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Since the factoid about Maslows Hierarchy having Blackfoot originsis recirculating. I figured I would cite my 2018 #Schemesbecomeschema piece on patreon about how societal perception parallels with concepts like self actualization and self esteem. https://www.patreon.com/posts/17146582
Understanding how schema is constructed is an important part of unpacking stereotypes and other symptoms of systemic racism/ oppression.
The fact that schema is internalized and so difficult to change, is what leads to difficulties interrogating diff forms of societal indoctrination and confirmation bias cycles rooted in colonialism, capitalism, eugenics.
My most recent piece about enviornmental racism, breaks down colonial ontology and epistemology and how it leads to structural consequences for the anti Indigenous institutional racism that disregards Indigenous ways of knowing.
This dynamic with Maslows hierarchy is just one example of the ways colonial systems like academia disregard Indigenous world views, while simultaneously presenting a distorted picture of that knowledge as their own.
I dont just perceive this as a coopting but intentional distortion that is meant to undermine healthy psychological and human needs in order to funnel everyone's physical and emotional compliance into the exploitative system that is capitalism. Institutionalization.
I've been working on some other concepts to get deeper into these ideas, especially as it specifically relates to Native ppl, but topics this heavy call for extensive drafting and research.
Specifically here I break down the hierarchy of needs as a reflection of not only biological needs but also as a symbol of self actualization, as well as the formulation of personal identity ("self") with formation of the "exotic other"where influence is societal.
My thinking on this also reflects tweets I've seen where people say that "healing is communal". It is true that in order to reach self actualization, that process is shaped by external resources and access.
In this thread I give structural examples of this like homelessness in Minnesota as well as referencing the Lakota phrase "Mitakuye Oyasin" to underline the Lakota ways of knowing about communal nurturing and ways of relating to eachother. https://twitter.com/xodanix3/status/1350826779078918145?s=19
