My Girlfriend Wields Jar'kai

padmé; from padma, or lotus flower, another name/symbol of the hindu goddess lakshmi

pooja; (padmé's niece) means 'prayer' or 'an act of worship', usually associated with hinduism

ahsoka; most likely inspired by the indian emperor ashoka

aayla; a turkish muslim name which means 'a ring of light around the moon'

barriss; turkish in origin, means "peace"

smhi; most likely a form of the name lakshmi, a hindu goddess

shaak ti; from the name 'shakti', an Indian name which means "energy"

depa; obviously from the words 'deepa' which means "light/lamp"

yoda; possibly from the punjabi word 'yoddha', which means "warrior"

jamillia; from 'jamilla/jameela', a Muslim name which means "beautiful"

tatooine (planet); literally an actual city in tunisia

mustafar (planet); from the arabic word 'mustafa', meaning "chosen one". note the symbolism that darth vader made it his home

jedi; from the arabic 'al-jeddi', meaning "master of the mystic warrior way"

when you take inspiration from the majority, it's not a wonder as to where it came from. not many people see the name Luke or Leia and have to scratch their head and turn their brain inside out to know the origin. western culture has so heavily dominated everything for centuries - oftentimes forcefully - that these names are passed over as normal and unexciting

the problem comes when you take words and names from minorities, especially when they have deep or religious meanings, and turn it into something to fit your space fantasy. people see them and think 'how exotic!', which turns this into yet another form of modern day orientalism that flies under the radar of most. it turns into yet another scenario of eastern religions or cultures being deemed 'other' or 'exotic'

for those of you unfamiliar with the term 'orientalism', this is what it means in a nutshell - it's a way of defining how the west looks at the east, and how eastern cultures become fetishised or appropriated over time, ultimately to be seen as inferior, other, or something exotic and exciting

think: all the fantasies and stereotypes that surround the seductive geisha, the mysterious and sexual sultan's harem, the exotic belly dancer, the barbaric tribes of the deserts, etc etc

this is also why these thought patterns and forms of appropriation are dangerous:

It is not a matter of belief. It is simply the right thing to do.

reblog from twilekgirlinhumanworld: “but for real tho they sluts literally just watched a jedi make out with high priestess on a balcony and now we all have the day off lmao”

reblog from vintage-speeder-aesthetic: “um yeah this just gave me severe psychic damage because the only jedi i know about is that ancient little green dude who apparently saved my grandparent’s neighbor’s best-friend one time so my parents have to point him out whenever they’re are on the news so thanks i hate this.”

reblog from lothcatskysong: “the robes are for easy access”

reblog from rodirodian: “jedi are literally armed unregulated enforcers of a corrupt government and if you want fetishize them to make yourself feel like you’re not living in a dystopia honestly that’s valid have a good day”

reblog from notadroid77: “ok so i just called a jedi outreach center and asked if jedi could be sluts or if that was illegal and there was a long pause and they sighed and said ‘is this about a shirtless nautolan? or an auburn haired human?’ and then i panicked and closed the commlink because i didn’t think i was talking to a real person so can confirm there are at least two jedi sluts and also unrelated does anyone have any suggestions for changing your identity so jedi can’t track you down”

reblog from mandomilkmaid: “wait there are jedi outreach centers”

reblog from mrsnailracing: “average jedi sleeps with 1000 beings a year" factoid actualy just statistical error. average jedi sleeps with 0 beings per year. Red head human, who lives in pleasure palace & sleeps with over 10,000 beings per day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted”

reblog from fylk-moooons: “you know these are real people right? like these are actual sentient beings from an actual religious order that you’re talking about like they’re bad holofilm characters?”

reblog from princesssenatornerfherder: “@fylk-moooons thank you. ^this”

reblog from i-was-a-spaceship-once: “alrighty no one’s going to believe this but i SWEAR i live on coruscant and sometimes this one kiffar jedi stops in my shop (not telling you what shop because holonet creeps sorry) and he’s got a sense of humor and i finally worked up the courage to casually say ‘oh haha i learned abut jedi outreach centers in the weirdest way’ and he was like ‘oh really how?’ and i don’t know! i decided to risk it all!

and i showed him the thread and he burst out laughing, like there was a jedi laugh crying in my shop, people were staring, i was relieved at first but started getting nervous. eventually he stopped and LEGIT, swear to all the karking gods, this is what he told me: 

‘op is woke and also right, but some are really committed to the modest vibe because it’s unfortunately necessary for them to be treated seriously in the workplace. also if my friends didn’t want people to talk about them like bad holofilm characters then they shouldn’t act like bad holofilm characters so it’s fine. please tell um, ‘notadroid’ and ‘mrsnailracing’ that they just made my whole YEAR. also you can tell everyone that official jedi doctrine teaches that all sluts should be treated with respect and dignity, jedi or not.’