MORE native American....

[Christoph Hintze <chhintze@bmd.clis.com>]

Poster: Christoph Hintze <chhintze@bmd.clis.com>

Um, gee.

I replied to Tibor (long), but I just got the digest, and it's all over
native American, and so I'll reply here too - shorter!

Quoting from my reply to Tibor:

>The rule of thumb that I have always heard about non-Western European
personas is that one should be able to document some connection to Western
Europe - ie, some reason why your persona is in Western Europe taking part
in these Western European activities - because, after all, SCA activities
take place in Western Europe.  I can see a lot of difficulty in pulling this
off, and I'd want a newbie to walk into it with both eyes open, but I
wouldn't shut the door on the idea entirely.  (Yes, that person will be a
stranger in a strange land and will have to learn to deal with it.)

[No, the "Scope of the Society" section in the Organizational Handbook ain't
"rules", but it does set down some guidelines.  Doesn't even contradict the
rule Tibor quoted in a later post.]

>I would guess that in the case of native American personas, practically
speaking, most people who try it will encounter resistance.  The strength of
that resistance measured against the strength of their desire for that
persona will determine whether they stick with it.  (Thorbjorn was one who
would cheerfully fly in the face of such oppostition.)  If they don't want
to go to the effort required, they'll drop it, and hopefully, they will
stick with the SCA and try something else.  (Or, they may have such a
negative experience with it they will leave the SCA, never to return, and
spend years turning others against us.  It's happened for other reasons.)
If they do stick with it, they will probably (hopefully) work hard to make
it fit.  That, I'd encourage.

>And, yes, native Americans were known to Western Europeans before 1600.  My
husband has a facsimile reproduction of a 1590 manuscript titled, _A Briefe
and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia_, Thomas Harriot.  (Dover,
of course, rereleased in 1972).  The Spanish, of course, were dealing with
the new world from a little before 1500.  I don't have other documentation
to hand, but I haven't been looking.  I wager Christoph does.)  I won't even
touch the Norse connection.  I don't know enough.
>
>Does this make native American personas mainstream, or even likely?  Of
course not, and I (personal opinion) don't think they should be.  I would
not have my Shire sponsor a native American event.  But as occasional
rarities, travellers and curiosities, I think such personas are acceptable.

In service,
Lady Katriona of NorthWoods
Seneschal, the Shire of Cathanar


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