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

[Sarah Stierch]

Maria Alameda is not a troll. She apologized to me in a very sincere manner
offlist. Culturally this is a very sensitive topic, and I have learned to
deal with the criticism, weariness and lack of trust that people have
towards the work I do based on my skin color and name. This is not the first
time I have experienced sentiments like that, and I take each one very
seriously. It's unfortunate, but, plenty of people have paved the way for
folks like Maria to have the response she did. :-/

The other two..I'm not so sure.

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 5:34 PM, M. Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundation-l mailing list
> > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>



-- 
GLAMWIKI Partnership Ambassador for the Wikimedia
Foundation<http://www.glamwiki.org>
Wikipedian-in-Residence, Archives of American
Art<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch>
and
Sarah Stierch Consulting
*Historical, cultural & artistic research & advising.*
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sarahstierch.com/