View source for Wasi'chu

[[File:Stand with Standing Rock SF Nov 2016 13.jpg|thumb|Sioux people's and allies' protests against the [[Dakota Access Pipeline]] in 2016-17 were often framed as a fight against wasi'chu interests. In modern usage, the word implies colonialist greed and corporate power.<ref>see for instance  {{cite web |url=https://indianz.com/News/2017/01/16/james-giago-davies-the-real-power-to-def.asp |title=James Giago Davies: The real power to defeat the Wasicu pipeline|website=Indianz.com |last=Giago Davies |first=James}}</ref>]]
{{Short description|Word used in English derived from Lakota and Dakota word for non-Indigenous people}}
'''Wasi'chu''' is a [[loanword]] from the [[Sioux]] language ('''wašíču''' or '''waṡicu''' using different [[Lakota language|Lakota]] and [[Dakota language|Dakota]] language orthographies)<ref name="spellings" /> which means a non-Indigenous person, particularly a [[white people|white person]], often with a disparaging meaning.<ref name="Eugene">{{cite book | title=Lakota dictionary : Lakota-English/English-Lakota New Comprehensive Edition | date=2002 | last1=Buechel |last2=Manhart |url=https://archive.org/details/lakotadictionary0000buec/mode/2up}}</ref> 

The word has been widely adopted in English since the 1970s<ref name=GNGram>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=wasi%27chu&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3 |title=Google Ngram: Wasi'chu |website=Google Books Ngram Viewer}}</ref> based on the belief that it literally means "fat taker" or greedy person and therefore carries an implied critique of white people and colonialism. Academic linguistic studies of the etymology of wašíču propose other origins for the word.

That the word's underlying meaning is "fat-taker" or "greedy" is today affirmed by many Sioux people themselves, either as the word's origin<ref>{{cite web |website=Al Jazeera |quote=A direct translation of the word [wašíču] means, “fat taker”. My ancestors used it to describe the greedy, covetous, selfish behaviour they witnessed in European settlers who invaded our homelands. To them, fat was the most nutrient-rich, energy-dense part of the buffalo... |title=Indigenous people are paying the price for vaccine thieves |last=Hopkins |first=Ruth H. |date=30 January 2021 |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/1/30/indigenous-people-are-paying-the-price-for-vaccine-thieves}}</ref>  or as a modern evolution of the meaning.<ref>{{Cite tweet |author=Nick Estes |author-link= |user=nickwestes |number=1344484382535389186 |title=The Lakota word wašíču evolved over the years. It wasn't initially derogatory, describing "fat-taking" behavior. Today, it means hoarding social wealth and stealing land, describing capitalists and settlers. Example phrase: "Mitch McConnell is a piece of shit wasicu." }}</ref> For example, academic and campaigner [[Nick Estes]] writes "the highest insult in Lakota is to be greedy, to be wasicu".<ref>Estes is Assistant Professor in [[American Indian Studies]] at the University of Minnesota {{cite web | title=Lakota Giving and Justice | website=owašíču owe waste sni | date=November 26, 2015 | url=https://nickestes.blog/2015/11/26/lakota-giving-and-justice/ | access-date=September 19, 2023}}</ref>

==Etymology==
An often-cited [[etymology]] claims that the term wašíču derives from "he who takes the fat", from Lakota ''[[wikt:wašiƞ|wašiƞ]]'' ("cooking fat") + ''cu'' ("to take"). This etymology/meaning is not present in online Dakota and Lakota dictionaries and is not present or is rejected in discussions of wašíču by academic linguists. 

Though many Sioux people themselves now report "he who takes the fat" as the original meaning of wašíču, this explanation of the word may be a relatively recent phenomenon. Linguist David R. Roth, writing in 1975 about the etymology of wašíču, reports that at that time Sioux people mostly believed the term wašíču came from ''iwašičuƞ'' meaning talkative or mouthy.<ref name=Roth>{{ cite journal | title = Lakota Sioux terms for white and negro| url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/25667253 |last=Roth |first=David D.
| journal =Plains Anthropologist | volume =20| issue=68 |date=1975| pages = 117–120 | doi = 10.1080/2052546.1975.11908737 | jstor = 25667253 | access-date = 18 September 2023
| url-access =subscription }}</ref> 

Allan R Taylor, responding to Roth in 1976 rejects "mouthy" as the origin of wašíču and further considers and rejects "he who takes the fat", stating that, "It is implausible as a source.. ..since it ignores the necessarily nasalized vowel in ''wasį'' 'bacon' [fat]". Taylor analyses the word as ''wa'' + ''šíču'' where ''wa'' is a particle meaning "something coming from doing an action." He suggests that the original meaning of wašíču can be more readily explained as simply "doer" referring to the colonialists' access to technology unavailable to the Sioux. This closely parallels the etymology of words in other Native American languages meaning "white man."<ref name="spellings">{{ cite journal | title =Note concerning Lakota Sioux terms for white and negro| url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/25667299
| journal =Plains Anthropologist |last=Taylor |first=Allan R. | volume =25| issue=71| pages=63–65|date=1976| doi = 10.1080/2052546.1976.11908783
| jstor = 25667299
| access-date = 18 September 2023
| url-access =subscription}}</ref>

==Wasi'chu in contemporary English language sources==
Based on the understanding of the term as meaning "he who takes the fat," wasi'chu has been widely discussed as a reflection of how Sioux people perceive non-Indigenous people's relationship with the land and Indigenous Americans. As such, wasi'chu has been often used in English language materials since around 1970, with English language usage of the term rising sharply in the 2010s.<ref name=GNGram /> This has included works of popular history<ref name=Wars>{{cite journal | title = Review of "Wasi'chu: The Continuing Indian Wars"| url = https://escholarship.org/content/qt86k8860w/qt86k8860w.pdf|last=Dunbar Ortiz |first=Roxanne| journal = American Indian Culture and Research Journal|issn=0161-6463 | volume = 5| issue = 4| pages = 77|date=1981| access-date = 18 September 2023}}</ref> in art,<ref>{{cite book |title=Uneasy Humanity Perpetual Wrestling with Evils |chapter=And What’s on the Menu Today? Greed and Gluttony in Sato’s Naked Blood |last=Balmain |first=Colette |editor-last1=Balmain |editor-last2=Norris |url=https://www.academia.edu/406188 |publication-date=2009 |publication-place=Oxford, England |publisher= Inter-Disciplinary Press |pages=121–130 |via=[[Academia.edu]]}}</ref> and in popular media; for example, as the title of an episode of the TV show ''[[List_of_Law_%26_Order:_Criminal_Intent_episodes|Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' (2006),<ref>Season 5, Episode 14, see [[List_of_Law_%26_Order:_Criminal_Intent_episodes|List of episodes]]</ref> and in dialogue heard in ''[[Dances with Wolves]]'' (1990),<ref name="movies1">{{cite web | title=The Saturday Rumpus Essay: Wa | website=The Rumpus.net | date=December 24, 2016 | url=https://therumpus.net/2016/12/24/the-saturday-rumpus-essay-wa/ | access-date=September 25, 2023}}</ref> ''[[Thunderheart]]'' (1992),<ref name="movies1"/> ''[[White People (film)|White People]]'' documentary (2015),<ref name="Horan 2015 e611">{{cite web | last=Horan | first=Molly | title=MTV White People Episode Recap Jose Antonio Vargas | website=Refinery29 | date=July 23, 2015 | url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2015/07/91208/mtv-white-people-documentary-episode-recap | access-date=September 25, 2023}}</ref> ''[[The Stand (2020 miniseries)|The Stand]]'' (2020),<ref name="Wilcox 2021 l262">{{cite web | last=Wilcox | first=Carolynne | title=The Stand – Episode Six: Trashcan Man & The Vigil | website=Post Apocalyptic Media | date=January 26, 2021 | url=https://www.postapocalypticmedia.com/the-stand-episode-six-trashcan-man-the-vigil/ | access-date=September 25, 2023}}</ref> ''[[Yellowstone (American TV series)|Yellowstone]]'' (2021),<ref>{{Citation|title=Yellowstone, Half the Money (S4, E1)}}</ref> and ''[[Tulsa King]]'' (2022).<ref>{{Citation |title=Tulsa King, Dwight Meets Bad Face (S1, E2) Paramount+ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aIZDAyG1n0 |access-date=2023-09-25 |language=en}}</ref>

==Derived and related terms==
While it is commonly described as referring to [[white people]]<ref name=Wars /> a form of the term, "''waṡicu ha sapa''" (literally black wašíču)  can be used to refer to African-Americans.<ref name="Dakota-English Dictionary - wašíču"/> ''Wašíču Ikčéka'' (Ordinary Whites) is the name for French people, and ''Wašíču Ikčéka Makȟóčhe'' is the name for France (Homelands of the Ordinary Whites).<ref name="Jacques2015"/> The French were among the first Europeans to interact with the Dakota during the fur trade era.<ref name="Jacques2015">{{cite web | last=Jacques | first=Guillaume | title=langues de l'Amérique du nord | website=Panchronica | date=December 23, 2015 | url=https://panchr.hypotheses.org/tag/langues-de-lamerique-du-nord | language=fr | access-date=September 18, 2023}}</ref> Being referred to as Ikčé (ordinary) is an honor in Lakota/Dakota society.<ref name="Lakota 2009 d474">{{cite web | last=Trimble | first=Charles | title=On Being a Nobody…. | website=Lakota Times - | date=December 8, 2009 | url=https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/on-being-a-nobody/ | access-date=September 18, 2023}}</ref>

Derived terms in Lakota include ''kiwašíču'' ("assimilate") and ''igluwašíču'' ("to make oneself like a non-indigenous/white person").<ref name="Yellowhand">{{cite web | last=Yellowhand | title=Lakota Pronunciation Glossary | website=WoLakota Project | date=November 29, 2013 | url=https://www.wolakotaproject.org/lakota-pronunciation-glossary/ | access-date=July 5, 2022}}</ref> In [[Dakota language|''Dakhótiyapi'']] (Dakota), ''Waṡicu iapi'' means the [[English language]].<ref name="Dakota-English Dictionary - wašíču">{{cite web | title=English to Dakota Dictionary: As Spoken by the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate| website=Dakota-English Dictionary | url=https://dictionary.swodli.com/ | access-date=June 28, 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of terms for ethnic out-groups]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* LaFontaine, Harlan and Neil McKay. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_J6hgmOD2AUC&pg=PA145&dq=wašíču ''550 Dakota Verbs.''] Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-87351-524-5}}.
* Simcikova, Karla. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4euzFCzvH7AC&pg=PA18&dq=To%20live%20fully%2C%20here%20and%20now%3A%20the%20healing%20vision%20in%20the%20works%20of%20Alice%20Walker ''To live fully, here and now: the healing vision in the works of Alice Walker.''] Lexington Books, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-7391-1160-4}}.
* Staub, Michael E. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Fl6U_hFEZpMC&pg=PA62&dq=wasichu ''Voices of Persuasion: Politics of Representation in 1930s America.''] Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press, 1994. {{ISBN|0-521-45390-9}}.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{wikiquote}}{{White people terms}}
[[Category:Lakota culture]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for white people]]
[[Category:Native American slang]]
[[Category:Racism in Canada]]
[[Category:Xenophobia in North America]]
[[Category:Lakota words and phrases]]