Cultural Appropriation/Exchange (week #10)

There have been many times I have seen people wearing a headdress because they think it looks cool or they want to use it as a form of self expression, but most of the time, they just do not understand that a headdress is used in Native American cultures to signify much more than something cool or as a way of creative expression. 

According to this website I found about the Indian Headdress (click on the link to go to the website), that only the "most brave and powerful of the tribe" wore them. For people to be wearing headdresses and not either be Native American or "the most brave and powerful" is a form of cultural appropriation. For one culture to wear the headdress as a commodity a culture, they can feel a sense of loss or that their cultural values are not being taken seriously by the culture who is wearing it out of how it should be worn.

Cultural appropriation is when you take an element of another culture (like a headdress) and present it in a shallow way
(Bell Hooks). 

When someone is seen wearing a headdress in a 'fashionable' way, you could say that they are using that headdress as a commodification because they are benefiting from the 'other' culture'. They are using it as a form of art as you can see by the Victoria's Secret model, Karlie Kloss, wearing hers down the runway or the other woman wearing hers for a picture. Them wearing the headdress in this way was not how the Native American culture had intended it to be worn. Victoria's Secret did issue an apology for the use of the headdress Click here to read the apology. Either way, neither of these women are wearing the headdress the way it was intended in the Native American culture. It is purely a way to express creativity or as a commodification. When someone turns another person's culture into a commodity this can come from an act of privilege, which shows the in balance of power that still exists between cultures.  There are social and historical implications that come from treating a marginalized group or cultures items of significance like a costume (Uwujaren, 2013). 

Click Here to read about Pharrell Williams caught in cultural appropriation by wearing a headdress on the Cover of Elle Magazine.

You may be wondering if it is ever a positive thing to wear something or use something from another culture, this is called cultural exchange. Cultural appropriation is different from cultural exchange because cultural exchange implies that there is mutual understanding, equality and respect between two cultures.

For example, you may remember from my Frames in a News Article post that I attended Arapahoe High School. Arapahoe High School, is associated with the Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. My school had the Warrior as our "mascot", but it was not a typical "mascot because we did not have someone wearing a Warrior costume assemblies or sporting events. It meant that we would wear the Warrior icon (with the headdress) proudly on our clothes because we had made the exchange with the tribe that there would be a mutual understanding, equality and respect when we were representing the tribe. 

Click the link here to read about Arapahoe's Relationship with the Arapaho Tribe.