Re: [EK] Re:native american persona? (fwd)

[Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy@abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>]

Poster: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy@abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>

I responded to Tisman, not knowing that the same message went to the list.

With a slight amount of editting, to remove some personal comments, here is
my reply.

	Tibor

Forwarded message:
  From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy>
  Subject: Re: [EK] Re:native american persona?
  To: TismanBRos@aol.com
  Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 12:00:20 -0500 (EST)
  
     I am just a little unclear on why this is...
  
  You'd have to ask the guys who started the gang...  There is an article in
  the Known World Handbook, near the beginning, that describes what is known
  as the "First Party".  Basically, the origin was a going-away party for
  someone joining the Peace Corp, and since many of the attendees and
  organizers were majors in European and Medieval History at Berkeley, they
  threw a Knights of the Round Table party.  And off it went.
  
    I know that the major portion of members are of european descent.  Were the
    charter members of the SCA of nationalities or descents of other cultures?
  
  I don't know who or what they were.  Sorry.
  
     What I mean is, did they think that perhaps one day someone that was of
    african, asian, north or south american lineage (and wanted to research and
    practice their ancestral customs) would come along and automatically persue
    the practices of europeans, just because they think there are no other
    options?  
  
  As I said.  It was a party.  But they had so much fun, they did it again,
  and again, and again, and it grew, and they shared it with others, and it
  got formalized, and it grew and grew and grew.
  
  But there are lots of options.  There are other re-creation groups for other
  periods, there are buckskinners, there are lots!  But this football league
  plays football.
  
  Since it all just happened, I don't think that people were thinking about
  legacies, and caretaking.  I think they just liked the game they started
  playing, and did the things that made playing that game easier.
  
    I think that the main prescence of the SCA is for personal historical
    knowledge.  The reason for wanting this knowledge, for most people, is that
    they want to know how their ancestors saw things.  At least that is the
    reason for my taking a  Scottish persona, and other people that have taken
    on the personas of a like nature because of their family's history.
  
  Lots of people do that. I started out the same way.  Now, my primary
  "persona" interest has nothing to do with my ancestry.  Go figure....
  
    I think that I owe you an explaination for my being upset.  I have brought
    several new comers  into the light that the SCA brings.  They become
    fascinated with the idea of living in the old traditions (even for a weekend
    at a time).  When they hear more, such as tourneys, court, and things of
    that nature, then their first response is to conform to the european based
    lifestyles for persona.  Their second response in hearing that they will
    probably be the only one that will be researching, practicing, or otherwise
    involving that culture, they run.
  
  The Society is so wide, that someone is doing one of almost everything.  But
  it is important to remember that we are, primarily from European culture.
  If I may be so bold as to offer an opinion, I think that American education
  leaves us abysmally ignorant as to the true variety and richness of European
  culture*S* We see them as a monolithic block, when in fact there were many
  hundreds, and over time they changed.
  
  In that regard, there are very few people that do each culture... but
  overall we make quite a good tapestry.
  
    (My opinion only) I don't think that we, as a group, support alternate
    cultures as open mindedly as we ought.  We have a majority of members that
    focus on and study europe, but no groups that offer classes on say
    traditional Egyptian mummification (although the technique was extended from
    the Egyptians time, to that of the kings mummifications in europe), or the
    effects of the cultures that were experienced by the crusades (when the
    other cultures influenced the europeans in their various ways).
  
  Au contraire: we have a great structure for sharing what people are doing,
  and learning.  If *you* want to study that particular thing, you can do
  that, and integrate it into the Society.  We do not lead people to those
  things, all that well.  But we integrate them.  There are LOTS of activities
  that have become quite important to the Society even in the last five years,
  that we didn't do before.

    I admit, I approached this matter as someone that was not thinking
    of other's feelings.  I just tend to get tired of seeing my friends
    decide that they don't want to play, based on the difficulty to
    express their ancestral cultures.  This is the reason for the fire
    in me, as I have had over a dozen people that I am close to grow
    from enthusiastic to downtrodden.

  For the vast majority of us (me too) "ancestral cultures" go back only 100
  or 200 years.  Beyond that, we don't know.  If we looked at our true
  ancestry back 1000 years, we would find that it is as alien to our current
  lives as picking "someone elses" ancestral culture.  That is part of the SCA
  learning process.
  
  But the SCA is not JUST about being your ancestors.  It is about learning
  the many fascinating things that lead to our world being what it is, and it
  is about continuous learning and self-improvement as well.  I think that we
  can be inviting to almost anyone.
  
    I am truly sorry for my rudeness, and poor judgement.
  
  And, if I offended, I apologize.  I've been involved in this sort of
  discussion for many years in the Society, and I may have abbreviated my
  previously expressed thoughts just a little too much: and that might well
  have been interpreted as rudeness.
  
  	Tibor
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