequences for First Nations. Written with an engaging, personal style, it is both a scholarly examination and a personal reflection, delving into representations of canoes and canoeing in museum displays, historical re-enactments, travel narratives, the history of wilderness expeditions, artwork, film, and popular literature. Misao Dean opens the book with the story of inheriting her father’s canoe paddle and goes on to explore the canoe paddle as a national symbol – integral to historical tales of exploration and trade, central to Pierre Trudeau’s patriotism, and unique to Canadians wanting to distance themselves from British and American national myths. Throughout, Inheriting a Canoe Paddle emphasizes the importance of self-consciously evaluating the meaning we give to canoes as objects and to canoeing as an activity. www.utppublishing.com...

And here's her on video. She seems very normal. www.youtube.com...

The way one views innatimate objects says more about them than the object themselves.

I just feel bad that she carries around so much guilt...it must get heavy.

Boot these useless waste of space "academics" out into the real world and use the money instead to fund some usefull things.

a reply to: Annee

And the notion is still just as ridiculous, even if it's part of a book or if she seems "normal" on video. It's the idea and her words with which I'm concerned, not where the words appear or what she looks/acts like when interviewed by her employers.

I have yet to experience this "white privilege" deal everyone keeps talking about these days, oh and only rode in a canoe once. maybe there's a connection here

she seems to have a point that the "REI" sorta outdoorsman is primarily white people who are financially affluent. Your odds of seeing anyone other than a middle class white guy in a "skin on wood frame" canoe, or hand-made wooden canoe is extremely low.
But on the other hand, Canoe's weren't just a native american thing. It doesn't take a whole lot of cultural evolution to learn how to hollow out a log and make it float, almost every seafaring culture in the world has made these sorts of boats including scandinavian (Hell, the oldest Canoe we have ever found is 10,000 years old and found in the netherlands Pesse Canoe)
Now, if they were specifically using wooden frame with cedar bark skin, that was an invention of Native americans that wasn't recreated elsewhere, so if it all of a sudden became a fad to use cedar bark-on-frame kayaks by all the affluent white people then I can see how it might be cultural appropriation, but otherwise canoes have always been a widely used form of aquatic transportation

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: Annee

And the notion is still just as ridiculous, even if it's part of a book or if she seems "normal" on video. It's the idea and her words with which I'm concerned, not where the words appear or what she looks/acts like when interviewed by her employers.

I haven't read the book.

Hard to tell out of context.

But, I'm not a supporter of cultural appropriation. Just something else to create division.

a reply to: Annee

So her calling the canoe a symbol of colonialism, imperialism and genocide is normal to you?

originally posted by: crazyewok
Boot these useless waste of space "academics" out into the real world and use the money instead to fund some usefull things.

Totally...

Like building more canoes and surf boards and pizza's...that kind of things.

Ok, now this sort of thing pisses me off, being NDN myself. My parents were born on Rez. Half of it is in the US and half of it is in Canada ( Siksika.. piegan blackfeet). Things like this offend me because it absolutely makes light of REAL cultural appropriation.. things like giving "indian names" in kindergarten ( teach em early), blacks pretending to be indians which I dealt with constantly in New Orleans. Feather "war bonnets" and all in parades... Absurd! Whites being 1/2342352534 indian and their grandma was an indian princess, etc etc etc. Then here comes this moron prattling on about canoes. Im quite sure my ancestors dont give one damn about whites in canoes for Gods sake. Its not like the whites are putting on the neon feathered war bonets and calling themselves "little crapping dog" while using the canoes.

You know what cultural appropriation also is Misao Dean.. you dumb bitch... its pretending you KNOW what is offensive or hurtful or damaging to REAL NDNs... then making money off of us and our family. THATS the glaring type of REAL white privilege you SJW types dont get. Mainly because youre stupidly privileged yourselves and stunted into some infantile type of thought process. When you have to have a stupid card to prove youre HUMAN to the federal government of the United States.. get back to me bitch, till them STFU and peddle your outrage elsewhere.

** unruffling panties**
/rant