Native Legacy magazine will be a quarterly publication that will feature the arts and culture of those who are native to the Great Plains.
Publisher Lila Mehlhaff says she wants to create a magazine that will give people a better understanding of Native America culture.
I'm guessing the magazine will include paintings and sculptures of Indians on horseback. Tipis, headdresses, and beaded buckskins. Ledger paintings and medicine pouches. Along with articles on the legacy of Custer, Sitting Bull, and Wounded Knee. Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. Efforts to restore the Black Hills and Badlands. And so forth.
Oh, well. At least it isn't another Redskin magazine. The publisher didn't deem it necessary to sell the magazine with a title such as "Savages." We can be thankful for that.
For more on the subject, see The Basic Indian Stereotypes.
10 comments:
Writerfella here --
Be thankful one time more in that Bruce Caesar (writerfella's Pawnee brother-in-law) and Adam Caesar (writerfella's nephew) have an opportunity to get their silversmithing more well-known by NATIVE LEGACY Magazine. Plains arts and crafts, and thus the artisans themselves, need such publicity if only to counter the 'knockoff' tide that they face from non-Native competition. Any constructive outlet for authentic Native arts should be applauded, not given 'faint praise'...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
The magazine's publisher, Publisher Lila Mehlhaff, is based in South Dakota. Of course it makes sense for her to do such a magazine about her area, rather than about an area she is not in. It seems odd to criticize a South Dakota publisher fo making a Native culture magazine about her own area.
You asked "But do Plains Indian arts and cultures really need more exposure?"
Why not? Plains Indians existed, and exist now.
Russ said "Any constructive outlet for authentic Native arts should be applauded, not given 'faint praise". I do certainly agree with him. I saw nothing in the desciption of "Native Legacy" to warrant what came across as mild derision from you, even to the point of implying that the magazine was part of the stereotype subject.
By the way, it should be emphasized that "Native Legacy Media was founded by Lila Mehlhaff, Hunkpapa Lakota, who was born and raised on the Standing Rock Reservation."
The original article offers all the praise Native Legacy needs at the moment. I didn't have to post it, but I did.
When I work on PECHANGA.net, I read 100+ Native articles a day. I can assure you they're not all equally interesting or informative. Some of them don't contribute anything new to the Native field.
Did I praise America Is Indian Country: The Best of Indian Country Today when it came out? No, I said, "America Is Indian Country is full of nuggets of brilliant analysis amid a gruel of pedestrian prose." Should I have been more positive about the no. 1 editorial outlet in Indian country?
Well, I wasn't. Almost no one gets a pass from me unless they earn it. Not Russell Means or Leonard Peltier, not The American statue or the National Museum of the American Indian, and not another arts and lifestyles magazine.
So no, I'm not going to call Native Legacy a valuable resource before it proves to be a valuable resource. If it gets good press the way Red Ink has gotten good press, I'll post the positive news. And I'll review it fairly if and when I see it.
P.S. I give plenty of praise to authentic Native arts such as movies, plays, and books, Russ. I don't recall you ever praising this blog as a "constructive outlet."
Writerfella here --
Stuff and nonsense. This blog IS a constructive outlet, despite its prevailing negative tone. writerfella long has known that getting 'mixed reviews' is valuable because it means that SOMETHING is being done right...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
My main point was that this magazine did not really deserve the "oh no, not another thing emphasizing the Plains Indians" tone when the magazine is located in the Plains, is only distributed to a few Plains states, and is published by a member of a Plains Indian nation.
Writerfella here --
To the point, dMarks! What does one expect a Plains magazine to feature? The weather?
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Re "This blog IS a constructive outlet": That's the first time you've said anything of the sort, Russ. Hence my comment to that effect.
My point is that we don't necessarily need another publication emphasizing the Plains Indians--even if the magazine is located in the Plains, is distributed only to a few Plains states, and is published by a member of a Plains Indian nation.
Rob, what could you possibly know about the publisher and what she's trying to accomplish? Oh yeh, you live in California so that makes you the expert. The emphasis of this magazine is to show the positives of the Plains Indian Tribes to the rest of the world. Let's take for example the Germans. They have "Lakota" clubs in Germany, dress in the regailia, and have powows. Why? because when they think of the "American Indian", they think of the Plains Indian. Sitting Bull, Cheif Crazy Horse, Chief Big Foot, etc. So when your sitting out in California and try to criticize someone who is trying to show her culture to the rest of world, you might want to back off and bite your tongue.....fingers in the is case!!
I don't need to know the publisher or what she's trying to accomplish to make the point I did. Namely, that Plains history and culture get more exposure than any other aspect of Indians.
Heck, I don't even need to live in South Dakota to make that point. It's self-evident no matter where I am.
Your point about Germans is also my point. Everyone in the world thinks about Plains Indians when they think about Indians. With this magazine, they're even more likely to believe all Indians fit this mold.
So you agree with me now? Because my position is that a magazine that reinforces Plains Indians stereotypes isn't necessarily a good thing. I don't know if this magazine will do that, but it has the potential to.
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