Humbling lesson while doing project prepwork today:
Sometimes the internet gives us *such* a misguided sense of access to full knowledge. I remember a time when the internet didn't have "everything"--and it still doesn't.
The novel I'm going to be... exorcising?... next week draws on a mostly oral culture *not* well recorded online, because its people rarely use this tech to archive their customs.
It's wild to realize how much we're missing. Our world contains more multitudes than we know.
YES. Exceptionally good point. 🙏
I'm always reminded of that when watching most anything filmed in Australia, where the cautionary note about potentially dead ancestors showing up on screen is an immediate check to the entitlement of many Western cultures.
First Nations communities also have complex responses to some of the work of authors published in Canadian presses for general consumption. Some enjoy representation; others take issue with what some authors choose to disclose.
@MLClark especially since some cultures protect their knowledge- taboo to release unless it is done in a ritual for a certain person etc.
We are not necessarily entitled to it