Wednesday, May 11, 2011

the hipster headdress

Image from weheartit.com


How? An interesting and informative post by a fashion blogger on the "hipster headdress."

I am so happy that none of the fashion bloggers I follow do this.

I've been going through old entries at Native Appropriations and I'm honestly very surprised and saddened that she has so much content to work with. I had the opportunity to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Oklahoma during an internship while I was in college, got to visit a lot of Native Americans in their communities and even had a great time at a couple of powwows, and got to personally hear some of their stories and witness their community's unique struggles. The way that Native Americans continue to be treated by the rest of society is really sad.

At the same time, I kind of feel like if I stand up and say something, like to my co-worker who mentioned she wants to get a dreamcatcher tattoo, people will just dismiss me as one of those people who latches on to causes just to have something to complain about. I just don't understand how people can do things based on the presumption that Native people, their cultures and their religions no longer exist.

3 comments:

  1. Great post.
    For me, it depends on the situation. If it's someone I know, I tell them -- a lot of people don't innately think about cultural appropriation, but when you point it out to them, they're quite receptive. If it's someone I don't know, I just try to feel out the situation. :/

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  2. Yeah, and it totally depends on the object. For example, I probably wouldn't stress too much over someone wearing moccasins - hell, there's an etsy seller that makes beautiful handmade ones and I really want some - but dreamcatchers and feathered headdresses have religious connotations. To be honest I also take issue with people wearing rosaries and prayer beads as fashion.

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  3. That was a really interesting article.. I can't say I know much about Native American culture so if I were to make that mistake I wouldn't have known otherwise just like the others, perhaps?

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