I just saw this on Mastodon, posted by the amazing Maurice. This is just beautiful. Here’s the information that my man provided over on Mastodon:
I came across this on one of the other sites and it really shook me. The art is from the story “Dorvan V” by Canadian Cree artist Alina Pete from the comics anthology Indiginerds: Tales from Modern Indigenous Life, which is coming out in July.
That’s very cool! I wish Star Trek’s indigenous representation was better. Sadly, what we got was The Paradise Syndrome, Journey’s End, and Chakotay’s culture being completely made up by a fake indigenous American.
For such a very American show, there should be more indigenous representation.
Don’t forget How Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth. Walking Bear is not terrible representation.
Aside from Walking Bear clearly not being Mayan (Memory Alpha says he’s a Comanche) and Kukulkan being a Mayan god, sure. I mean what’s a 2500 mile difference between indigenous people?
The episode doesn’t conflate the cultures or mythologies at all. Walking Bear talks about his interest in the folklores of the American continents in the first few minutes of the episode.
I’m afraid he says that it’s his own culture. I just checked. He says he studies ancient Earth cultures, especially his own.
Yeah, that’s what he says. I just watched the episode. That statement doesn’t imply that Comanche culture is Maya culture — both of which are explicitly named in the dialogue.
It’s believed that; the Massachusetts would walk the continent trading. They brought peyote to the Quebec and traded dentalium shells all over and spread the wampum. Almost all the north American tribes had a high regard for Wampum.
As far as I know, there is no evidence of wampum or peyote in the Mayan culture.
The Mexican and southern native tribes like the Apache were hardcore rivals. The Apache wouldn’t let the southern tribes invade the north. Many of the tribes that were north of the Apache would be almost totally dependent on the Apache for protection and would be the food and equipment providers for their efforts. But the baja of California was part of the Massachusetts trading tradition.