-
Cultural Appropriation?
The badkitty article about cultural appropriation in pole routines has me thinking. I need to be incognito to perform (work), and have been toying with using sugar skulls (aka calaveras de azúcar) makeup. It’s the Dia de los Muertos colorful skull face makeup. I’ve been toying with exploring the ideas of death, life, and loss in a piece, but don’t want people to get offended. What do you think? Is it ok or offensive?
-
33 Replies
-
Here’s the article: http://www.badkitty.com/news/cultural-appropriation-in-pole/
-
People have always appropriated from different cultures throughout time. It is part of living in a melting pot society. Whenever someone does anything, there is always a chance someone will get offended. Unless you are doing something with the express purpose of disparaging another culture, I say go ahead and do what you want.
-
People can let themselves be offended by anything. I think it’s all in the intention of the person, don’t over think it.
-
@Phoenix It is impossible to know who is going to be offended by something and who is not. There are people who might be offended by a tribal costume and there are people who will appreciate that you are representing their culture in an artistic way. It is impossible to know. If you know what your intentions are then hopefully others will see that.
-
Very well said poleisnewtome and catmoves. I very much agree with all that you said. I do believe there is a big difference between wearing a caricature costume and telling a genuine heartfelt story and I hope others would be able to see and feel that’ as well
-
You guys are awesome! xoxo
-
I’m so glad this thread was started. I can’t stop thinking about that article. I used to dance American Tribal Style bellydance. We would paint our faces with tribal symbols when we performed. We would do this with respect as well as zaghareet (supportive sound) but after reading the article I felt bad. I love all the replies to this topic!
-
Thanks for all of the responses! As for tribal costumes, Buzzed had an interesting video in which Native Americans tried on the standard Native American Halloween costumes and reacted to them: http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrislam/i-am-not-your-costume. Their main concern was with authenticity (since the costumes were way off from the reality and used Native American elements merely for aesthetics) and the misuse of sacred and/or content-laden elements. In particular, headdresses – from what I understand – are both sacred and denote warrior rank, and wearing one is akin to dressing up as a member of the U.S. armed forces with a fake Purple Heart on your lapel (which could seriously irritate a real military person). Also, the beadwork is supposed to carry specific meaning, which the costumes may not reflect, and the lack of accuracy conveys a complete disregard for trying to understand and value the culture – it may be like if someone dressed up as the Pope and wore a papal hat with the McDonalds logo on it (or wore a cross necklace but with Mickey Mouse on the crucifix). There was also a concern about being portrayed as savages, while Native Americans had a large number and type of societies.
-
That is definitely not what I had in mind for a tribal inspired dance. No beadwork, headdress or anything like that. In fact I don’t think anything I had in mind could even be pinned down to one tribe or culture. I’m thinking more like , faux hawk hairstyle, some makeup, and a costume with some feathers accents. Don’t even know if you could call that tribal or jungle or madmax. I would feel like an asshole wearing a headress and beadwork. I’m thinking more of a natural style that I’m going for not village people. Haha!
-
Omg, that article is so stupid. Please dress as whatever you want for Halloween or a routine and don’t overthink it. DanteD what you described is absolutely not offensive and I hope you have fun and enjoy yourself.
-
The entire point of the Bad Kitty article was that your intentions actually DON’T matter and that if the people groups that you’re dressing up as find it offensive then don’t dress up as them. It’s really that simple. I personally find it completely not okay that there is a thread on here with a bunch of people NOT of the people groups being discussed assuring each other that as long as they don’t mean harm then it’s all okay.
No, you should not use sugar skulls for your piece, as there are many other ways to symbolise death. No, you should not dress up in tribal inspired dress unless you are a part of an actual tribe. There is no reason, however, that you cannot use tribal themed music, wear brown clothing, and explore the music as you dance. If you know that you are going to offend the people groups that hold these concepts dear to their heart, and you know that it’s just sprucing up a performance that really doesn’t need it, then why are you choosing to abuse your place in society by knowingly offending people anyway?
If you’re searching for loopholes as long anything that’s not an outright caricature is an issue then you’re being part of the problem.
Yes, people have always appropriated different cultures throughout time. Appropriated is a BAD word. That’s not a good thing. And it hasn’t been just people, it’s been white people. Which is why it’s especially grating that this thread is a group of white people reassuring each other that continued appropriation can be justified. It can’t be. Re-read the article. It’s not a personal attack on you, but if you read it and then still find a way to justify that it’s all okay based on your intentions then we have a problem. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. You can go ahead and tell yourselves that people are just too sensitive and will “find a way” to be offended by anything. But being offended isn’t a great way to feel. Majority of people don’t go through life looking for ways to experience deeply negative emotions. So maybe it’s time to stop blaming being hurt and offended on those who we are hurting and offending. Maybe it’s time that we instead stopped doing the things that hurt and offend them.
-
MeganJoan, I respectfully do not agree. How does one know what will offend someone? It would be unfair to lump all people of a certain race or culture together and assume they will be offended by something. I would not presume to think that all Mexicans would be offended by a day of the dead costume, just as I would not presume to think that my black colleague would be angry if I wore an African print. I think catmoves makes a good point about when she talks about the kimono and the Leg Avenue geisha costume. Intention does matter as does the type of attire/prop/artifact used.
It is a sad world if people, particularly white people, since let’s be honest, this is who we are talking about, cannot explore and appreciate other cultures in fear that they will be misunderstood or accused of racism. A world where the races cannot adopt from each other and pay homage to each other’s many cultural gifts. THAT, to me, is racist.
-
It’s pretty simple to know what will offend people, actually. You listen to them. If you choose to ignore the large amount of articles, blog posts, and other ways of speaking out from people of culture groups where they specifically say that white people appropriating specific elements of their culture is not okay then you’re part of the problem.
Define racism however you like. Put whatever spin on it you want to help you sleep better. Respectfully disagree as you see fit, but that doesn’t make you right, and it doesn’t stop you perpetuating the actual racism that you’re pretending isn’t racism.
Not replying to you again. This while thread is gross.
-
Apparently you find it difficult discussing something with someone who doesn’t share your opinion without getting extremely riled. Clearly, my comment has offended you to the point that you chose to make semi-personal attacks while really knowing nothing about me and what I read or what I know from my own experience. Have a good night and keep pole dancing!
-
I’d like to say thanks again to everyone for the responses – it’s been an interesting read. This response is long, but I’ve spent a lot of time looking into this.
With respect to sugar skulls and after performing my own independent research, Mexicans generally think that the use of sugar skulls by persons outside of the Mexican and Mexican diaspora cultures can be problematic, but is not necessarily so. (I can’t really say people of other races because Mexican/Latino is not a race.) I put the question out there because I thought this forum would be helpful and it’s useful to know whether audience members would believe that they should be offended on behalf of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans (even if those people themselves may appreciate the use of the motif). Generally speaking, as described further below, Mexicans are proud of their culture and happy to see others appreciate and honor it (but they don’t want it to be bastardized or treated as decoration).
On an official level, Mexico supports other cultures taking steps to appreciate Dia de los Muertos. In fact, the official Mexican tourism agency is currently running a contest to see who has the best sugar skull makeup for Dia de los Muertos, which provides strong support for the notion that it is not offensive to every Mexican person. Further, in 2013, the Mexican government held a Dia de los Muertos celebration for Parisians because it felt it had a duty to disseminate its culture beyond its borders (thankfully I can read Spanish). On an unofficial level, the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who have decided to write on this issue want people to understand that sugar skulls are part of a larger culture, and that the context should be understood (which is that Dia de los Muertos is meant to be a happy occasion for people to create altars with offerings to their deceased loved ones and to visit their graves, and that sugar skulls are either candies you place on the altars or face makeup for more important events). There is a bit of a White Savior complex if we think we know better than Mexicans with respect to whether they think their culture is being improperly appropriated – per the official acts, it seems that the country of Mexico thinks that it’s a good thing for people of other cultures to take part in Dia de los Muertos.
Mexico is a very diverse country of over 100 million people (Dia de los Muertos does not have the same level of importance across the country), and the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the United States are diverse as well. Apparently, sugar skulls are similar to Jack-o-Laterns in the United States, although the context is different since sugar skulls are meant – in the tradition of the original 1910-1913 La Calavera Catrina by José Guadalupe Posada – to represent how death comes for us all but we should still live. You can also write the name of a deceased loved one on the skull to honor a particular person. With that context, the sugar skulls carry an incredible and beautiful meaning, and one that is much more specific that just death. I’ll have to decide if that meaning is something that inspires me enough to carry me through the 3-6 month process of creating a piece, or if I’ll go in another direction (although it’s not like there are a ton of ideas out there for face makeup that’ll render you incognito).
Log in to reply.