#they are a damn glorious mess of a hornet's nest and its fun to poke it

[desmothene]

I find this dynamic with the fandom particularly interesting, especially given how the respective modes of being brought into Mandalorian or Jedi culture play out, canonically, for individuals not originally of those cultures.

As far as canon goes for Mandalorians, individuals adopted from non-Mandalorian cultures by Mandalorians appear to either be not allowed or discouraged from maintaining links to their original culture. The most egregious case of this from my recollection is Kal Skirata, who isn't even allowed to keep his own name (Falin). But if you want to avoid Legends (and Traviss), then Din Djarin is right there: he shows no connections to his birth culture beyond a scrap of red cloth. We don't know if Din is his name. His one time breaking his Creed - for the sake of a child - he's disowned by his adopted Mandalorian parent. Mandalorians of all stripes (New, True, Death Watch, and the Children of the Watch) are constantly disavowing one another and their own members for not being a Real Mandalorian (TM), so clearly there isn't a lot of room for an adoptee to feel safe about incorporating parts of their original culture. Uniformly, Mandalorians appear to adopt children during times of crisis, where there is no consenting adult to ask permission (not inherently negative but... interesting especially in context of Skirata's non-Mandalorian spouse divorcing him in order to prevent him from taking their kids into battle at the age of 8).

In today's day and age, preventing an adopted child from reconnecting with their birth culture is generally frowned upon. In some contexts, it even constitutes an attempt at cultural genocide (like the removal of Native children from their culture and disproportionate placement with white families). To be fair, some people don't have the resources to enable that connection; many do and don't make the effort.

In contrast, individuals brought into Jedi culture from outside of it appear to be given every available opportunity to reconnect with it, within the power of the Jedi. Mirialians wear their culture's traditional headscarves and tattoos and are generally apprenticed by fellow Mirialians (Luminara, Bariss); Kiffars receive their culture's tattoos (Quinlan Vos); Togruta wear cultural headdress (Shaak Ti, Ahsoka); Plo Koon studied with Kel Dorian Baran Do sages; Depa Billaba appears to carry Chalactan cultural markings of some kind. Finally, while some children are brought to the Temple under crisis, the majority are not; the Jedi a canonically shown to ask if the parents wish to consider allowing the Jedi to adopt their child, and those wishes are respected.

I find both Mandalorian and Jedi culture fascinating (i really wish Mando'a was a full conlang!), but I struggle with the intense misrepresentation that parts of the fandom seems take on both groups. Maybe it's a bit unkind, but from a distance Mandalorian adoption seems more like forced cultural assimilation. I actually think this read builds logically on what we know of Mandalorian warrior culture and their ongoing civil war - it makes a lot of sense in context and it provides more nuance and depth to Din Djarin's own choices in relation to Grogu, imo! (also guys, c'mon, we all love angsty background stories - we don't have to wipe mandos clean of all their messy dirty laundry in order to have a fun time with them as characters).

In comparison the Jedi are out here doing their level best to welcome and include their members' birth cultures within the framework of the Jedi. They aren't always successful, and those cultural aspects have to be balanced against the Jedi culture itself and their calling. That wealth of diverse cultural background broadens the knowledge of all the Jedi, and grants them practice in navigating between diverse groups as their vocation calls for.

Anyways they're both Neat. Yeah?

Mandalorians: adopt kids and teach them their ways

Fandom: so precious 💜 so pure 💜 perfect and unproblematic 💜💜

Jedi: do the exact same thing

Fandom: EVIL FUCKING BABYSNATCHERS THEY DESERVE TO DIE GRAFHFSHH4G