zo1nkss asked:
Hey I'm sort of curious. I haven't read the book, but I'm a fan of the show and was genuinely disappointed that the phrase "going Native" had an exclusively negative connotation when I watched. Idk if this occurred to you or not, but that's pretty blatant racism. It's especially tone deaf considering this is a show about angels and demons - which have been a tool to commit genocide against us for upwards of 500 years.
Why not just use "human"? It's accurate and doesn't frame an entire demographic as inherently bad or undesireable.
Not trying to garner any ill will, it just rlly bummed me out bc I'm Native and it's an identity I wear with great pride bc ppl have tried countless times to rip it away from me. To see it treated with such disdain was very hurtful.
I understand your concerns, and do not wish to minimise them, or your hurt. Obviously the phrase has colonial roots. However, it’s a lower case N, and isn’t intended to talk about Native Americans. When the angels talk about Aziraphale “going native”, this is the meaning they are using. It may be negative for the grumpy angels, but it’s positive for humanity and for Aziraphale and Crowley.
From Mirriam Webster online:
go native
idiom
: to start to behave or live like the local people
After a few weeks, she was comfortable enough to go native and wear shorts to work.
Example Sentences
Recent Examples:
But dogs that go native make bad guards, hunting companions, and friends.—David Grimm, Science | AAAS, 29 Oct. 2020
Let your yard go native: The Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District is offering seven native plant kits for sale that are adapted to the local climate and do not require excess watering or fertilizer once they are established.—Joan Rusek, cleveland, 6 July 2020
as an Apache studying cultural anthropology, I actually find the concept of “going native” to be very interesting! The meaning of the phrase has changed a lot. Although it was often used negatively, once cultural anthropology was more established and less armchair anthropology, it was more of a negative because it meant the study was no longer really valid, rather than because they had become “less white”.
Someone who has “gone native” had lost objectivity, and probably overly affected the culture they were studying. From an academic standpoint, that can be a big deal, because you no longer have access to the culture in its unaffected form.
In many earlier examples, it also meant an anthropologist had become romantically or sexually involved with a member of the group, which was seen as a sort of consent/hierarchy issue. Can you have an ethical relationship with someone you’re studying? Most anthropologists say no, but a lot did anyway. (Bronislaw Malinowski’s diaries are a great and disgusting example of this)
I do think it can be very accusatory, but it’s also an accepted anthropological technique for an non ethnocentric anthropologist. Although the term was originally colonial, and is still used by many in that way, it’s also a vital part of what anthropologists should do. We must assume the foundation and actions of a culture are rational. If I’m invited to participate in a ritual, then I should, because that will grant me greater insight. If I’m on a study and become ill, I would consult local healers, not to patronize them, but because I believe that they also have valuable knowledge.
to go native used to mean to lose yourself, but now it means to value others.
Anyway, hopefully this made sense, and was at least vaguely interesting. I didn’t directly address GO, but hopefully my example is clearly applicable. If not, oh well.