Dad saw me reading last night.
Jun. 18th, 2003 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynIt was my copy of People From The Sky: Ainu Tales From Northern Japan. He asked what the Ainu were.
"The people who were in Japan before the Japanese got there."
Mom looked up from making dinner. "Where did they come from?"
"Nobody knows for sure. They're a bit like some of the native peoples of Siberia. They've got pale skin, curly black hair, and rounder eyes than the Japanese."
Dad looked at the cover. "They look like Russians." The cover had a drawing of two Ainu/Japanese kids and their grandfather, who was holding a bear cub. Grandfather had a beard down to his waist and the traditional big head covering.
"Well, yeah, but they don't quite look like that in photos. The pictures I've seen that were taken around World War II look like they could be Sitting Bull's relatives, if they got a suntan."
Dad started flipping through the book, since I wasn't reading it at that point. Mom asked something else about them, I forget what; the answer involved the Japanese government's attempts to assimilate them over the years, and a mention of how Jean Auel lifted the Clan of the Cave Bear's sacred Bear Ceremony almost directly from the iyomante practice of the Ainu. Mom seemed interested by this, since she'd liked the first Earth's Children book - yanno, before they turned into softcore porn.
Dad looked up and handed me back to the book. "You know," he said, "this is what I meant the other day." He'd said he thought I'd be a good teacher for Native American kids, mostly in response to my happily burbling about teaching myself how to use double pointed knitting needles for a hat. "You have a deep respect for other cultures, and you'd be able to understand them. You're young. You should look into stuff like that."
I nodded and told him that I was going to look into government agencies that did that kind of work as possible sources of employment. It's true - I wouldn't object to working with First Nations groups, or working overseas with indigenous peoples - but I didn't quite have the heart to tell him that I was delving into things Ainu because I needed the background material for a roleplaying game.
Ph34r the Geeks, even when they come bearing anthropology textbooks.
"The people who were in Japan before the Japanese got there."
Mom looked up from making dinner. "Where did they come from?"
"Nobody knows for sure. They're a bit like some of the native peoples of Siberia. They've got pale skin, curly black hair, and rounder eyes than the Japanese."
Dad looked at the cover. "They look like Russians." The cover had a drawing of two Ainu/Japanese kids and their grandfather, who was holding a bear cub. Grandfather had a beard down to his waist and the traditional big head covering.
"Well, yeah, but they don't quite look like that in photos. The pictures I've seen that were taken around World War II look like they could be Sitting Bull's relatives, if they got a suntan."
Dad started flipping through the book, since I wasn't reading it at that point. Mom asked something else about them, I forget what; the answer involved the Japanese government's attempts to assimilate them over the years, and a mention of how Jean Auel lifted the Clan of the Cave Bear's sacred Bear Ceremony almost directly from the iyomante practice of the Ainu. Mom seemed interested by this, since she'd liked the first Earth's Children book - yanno, before they turned into softcore porn.
Dad looked up and handed me back to the book. "You know," he said, "this is what I meant the other day." He'd said he thought I'd be a good teacher for Native American kids, mostly in response to my happily burbling about teaching myself how to use double pointed knitting needles for a hat. "You have a deep respect for other cultures, and you'd be able to understand them. You're young. You should look into stuff like that."
I nodded and told him that I was going to look into government agencies that did that kind of work as possible sources of employment. It's true - I wouldn't object to working with First Nations groups, or working overseas with indigenous peoples - but I didn't quite have the heart to tell him that I was delving into things Ainu because I needed the background material for a roleplaying game.
Ph34r the Geeks, even when they come bearing anthropology textbooks.
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-18 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-18 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-18 11:01 am (UTC)This is a book that offers where to go to apply for grants, scholarships and lots of dollars to go to school, and a lot of them are to either study overseas or teach Native Americans and such.
Bring paper and a pencil, you'll want to take notes if you don't end up buying the book.