[Foundation-l] Oral Citations project: People are Knowledge

[M. Williamson]

Nathan, I think that Raul Gutierrez, Maria Alameda and "Elizabeth" are all
the same person, somebody trolling the list. While we occasionally get
single-issue new posters starting topics, it's rare to see them pop up in
the middle of a topic just to attack one user. Something fishy is definitely
going on here.

2011/7/27 Nathan <nawrich at gmail.com>

> On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 10:25 AM, Maria Alameda <m-alameda51 at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > 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)
> >
>
> This seems like an over-reaction to me. It doesn't seem horribly
> unlikely that Sarah is, if not alone, then among a very small group of
> academics studying the intersection of Native Americans and Wikimedia
> projects.
>
> Were her descriptions of the challenges facing Native American
> communities inaccurate?
>
> Are you aware of outreach efforts by the WMF aimed at Native
> Americans? (There are certainly many aimed at many other groups around
> the world; the seeming absence of focus on Native Americans would
> support Sarah's statement that they are "overlooked" in this regard).
>
> Could you explain the specific errors she made that led you to call
> her e-mail racist, patronizing and naive? I think if you are going to
> use such strong words, then more substantial criticism is required
> than simply stating that she is female, young and white.
>
> Nathan
>
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