Thread by @johnniejae

Today, we're talking Native representation in #StarWars

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https://twitter.com/southerncynic/status/1015212525435195392

My love for #StarWars began at a very young age before I was even able to really comprehend just how vast and complex the Star Wars Universe really was.

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I can't tell you the # of lightsaber battles that my brothers and I had using sticks or whatever else we could find.

#StarWars holds a lot of great childhood memories for me but as a Native, the Star Wars community gave me so much more than I ever imagined and exactly what I needed at an age where i was trying to find my place.....Acceptance.

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Before the dudebros and alt-right invaded mainstream fandom, the Star Wars community was always so inclusive, diverse. Your age, race, gender, sexuality, disabilities, social awkwardness or quirks that you had never made a difference into how you were treated.

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If you were down with the #StarWars, you were A-OK. Even now, when I need human interaction, I wear a Star Wars shirt when I go out cuz undoubtedly someone will end up commenting on my shirt and BOOM 8/10 times I make new human pal I can tolerate.

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But here's what really deepened my love for the #StarWars universe.....all of the Native influences found within this massive universe and fandom.

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When it comes to Native representation in Sci-fi, it is always so damn problematic and disappointing. See this great conversation between me, @ShiningComic, @RoanhorseBex
@odaminowin where we touch on this a little. strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/ar…

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But #StarWars is one of the very few sci-fi universes that have been influenced by Native culture and has successfully been able to incorporate those influences in a respectful and non-stereotypical way.

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For the first of many examples, let's take a look at the languages used in the Star Wars Universe that have been influenced by the Indigenous languages of Quechua, Sullustese, Xhosa, and Kalmyk

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Quechua is the most widely spoken Native language in South America with an estimated 8 to 10 million speakers. It also the base language used to create the most comprehensive and rich language of the Star Wars universe, Huttese, the language spoken by the Hutts

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A clear example of Quechua's influence is heard when Sebulba says "Neek me chawa wermo." in Episode 1. It Huttese it means "Next time we race," but the word "Chawa" in Quechua means "uncooked."

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And darn my brain for getting this mixed up but Sullustese is actually the name for the language based on Haya that was used in Return of the Jedi and Force Awakens. Haya is a language spoken by an estimated 1.3 million people in Tanzania.

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Haya made its screen debut when Lando's co-pilot, Nien Nunb said ''Atirizi inyui mwi hau inyouthe ukai haha" which in Haya translates to ''What are you doing over there? All of you please come here.''

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Talking about Nien Nunb, they actually had a difficult time tracking down the Kenyan actor, Kipsang Rotich, to reprise his role & to record him speaking Haya for use not only in the movies but in games & the upcoming Disneyland expansion "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge"

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The next language that helped formed the base for a Star Wars language is Xhosa, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa with an estimated 8.5 - 9 million speakers.

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Xhosa is a very beautiful and distinct language that inspired the Geonosian language in the #StarWars universe and was also used in Black Panther.
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In Xhosa, consonants are expressed through clicking sounds. Watch this video for an example of Xhosa and how clicking sounds are used within the language.


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The last language I'm gonna talk about is Kalmyk, an Indigenous language with less than 100,000 speakers.

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Kalymk along with Nepali and Tibetan inspired the language of the "Love em' or Hate em" furry and adorkable critters known as Ewoks.
Ewokese....seriously that's what their language is called 😂😂😂

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I've always loved the Indigenous influence on the languages in the #StarWars universe, especially with the release of Star Wars in the Navajo language because language & language revitalization are a must for Indigenous peoples & cultural survival.

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Indigenous languages aren't the only influences found within the Star Wars universe, which is why the last language I talked about was Kalmyk, the language of the space teddy bears errr I mean Ewoks, whose name was inspired by the Miwok people of California.
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In fact, Endor itself was fashioned after the Redwood Forest, home to the Miwok. Of course, in terms of representation I think Natives are pretty torn on whether this is positive or negative representation.

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I know some Miwoks who are absolutely thrilled to have inspired the #StarWars universe in this way and I know others along with other Natives who aren't so thrilled, meanwhile this #brownballoffury finds it funny ewoks are funsized like the miwoks I know lol
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But let's talk about this further because in terms of Indigenous representation, we always get a raw deal in the way we are represented see Avatar for a prime example.

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As Native people, we are ALWAYS OTHERED as villains, as aliens that either need to be saved or destroyed by white coded beings, or we're cannon fodder, sacrificing ourselves, homelands etc for the sake of a lone white-coded beings survival. There's no in-between.
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Ewoks are no exception. We are othered as animal-like aliens which doesn't seem like that big of a deal since we are talking about #StarWars but when your humanity isn't recognized or respected in the real world, being othered in films is like salt in an open wound
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So, I get the critiques of Ewoks. I see it as both, I see the othering as a Negative but at the same time I see it as positive because it is so subtle. I mean if no one said anything you'd just think space teddy bears, not Native people.
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Of course...there's loads more Native representation in #StarWars but my fingers hurt from typing and my brain hurts from trying to condense all this info to meet character limits lol so I'm going to stop here but always up to answer questions.

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