Maria and the rest of the list,
I deeply regret if my words or comments came off "racist" "patronizing" or "isolated". I re-read my writing multiple times before sending it, and just intended on making a general statement about the work I'm interested in exploring, without overwhelming the list. I am sorry if it failed.
I really appreciate hearing your thoughts and ideas about my research. I recently presented my paper at the Indigenous Peoples and Museum conference and had a few responses similar to yours, and a few positive responses on the opposite side of the spectrum.
This is all an exploration, and an ongoing experience. Your words, and the words of others similar, constantly remind me of my place and the interests of some community members. As a Wikipedian, I am devoted to many aspects of the community, including retention and encouraging new editors, and to know that I have stifled that by coming off as "racist" and "isolationist" goes against what I am fighting for.
While I am not here to post my resume, tell you what I do for a living outside of my work and schooling, share my experiences, and give a list of who my friends are and friends aren't - I assure you that my intentions are not meant to be purely selfish (all research is a bit selfish) and I never intended on judging entire communities on a whole. In regards to being "overlooked," I meant that in reference to Wikimedia Foundation being a United States based organization focusing more so on international efforts.
To be honest, your email was a slap in the face. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts, I take your letter very seriously.
-Sarah
On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 10:25 AM, Maria Alameda m-alameda51@hotmail.comwrote:
Hello all I usually don't comment on mailing lists but a colleague of mine referred me here. I wanted to comment on the issues related to Native-american research raised earlier by Ms. Stierch. I found her outlook completely isolated from the realities. I would rather attribute her naivety to her limited view of the world as a fresh graduate. Personally, it reminds me of a somewhat racist outlook common among predominantly white-american graduates and students. While I agree there is a need for more research related to Native american culture, I really can't agree with the implication that Native american culture is as overlooked as some unknown tribe in New Guinea. I should be thankful for her enthusiasm but this is ridiculous. I'm happy for her residency at National museum of American Indian(s) and her thesis or even efforts to change certain policies on Wikipedia, but none of that is connected with the much-larger cultural and race issues she's referring to. While I wish her the best, I would hope she not use her thesis as an excuse to comment on the realities of those cultural issues. Oral citation is just one small aspect of a much larger culture she learnt in school. I might be too sensitive here, but if her comments were to be applied to african-american culture in the United States coming from a female white-undergraduate student pursuing her masters, her comments on the plight and the issues of an entire race would seem rather patronizing. Perhaps, its just me. Maria AlamedaM.A, Ph.d (Native American studies)
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:26:16 +0530 From: whothith@gmail.com To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Oral Citations project: People are Knowledge
Hi Sarah
I just love the narcissism in this email. I really want to comment but I don't want to be called a troll again......maybe later.
Much love
Elizabeth
On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Sarah Stierch <sarah.stierch@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all -
I came across a lighter version of this conversation on another
Wikimedia
list, and felt the need to share my similar thoughts and statements
that I
made previously.
For the past year, I have been examining opportunities involving
Indigenous
communities of North America and opportunities to utilize Wikipedia and related websites as an affordable, unique and global form of cultural preservation. I have my undergraduate in Native American Studies, and I
am
obtaining my masters currently. My final paper (not quite a thesis) for graduation will be a strong examination of the opportunities related to Indigenous communities and opportunities/pros/cons related to
Wikipedia.
I'm actually presenting on my preliminary observations and concerns at Wikimania, you can learn a bit more here:
http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/Wikimedia_%26_Indigenous...
In the United States, as far as I am aware, I am the only person
thinking
about this on a higher level. While right now I am quite busy with
other
matters, come this Fall I will be diving head first into my research. I will be serving as Wikipedian in Residence at the National Museum of the American Indian, where I will be working with staff to examine these concerns.
One
of our biggest concerns lies with *oral history*. We have had countless conversations about the struggles with "no original research" however,
in
oral history based societies, we will have a very hard time moving
beyond
anything else. As stated previously, the majority of content created related to Indigenous communities in North America was often written by (and
still
is) Anglo anthropologists - some of that data is highly out of date and
is
still being utilized on Wikipedia as a source today.
I am not certain what higher level you are referring to but I assure you, you are not the only one thinking about this in the entire country or the continent.
This project, Oral Citations, follows closely with the type of work I
am
seeking to do. I have been planning to examine Wikipedia (English at
first)
research policies and consider proposals or changes in relation to
serious
research and Indigenous communities. Of course, it all comes down to funding, and Native people of North American are often the first
overlooked
group - it will take a lot of work, years of effort, and a lot of buy
in
that is needed to be gathered from inside the community itself.
I'm babbling right now, but, this is a very passionate topic for me. I
see
Wikipedia as providing an affordable and unique way for Indigenous communities to not only learn valuable skills - many of the communities here in America are among the poorest in the world, you'd think you were in
a
developing country, and kids barely receive beyond an elementary school education - but to have a broad arena to share stories (that the
community
chooses to share of course), beliefs, cosmologies, and traditions so
that
they are accessible and *vetted* for researchers and community members around the world.
I do hope that some of you are attending Wikimania, I'd like to be able
to
have a break out session of sorts or an unconference to discuss this
topic
further. I'm hoping in the next year to have an international
conference of
sorts that brings together Indigenous people, open source gurus, and Wiki-folks to examine opportunities, processes, and belief systems in regards to opportunities.
Feel free to email me directly, again, right now I am unable to move quickly in any major projects due to my already big work load, but, I'm hoping
that
this will be large part of my career work as an advocate for Native
rights,
a scholar, and an open source-lover.
-Sarah [[w:en:User:SarahStierch]]
On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 8:32 AM, CasteloBranco < michelcastelobranco@gmail.com> wrote:
And why does the people who speaks Malayalam, Hindi and Sepedi need
to
write in English in order to have those oral citations published? English is not as universal as some people think. I guess we need to find an answer in their own language, so the solution won't be
another
barrier. Also, the escope of this project is much more important for
the
projects on these languages, and for speakers of these languages,
rather
than the English Wikipedia or its readers.
But that's just me.
Castelo
Em 26/07/2011 16:16, whothis escreveu:
Looks like an excellent waste of effort.
Maybe the problem of publishing non-publishable oral sources
occurred
to
someone on the team. Anyway the english wikipedia seems to be the appropriate place for your original research. I can't wait to read
all
about
it.
I still think a research project in emesis in the global south or
something
would have suited english wikipedia better but that's just me.
Your fan
Elizabeth
On Sat, Jul 23, 2011 at 2:38 PM, Achal Prabhala<
aprabhala@gmail.com>
wrote:
Dear friends,
At the beginning of 2011, a group of us began working on a project
to
explore alternative methods of citation on Wikipedia. We were
motivated
by the lack of published resources in much of the
non-Anglo-European
world, and the very real difficulty of citing everyday aspects of
lived
reality in India and South Africa.
We are now at a stage where the project is almost complete, and
we'd
like to share our work with the broader movement, especially
within
India and South Africa.
There are three languages we worked within: Malayalam, Hindi and
Sepedi.
The project page documents the process and logistics employed, as
well
as the findings and results:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Oral_Citations
A film made on the project is available here:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:People-are-Knowledge.ogv?withJS=Media...
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:People-are-Knowledge.ogv or http://vimeo.com/26469276
There have been discussions on oral citations for some time now
within
the language communities we worked with for the duration of the
project.
At this stage, we are really interested in *your* feedback, either
on
this list, or on the Discussion section of the project page.
There are still some things to come, namely:
- Updates on events, meetings and discussions held around the
project
(as they happen)
- Updates on articles created in Malayalam, Hindi and Sepedi as a
result
of the project (as they happen)
- English transcripts of the interviews and a full English
subtitle
track
for further translation (we could use some help here).
We would be very grateful to hear your feedback, and begin a
broader
discussion.
Best wishes, Achal
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
-- GLAMWIKI Partnership Ambassador for the Wikimedia Foundationhttp://www.glamwiki.org Wikipedian-in-Residence, Archives of American Arthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch and Sarah Stierch Consulting
*Historical, cultural & artistic research & advising.*
http://www.sarahstierch.com/ _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
-- Oops, my karma ran over your dogma. _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l