I was trying to explain why I thought it was racist. In doing so, i was making an argument about cultural appropriation in general. Now, maybe it’s a minor enough event that its ok to be a little racist. I don’t know enough about it to be honest. Just try to be conscious of your white privilege and have some semblance of empathy when possible.
I usually don’t comment on these articles but I feel that this person (and most people) completely miss the point of why cultural appropriation is so problematic. Articles that justify it in these contexts never seem to acknowledge the historical oppression of the groups that are being performed. It’s not simply an “over-generalization.” You can’t compare dressing as a native (or as “Pocahontas”) to thinking that all French people wear berets. To say such a thing is to completely ignore the way in which race plays a role in the power structures of the United States. Can you imagine being a part of an ethnic group that was almost eradicated by the country you are living in? As if that wasn’t terrible enough, this same ethnic community continues to this day to experience a wide range of problems (e.g. high rates of alcoholism, poverty) that are largely a result of the disintegration of social structures by the same (still dominant) group that killed off their ancestors; Now, imagine being aware of the history of your people, one whose past couple centuries have been largely defined by its relationship to white people and THEN seeing white people up on a stage in a sexualized performance using “native” as a theme (and one that reduces native down to a simple and uniform costume). I can’t say for sure because I’m not Native American but I can certainly see how this can make people uncomfortable. In the end it doesn’t matter if they were dressing as Pocahontas or not. Did they ever stop to think about whether the Disney movie was itself racist (hint: it is)? As university student you are able to think critically. I think it is important to use that capacity to think about how you are participating in and perpetuating systems of oppression. The cultural appropriation that is happening right now is enabled by the historical processes that have been devastating to these people. The history “lesson” is necessary because it all fits into a broader narrative. In and of itself, dressing in costumes is not racist but when contextualized my own intuition (even as as a non-native american) tells me it is.
I was trying to explain why I thought it was racist. In doing so, i was making an argument about cultural appropriation in general. Now, maybe it’s a minor enough event that its ok to be a little racist. I don’t know enough about it to be honest. Just try to be conscious of your white privilege and have some semblance of empathy when possible.
I usually don’t comment on these articles but I feel that this person (and most people) completely miss the point of why cultural appropriation is so problematic. Articles that justify it in these contexts never seem to acknowledge the historical oppression of the groups that are being performed. It’s not simply an “over-generalization.” You can’t compare dressing as a native (or as “Pocahontas”) to thinking that all French people wear berets. To say such a thing is to completely ignore the way in which race plays a role in the power structures of the United States. Can you imagine being a part of an ethnic group that was almost eradicated by the country you are living in? As if that wasn’t terrible enough, this same ethnic community continues to this day to experience a wide range of problems (e.g. high rates of alcoholism, poverty) that are largely a result of the disintegration of social structures by the same (still dominant) group that killed off their ancestors; Now, imagine being aware of the history of your people, one whose past couple centuries have been largely defined by its relationship to white people and THEN seeing white people up on a stage in a sexualized performance using “native” as a theme (and one that reduces native down to a simple and uniform costume). I can’t say for sure because I’m not Native American but I can certainly see how this can make people uncomfortable. In the end it doesn’t matter if they were dressing as Pocahontas or not. Did they ever stop to think about whether the Disney movie was itself racist (hint: it is)? As university student you are able to think critically. I think it is important to use that capacity to think about how you are participating in and perpetuating systems of oppression. The cultural appropriation that is happening right now is enabled by the historical processes that have been devastating to these people. The history “lesson” is necessary because it all fits into a broader narrative. In and of itself, dressing in costumes is not racist but when contextualized my own intuition (even as as a non-native american) tells me it is.