although i largely love terror/polar exploration fandom and think it's significantly more sensitive and thoughtful than most historically fixated spaces, there is also an undercurrent of subconscious racism and uncritical buy-in to the great man theory + belief that white men's stories no matter how relatively mundane/unremarkable are the center of everything. but then everyone thinks you're crazy for noticing it
and if reading this post makes you angry or upset or defensive i strongly recommend doing some self-reflection on why. what are the ways you yourself may be contributing to this undercurrent? are you someone who (even subconsciously) believes in great man theory and lets that bleed through how you write about history, franklin expedition or otherwise? if you are a contributor or possess these mindsets, you aren’t a bad person but it is your responsibility to reflect and unlearn. anti-racism and anti-colonialism is a constant ongoing process for all of us. these aren’t intrinsic virtues or labels you can slap on and call done. now stop making me read microaggressions on the app i downloaded to look at pictures of solomon tozer
[Image Description: Text: if you like polar horror research inuk accounts of explorers on the brink of death refusing help because they were so racist they couldn't conceive of an indigenous person being able to help them, even when the Inuit peoples up north were willing to feed and house them. fucking demonic I HATE THE NORTHWESTERN PASSAGE. End description]
Let me preface by saying that the op is 100% correct in everything they said here and that you can and should acknowledge and critisise the imperialism and racism inherent to most stories of polar exploration.
However, can we stop with the narrative that the Franklin Expedition members were "too racist to ask for help" because it just reeks of not having actually read Inuit testimony.
Not only did the men of the Franklin Expedition ask for help but they traded items in exchange for it. It should also be noted that because of the lack of thaw Inuit people were also struggling and only had so much to give.
When we ignore Inuit testimony in favor of deciding that our therories and assumptions are correct (even if we think we are being progressive in doing so) we only further imperialist re-writing of history, the exact thing op is criticising.
Inuit testimony sources:
btw this site is a great source for inuit testimony on the Franklin Expedition
