Undercaffeinated, constantly.

Cultural appropriation

feminoonas:

1) What is Cultural appropriation?

Cultural appropriation is the taking on elements of other cultures and removing these elements from their original cultural context and ending up assigning different meanings and significance to them… that is to say you twist a cultural aspect that does not belong to you into your own.

It is wrong because it:

• Invalidates: the culture/society/the people
• Homogenizes: let’s look at the white girls wearing warbonnets and mukluks. War bonnets are worn traditionally only by various Native plains tribes and mukluks are boots made of usually seal skin warn/made traditionally by Alaskan/Arctic natives. This haphazard and disrespectful throwing together different pieces of two completely different Native cultures which is portraying an image of homogeneity and reinforces the stereotype that there is just one Native American culture and they are all the same, which reinforces oppression and racism.
• Commodifies: putting a monetary value on something that should not be sold or purchased or marketed in any way, eg. spiritual practices.
• Reinforces stereotypes: which reinforce oppression and racism-a tool of colonisation.
• Distorts traditions into inaccurate and offensive caricatures
• Romanticises cultures: often this is something that results in entire groups of people being seen as ‘something that used to exist’ as opposed to people with lives and cultures that exist and flourish today. You get this a lot with Native American and Canadian culture.
• Eroticises/exoticizes people: this is incredibly dehumanising.

- What’s wrong with cultural appropriation?

2) Who can do cultural appropriation?

A Japanese teen wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of a big American company is not the same as Madonna sporting a bindi as part of her latest reinvention. The difference is history and power. Colonization has made Western Anglo culture supreme–powerful and coveted. It is understood in its diversity and nuance as other cultures can only hope to be. Ignorance of culture that is a burden to Asians, African and indigenous peoples, is unknown to most European descendants or at least lacks the same negative impact.

It matters who is doing the appropriating. If a dominant culture fancies some random element (a mode of dress, a manner of speaking, a style of music) of my culture interesting or exotic, but otherwise disdains my being and seeks to marginalize me, it is surely an insult.

- Cultural appropriation: Homage or Insult?

That being said, PoCs(People of Color) can culturally (mis)appropriate each other. I as a Afro-Latina can’t just don on a hangbok because I love South Korean culture. It’s not a custom, and that hangbok bears a lot of significance to South Korean culture and it’s not my symbol to try to represent.

When a PoC does cultural appropriation on other PoC it is more disrespectful adn perpetuates stereotypes than anything. When a white person does it is oppressive because whites have privilege and power.

3) How can I appreciate and admire another culture, without venturing into cultural appropriation?

1) Is it marketed to you as an object/custom from a marginalised culture without any context? If yes/unsure, don’t do it.

2) What are your reasons? Are you appreciating it because you feel bored, or because it’s cool, or you think it’s aesthetically pleasing (“exotic”)? If the answer to any of these is yes/unsure, then don’t do it.

3) What is the history/meaning of objects/languages/rituals in the culture? Are you aware of the meanings/history of these things? Will you be using them in a way that misrepresents them, or diminishes their power? If yes/unsure, don’t do it.

4) Are you comfortable with the understanding that as someone benefiting from imperialism, even if your local history does not have any, you may be contributing to the suppression of others’ cultural symbols, & that by your actions there is a strong possibility of further oppression? Are you willing to work through the nuances of privilege that occur when the question of cultural appropriation is brought up? If your answer to the second is no, and to the first is yes, then don’t do it.

5) If someone from calls you out on appropriation/racism, are you going defend your perceived right to appreciate their heritage, & how they shouldn’t be offended? If the answer is yes/unsure, you definitely shouldn’t do it.

- Difference between appropriation and appreciation

__________________________

Next time you want to go around making dream-catchers, screaming “kawaii”, and wearing a kimono all the sake of ”I really love this culture, I am homage paying to them” think about this:

You are stripping down another person’s IDENTITY and CULTURE in order to conform to your own views on them, which just further perpetuates stereotypes. These stereotypes can be anything from “omg these Japanese people are so kawaii desu, and so weird an awesome” when you misappropriate their culture to “all black people are rappers and dance so good…” when you try to copy black culture.

There comes a point where you are now a walking caricature of the another culture by exotifying and romanticizing their culture and that’s offensive and dehumanizing. So please, re-evaluate your “admiration” with the points listed above to make sure you are appreciating respectfully rather than misappropriating blindly.

(via buggerallthisforalark)

OMG YOU GAIZ

super-eklectic1:

m00dyvirgin:

thinkspeakstress:

charrliepants:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a story of white appropriation.

Just think about it.

Like, she comes in and tries on everyone’s lifestyle, eats their food, takes over their space.  When she gets scared off by them she leaves, but after she has had everything she wants.

Like,

wtf.

DAYUM!

ooooh shit!!!!!!

(via super1eklectic)

white girls who want my culture’s bindis and saris and henna

fsufeminist:

miseengarde:

white girls who want my culture’s bindis and saris and henna 

take my skin colour too

and my dark brown lips

take my self-hatred because i don’t fit into the euro-centric ideals of beauty

take the oppression too

take the history of colonization that has devastated my country

and the drones that currently devastate my country

take all the bad stuff too

not just the pretty, shiny, sparky bits

take the ugly, dehumanizing and shitty parts too

My girl Cathy and I have talked about this extensively. Don’t get her started.

(via fsufeministalumna)

Headdresses- And Why They Aren’t Offensive

moniquill:

I know I’m super late to the party on this (I only have Internet at work right now because there’s some bullshit with our service provider). I also know that the OP has declared that they have no fucks to give about the education that’s been laid down before them by the rest of the tumblr NDN community.

But I’m still going to go through this and point out why every single fucking words of this fucking post is fucking awful. For my followers. Because PSA’s are kind of what I do here in between pretty dresses and cute animals.

peppermint-wind:

Wow, people on tumblr have really been annoying the fuck out of me lately, so I guess I’m going to have to use all my pent up anger to finally make a post about this

‘I’m angry at target X so I’m going to address target Y’ is never an encouraging start…

So basically some self-righeous assholes have made the claim and spread the belief that Native American headdresses/Native American inspired fashion is culturally insensitive or wrong.

That would be the entire NDN community on tumblr.

First, let me just say- if you personally believe this and for that reason you do not wear these things, that is totally cool and fine.  Like really.  If that’s your opinion, fine.

How magnanimous of you.

What is not okay, is making others feel bad for wearing Native American fashion when they don’t personally think it’s offensive.  

But here’s where you fall down. Because if someone is hurting me, I am hurt regardless of their awareness or belief that they have done a hurtful thing. That’s not how hurt works.

I am one of those people who doesn’t find it offensive, and before you write me off as a “culturally insensitive asshole who doesn’t know what she’s talking about,”  please hear me out-

No.

You are wrong.

There is no argument about this.

Your opinion here is factually incorrect.

You don’t believe that cultural appropriation is offensive?

That’s wrong.

It is, indeed, offensive. It is hurtful. It is damaging to NDN people and NDN communities.

Your opinion that is is not is counter-factual.

holding an opinion does not make an opinion which is factually incorrect magically correct and/or valid somehow.

if I state that it is my opinion that the moon is entirely made from the compress bodies of g1 my little ponies, I am wrong because that is not true. it is counterfactual.

opinions can be wrong.

Here are some of the arguments people have made, and this is why they’re wrong:

Whenever you prepare arguments without actually quoting people, you’re necessarily building strawmen. Just so you know.

Note: I have cut some bullshit here because it’s not worth responding to in a point by point fashion; you can see it in the original post if you want.

• “Your ancestors killed them/were inhumane to them.”

-  Yes, some people’s ancestors were.  I don’t see how this is relevant?  Some people’s ancestors were also very cruel to African Americans.  Does that mean we can’t wear African tribal inspired fashion, as well?

Yes. Cultural appropriation is fuckery no matter who you’re appropriating. If specific cultural groups are telling you that it’s not ok to fashionably adopt a specific thing because it’s not just clothes, you are a fucking asshole for doing so.

Some things are just clothes and it’s ok to utilize them in fashion (though even this often comes with a heapin’ helpin’ of racist exoticism, so take it with a grain of salt) but SOME THINGS ARE NOT. For fuck’s sake why do privileged people seem incapable of understanding this very basic fact? That the entire world isn’t yours to have?

I could go on and on with almost every culture and the fashion that originated from it.  The point is, is that almost everything in fashion (especially cultural) can be linked to something tragic.  So if you’re not going to wear Native American inspired fashion, you also shouldn’t be wearing Asian/African/Scottish(that means plaid) inspired clothing.

I could tell you a funny story about Plaid, but I’ll save that for a later post.

But here’s the thing: I’m mostly on board with what you just said. SHOCKING I KNOW, but your attempt at wild hyperbole is actually correct.

YOU SHOULDN’T CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE.

    In conclusion, the whole argument for why “Native American fashion is offensive” does not make any sense.  Every point set forth, can be refuted with a basic knowledge of fashion, history, and understanding.  If you want to actually do anything about things in fashion that are “tragic,” I suggest you stop looking to the past. Instead, start looking at what companies inhumanely treat animals for their fur/skin.  In my opinion, that’s a little more important than whether I want to wear a fucking headdress or not.  Thanks.

You’ve displayed a total lack of comprehension, and that your capacity to give a fuck about hurting others is broken, but I’m going to take a bash at education anyway, because it seems from your posts that you have no idea what the ramifications are or WHY it really is a big deal:

Depictions like this are hurtful.

Dressing up in redface is hurtful. Wearing war bonnets is hurtful. Dressing up as another race by wearing terribly stereotypical caricatures of what you think that race looks like is not appropriate. When you dress up like this and take photos like this it adds one more images to the ponderous pile of this shit that creates the pervasive cultural notion that this is what people should think of when they hear ‘Native American’ , and IT HURTS REAL NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLE. It creates, in the minds of the people that see you dressed like this, a stereotype - a caricature of what Native people do/should look like that erases us in reality and removes us from their perception of the modern world. It turns ‘Native American’ into someone wearing beads and headbands and feathers and face paint. It turns an ethnic, racial identity into a costume.

This is racism.

When you only speak about Native American people in the past tense, in certain contexts. When you only mention them as pertains to White history. When you depict them in stereotypical ways. This is how racist thought is cemented in your mind and the minds of others.

I am tired of cultural appropriation.

I am tired of having to constantly be an educator of people who largely don’t want to be educated. I am tired of being -hurt- by racism. I am tired of people who claim that they love and admire ‘Native American Culture’ but in fact know fuck all about Pan-Indian culture or the fact that ‘Native American’ is a blanket term for hundreds of hugely disparate indigenous nations across two continents and that we do NOT have just one culture.

And before you argue that you didn’t MEAN to be racist or that you were just having fun, before your many white allies rally around you to tell me how wrong I am and what a good person you are and how you are not a racist…know this:

Racism is not in your intent.

Your intent is immaterial in how racist your actions are.

This isn’t about you BEING a racist. It’s about you DOING A THING that is racist.

Your intent doesn’t change it. Your ignorance of its meaning doesn’t change it. It’s got nothing to do with you as a person and everything to do with the meaning of your action in the context of sociocultural history.

Please watch this video.

If you think that dressing up as a stereotype is somehow ‘celebrating’ anyone’s culture, that speaks to some really problematic shit in how you’ve been educated, what you’ve been exposed to, what you think you know about what Native Americans are and what we look like. And while it’s not your fault that the culture of your upbringing has handed you that shit on a silver platter and said ‘eat it’, and not your fault that you did eat it without knowing better, it’s still bullshit and it’s still hurtful. You have the Internet at your disposal. You can become educated as to what Native Americans really are like and what we really are about and why not only is that outfit that you put on not remotely like anything legitimately Native American - but that you CAN’T make a costume that’s legitimately Native American. Because we don’t all look alike. Because we’re people.

Here’s a quick checklist for whether it’s ok to wear a war bonnet:

Was it placed onto your head by an elder/legitimate authority figure from a select number of plains nations because you personally achieved something so great that it is worthy of that kind of honor? (corollary: If yes to the above, are you currently wearing it in an appropriate ceremonial fashion/setting? Like are you at a powwow or speaking with the president?)

If you answered ‘no’ then IT IS NOT OK.

Any more than it would be ok to buy a decorated veteran’s purple heart that he had to pawn and put -that- on for a sexy/edgy/hip photo shoot. It’s that kind of disrespect, on top of the slap in the face that is cultural appropriation in general.

Here’s a quick checklist of when it’s ok to wear a cheapass knockoff war bonnet made from the feathers of Weeping Rainbow Chicken:

(via karnythia)

Dear white people: you want to know the difference between bitching about “omg the Irish were racially oppressed” and “bitching” about Slavery, Japanese Internment Camps, and the Trail of Fucking Tears?

lightspeedsound:

…Irish people being historic minorities is NO LONGER TOPICALLY RELEVANT TO A DISCOURSE ON THE CURRENT OPPRESSION OF POCS.

Seriously. 

The next time I hear the whole “omg I am irish, I was oppressed, therefore, I am a minority and not all white people are entitled and empowered” I’m going to cut a bitch.

Because last time I checked, Nobody fucking follows you around a store because you’re fucking Irish.

Nobody assumes female submission and an inability to speak English or discounts your American citizenship if you’re FUCKING IRISH. 

And nobody insists on cultural appropriation of religious/sacred garments and turning them into OFFENSIVELY LABELLED FASHION ITEMS because you’re fucking irish. 

And another thing: If by “I’m Irish,” you mean, “my ancestors came over 300 years ago and I’m actually a huge blend of different European ethnicities which are all white and I don’t actually know anything about Irish history, or culture, and my family has no real distinguishably, definite, “Irish” traditions or practices…”

…Newsflash: YOU’RE NOT. FUCKING. IRISH.

YOU are a fucking white-ass American, and that’s great for you, because nobody will ever ask you if you have a green card when you show them your american passport, no stranger will ever ask you uncomfortably intimate questions about “where you’re really from,” nobody will attack you as a mothefucking thug just by wearing a fucking hoodie, and nobody will ever fetishize your racial identity with extremely inaccurate and exotified portrayals of sacred traditions. 

Yes, you may have been bullied in school, maybe you are poor, and maybe you are gay.

IF WE ARE TAKING ABOUT RACE, NONE OF THAT IS TOPICAL TO THE CONVERSATION. IT IS SIMPLY A WAY FOR YOU TO ATTEMPT TO EXCUSE YOURSELF FROM ACCOUNTABILITY FOR YOUR UNDENIABLY RACIST ASSUMPTIONS. 

bitch, just admit it, live with it, and deal with it:

…You. are. motherfucking. RACIST.

question to white people: do you really think indigenous people and poc are being “mollycoddled”?

neetainari:

Do you really think we get free money and extra benefits and special rights?

Do you really think we get any breaks that you don’t?

Can you point to ANY instance of this preferential treatment taking place, with sources?

Can you also explain to me HOW and WHY was it preferential and unfair, taking into account all applicable historical and socioeconomical factors?

I’m really, truly, genuinely curious.

Reblogging for relevance.

(via crankyduojar-deactivated2012073)

basically

neetainari:

talldarkbishoujo:

I’ve been a practicing Pagan for sixteen, almost seventeen years now, and when I say I don’t deal with white Pagans, please add an asterisk that means, “outside of the tiny handful that I personally know and trust who aren’t completely fucking ridiculous”. White Pagan foolishness is 99% of why I’m solitary.

Going into a white Pagan space, even an online one, means dealing with microaggressions just as a baseline assumption. Even moreso than in other white spaces. It means I get stares and furtive glances. It means I undergo constant interrogation. Do you practice vodun? (No.) Santeria then? (No.) What about that one with a Y? (traditional Yoruba ways? No.) Why not? (Because while I give much love and respect to the gods of my ancestors, and have learned about them where I can, I am not called to work with them in this life.) Why do you work with the gods you do work with? (translation: why do you work with white people gods, why don’t you work with those voodoo n***** gods? answer: because these are the gods who called me.) Without fail, this interrogation happens in one form or another every single time I meet a bunch of white Pagans. Even when I tell them off the bat (to head this shit off) I practice a form of eclectic Greco-Egyptian syncretism.

It means I can’t just be there to enjoy the ritual/event/discussion group like everyone else, I have to justify my presence and my credentials on a level white Pagans don’t have to. I’m always assumed to be a newbie/seeker—while some of that is certainly due to the fact that I look very young, I know wtf is up.

Being in a white Pagan space means dealing with people with no fucking concept of white privilege whatsoever. If it’s a warren of fluffbunnies, it means dealing with White Tears if you even mildly call them on bullshit in the nicest tone possible. If it’s a ~srs Paganz~ space, like say, a certain Pagan snark community on LJ, it means basic bitches being basic about fucking everything: privilege, cultural appropriation, etc.

Oh yes, the big C word. Don’t think I wasn’t going to bring that up when discussing white Pagan fuckery. Hipsters in war bonnets have absolutely nothing on these motherfuckers. Hipsters in war bonnets might be racist assholes all the same, but there is nothing quite like religiously-based self-righteousness. White Pagans treat brown people’s religions and traditions like the goddamn value menu at Wendy’s. And not only do they not even give a fuck, most of them don’t even pretend to give a fuck. They’re white, so they have the right to take it and fuck it up (and make money/gain prestige by selling it to other white Pagans), period.

There are more ‘splainers (mansplainers and whitesplainers and generally some gross combo of the two) per capita in white Pagan spaces than I have seen anywhere else in my life, even in other white spaces. If you think I’m exaggerating, go on the Wild Hunt’s comment section some time. And they have no qualms whatsoever about dominating a discussion to the point of driving everyone else away, because goddammit they are White (and usually Male) And They Know Everything. This particular Whiteness pathology is found in spades with Reconstructionists, which is why I avoid their asses even more than regular white Pagans.

White Pagans think that because they belong to a minority religious community, their shit does not stink. In the majority side, it’s like White Liberal Racism x 1000. On the flipside, you get to play Racist Roulette with people like the Norse Pagans—and even when talking to the “non racist” kind, they will generally vomit all kinds of racist dogwhistles to justify themselves. And all of them will cry persecution at the drop of a hat.

Basically, if you want to see every kind of pathological Whiteness on display—everything we talk about and deconstruct as POCs on a daily basis on Tumblr, go observe a group of white Pagans, particularly on the internet. It’s pretty much a petri dish for it.

It is fucking toxic and I refuse to put myself through that voluntarily anymore.

See bolded for the essence white consumer culture, paid for by the ongoing genocide of non-white peoples all over the world. Physical, economical, cultural, spiritual: it is still genocide. For the right to shop.

(Source: commanderbishoujo, via crankyduojar-deactivated2012073)

ON SPIRITUAL SYNCRETISM AND CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

neetainari:

My my, what gems we find! TW for pro-appropriation attitude, white privilege, white ethnocentricism and colossal amounts of Not Getting It.

littlecitywitch:

I’ve received a lot of anonymous flames lately about the cultural appropriation visible on this blog. It was even suggested that I read this badly argued post and “educate myself”.

Poor you! So mean of them!

Right. Some people seem to feel that my appropriation of different spiritualities and cultures into my own brand of syncretism is inherently inappropriate, insensitive, and oppressive. I, of course, disagree.

‘Cause it’s all about you.

Appropriation is essential to my spirituality, which I like to call syncretic witchcraft. I think that appropriation is a healthy spiritual activity, and like to encourage people to think for themselves rather than to consume any religious dogma simply because it was written down as such. To have an ideological problem with appropriation is to have an ideological problem with syncretism, and so I found the topic relevant enough to make one (ONE only) post about.

Okay, I’m not educated enough about syncretism but you honestly have NO flippin’ idea about what cultural appropriation is, and what it isn’t. But you know, it’s your prerogative to stay ignorant, white as you are.

This blog is not about identity politics, it is about witchcraft and spirituality. I don’t want this blog to be a place of argumentation and propagation of hatred, I would like it to be a place of respectful discussion and acceptance .

“I’m not racist, but…”

To me, that is what syncretic spiritualities embody. I find it interesting that a lot of blogs that deal in identity politics and appropriation of culture ignore the spiritual aspect of cultural appropriation, and how spirituality was and is often a syncretic creation. I refuse to use spiritual oppression and massacres of the past as any part of my argument.

Yet later on you drag up how you’re a witch and how you’re totes not privileged because of that. You make no sense.

Around 100,000 individuals (mostly women) suspected of being witches were killed in the Burning Times. Being a witch today does carry a stigma, and at the same time many fashion blogs espouse the witchy aesthetic as trendy. I do find this a tad ironic, but I refuse to hold hatred within my heart. Live and let live. The past is the past - let us acknowledge it, learn from it, and move forward.

“Tragic! I’m so happy that’s all in the past, and people aren’t being denied their spiritualities any more… Except for when they are, but I don’t care.”

The problem is not cultural appropriation. The problem is when dominant cultures demonize and dehumanize the people that are being subjected to oppression, and do everything they can to illustrate why these cultures are inferior and wrong.

Like you do! With your context-free appropriation of an indigenous scholar’s words to police indigenous people. You’re so open-minded!

It’s also problematic when cultural appropriation is done in a way that is wildly insensitive to the cultural concerns of an approrpiated culture. Cultural appropriation is not inherently an insensitive or harmful thing, and believing so is not a reasonable and nuanced view. Our lived reality is fluid and porous.

Using terms without knowing what they actually mean seems to be a bit of a pattern with you.

We live in a highly networked, highly industrialized world, and not everything is necessarily going to be just and perfect and when things are appropriated not everyone is going to respect it, but people can respect things and use them.

And who gets to define “respect”? The appropriators, of course!

It’s impossible not to appropriate anything from any other cultures - we drink tea, we smoke ciagrettes, we use rubber products and plastic products. our entire society is full of appropriation and cultural conversation.

The world you’re looking for is colonization. I can see how you’d confuse it with “conversation”, though. They both begin with “co”.

It’s impossible to say, “I will avoid all forms of cultural appropriation, ever, amen” and to actually succeed in doing so. Furthermore, why would anyone desire such an existence? The richness in our world lies in experiencing its beautiful diversity.

…Which cultural appropriation neatly destroys. Thanks for the sentiment, tho.

The idea that we can’t cross cultures or change cultures (culture is, of course, a social construction, not an inarguable biological truth) reeks of essentialization, which reduces all of us to a core essence. Third wave feminism in particular is very much against this - we are just as much products of our own sensitivities as we are a product of our own biologies.

So when white feminists say something, it must be true and applicable everywhere in every way! Cool! I can even use it to back up a totally unrelated argument ‘cause it sounds sooo cool and universal!

Suggesting that the only appropriate way to engage with spirituality is to look to our own ethnic heritages and cultures falls back on the same conventions that underpin racism, sexism, segregation, and other forms of oppression and essentialism.

Again, those words may not mean what you think they mean.

Viewing all cultural appropriation as being harmful is an essentialization of what we consider to be ‘other cultures,’ as well as other cultures’ essentialization of themselves.

What are you smoking?

Regardless of how it needlessly polarizes people from one another, this essentialization is at most a capitalist critique which argues that putting culture through a machine and decontextualizing it causes it to lose its essential meaning.

What?!

Through systems of production and reproduction, cultural objects become meaningless (this harkens back to the work of Adorno, Horkheimer, and Benjamin).  Our cut-and-paste society is all about decontextualization. We bring new meanings to things every day. Yes, privledged people can use things and aspects of culture, but people without privledge do so as well.

Your atrocious spelling aside, someone else doing offensive shit already doesn’t excuse anybody or anything.

Non-privledged people are always taking different things and using them, and finding new ways to use them and make them their own - as we all should. Saying that you can’t incorporate anything from another culture into your life and suggesting that you can only appreciate it from a distance is presenting a false choice. It’s false to say that you can never come close to something because if you do you’re somehow in the territory of completely disrespecting culture. That idea in itself is very flawed, because many people are very happy to share their culture and stories with others.

It’s okay when people actually share their stuff. It’s called consent. Taking something without permission? Nope.

All of this doesn’t mean that people can’t have opinions about your appropriation or use of their culture. We should all listen to critiques and ask people why they’re upset.

Except for you, because it’s awful to be asked to educate oneself and so you’re not going to.

Do they think you don’t truly understand it, or are they of the opinion that engaging with other cultures in a meaningful way in general is wrong? There is an assumption that people enjoy other cultures because it is “aesthetically cool,” and an assumption that all consumers of other cultures are ignorant of context. We all pick and choose from different cultures to make our own, because our world is so globalized.

This is where we get down to the most basic problem. Who do you think this twit means by “we”? Context, baby. Context. It means, among other things, that you open your eyes and understand not everyone else is a white middle-class European/American.

The idea that somehow cultures aren’t going to bleed into each other and mix, or that they shouldn’t, is ridiculous. There are so many things in our world that came from traditional ways of life. Our present society is a result of the mixing processes of hundreds of thousands of years.

No, it’s constructed within the last few hundred years on top of colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, misogyny, heterosexism and cissexism. Among others.

Cultures come and go; they mix and create new cultures. Culture is constantly changing. If we essentialize an essential “indianness” or an essential “blackness” or an essential “whiteness” we only reinforce those boundaries that separate us rather than realizing that we’re all human and that we can respect each others’ cultures, and learn from them, and come together.

“I don’t see race! I’m SOOO not racist!”

It’s totally anti-colonialist to want to understand and interact with and be a part of native groups and cultures. With that comes the responsibility of understanding their current struggles and their history - why are they where they are today? Where are they going and how do you fit into that?

OH THE LOLS

The key thing in all of this is wanting to engage in dialogue, and not reacting defensively. We should all always be willing to learn more about different cultures, and being sensitive to people when they voice their concerns.

Except for when they tell you to piss off and educate yourself and maybe keep your hands off stuff that doesn’t belong to you. That’s when you can just stop listening and hum Kumbayah.

Culture is important, and that’s why it’s meaningful.

Rain is water, and that’s why it’s wet.

It’s important to understand that you do have privledge, but at the end of the day it’s about coming together, and not trying to separate people from each other. If you want to build a broad movement for social justice and change, you don’t build it on hatred and anger - you do it through dialogue, discussion, and empathy.

Help! Quick! Hide your “fucks”, here comes the tone police!

People have the right to be upset, but it’s not constructive because being upset only drives people to be more and more defensive.

Why r u meen u maek me cryyyy

If you want people to get more angry and reified in their beliefs, just keep attacking them, and they’ll get more defensive and angry and act hurt - because they are being hurt.

Kinda like the natives when you don a war bonnet. Except not at all, because you’re defending the perpetuation of GENOCIDE.

I’m always willing to accept history, but I’m not going to blame myself for the sins of my fathers. It’s important to acknowledge history and try to fix it, and create movements and discourse that moves us away from old colonialisms and the new ones that we perpetuate.

Great! Now stop being an appropriative colourblind racist and we can all get along!

There are certain cultural sensitivities to take into consideration, and it’s important to be sensitive to other people, but culture is not that simple. You can’t reduce everything to appropriation by white colonialists, because that’s not the case.

“Not when it’s me doing it. Because I’m speshul and have respect.”

There are all sorts of struggles - for women’s rights, struggles against racism, sexism, and homophobia. They’re all connected, which is what Donna Haraway argues. Her idea of the cyborg suggests that we can’t all be the same, we can’t all hope to agree on everything. We can’t ever hope to have one direct goal, but we can at least come together in our differences and fight for equality in our disparate ways, because the hope for a unified broad movement that agrees on everything 100% is just not going to happen. If people don’t want to engage in subtlety and nuance, you aren’t going to find your way of convincing anyone that what you’re talking about is meaningful. It’s just communication. Change and awareness is created through dialogue and discussion.

Thing is, though, we tried subtlety and nuance. Didn’t help. Never does. You seem to have missed the memo.

It’s too bad that I and others have to mention the ways in which we are marginalized and/or educted to garner any feeling of respect or equal treatment from many proponents of identity politics. For instance, in this post I recently replied to about veganism being only for people of privilege, I got an apology from someone I was engaging in dialogue with - only after I mentioned the many ways I am not as privleged as she assumed I was.

How touching! Except, how is this even relevant?

I’m white, sure, but I’m also female, bisexual, a witch, health compromised, vegan, and certainly not the richest chick on the planet.

Are we doing Oppression Olympics now or what?

In order to avoid being bitch-slapped by anons about the cultural and spiritual appropriation on my blog and in my life, I shouldn’t have to explain that I have read hundreds of books on alternative spiritualities and done extensive research on different cultures.

You don’t need to explain that stuff. All you gotta do is stop being a racist appropriative asshole.

I shouldn’t have to explain that I’ve read 20+ books on shamanism and that the only native-influenced products I own were handmade by various native peoples themselves. My ideologies and arguments should be enough, because this isn’t about me and it’s not about you. It’s about ideas and engaging in a respectful dialogue, regardless of who’s on the other side - and stepping forward to create a better world, together. 

Namaste. xx

“I’m gonna keep being an entitled asshole. So there!”

Protip: If you have to tag your posts with “I am sick of people assuming that I am a fucking idiot”, check your signal: chances are good the fault’s in the transmitter, not the receiver.

Motherfucker must be tripping. Seriously.

(via crankyduojar-deactivated2012073)

A Daily Riot.: Update: Culutral Appropriation Do’s and Don’ts

msamberhazard:

jamesrobert:

A Daily Riot.: Update: Culutral Appropriation Do’s and Don’ts

adailyriot:

Given that the old cultural appropriation resource learning list is being passed around more frequently now, and that some of the links on it no longer work, I thought it was high time to release an updated list. These links pertain primarily to the appropriation of Native American/First Nations cultures, spiritualities, and items. However, it’s important to note that cultural appropriation is not limited to the Native American/First Nations. Cultural Appropriation is something that racks the African American, African, Asian, Romani, Indian, South Asian, Maori, and many people and places around the world. It can (as it often does with Native/First Nations) perpetuate racist stereotypical caricatures of Native peoples, as well as colonization, and cultural genocide. i.e. you could be participating in genocide today even if you’re you or your ancestors did not partake in the first acts of colonialism.That is something to be aware of.

Before I send you to the list, I will satirically tell you in the tradition of the (blasted) “Two Wolves” story:

A wise person sat with an ignorant person and said “You can bring a horse to water, but you can not make it drink.” The ignorant person looked at the wise person perplexed, and the wise person said, “Will you drink the water?”

• Racialicious: Cultural Appropriation- Homage or Insult?
• Zine: Cultural Appreciation or Cultural Appropriation?
• Zine: Wanting to Be Indian- When Spiritual Searching Turns Into Cultural Theft
• Selling the Indian
• Video: Janessa Speaks on Cultural Appropriation
• Book: Going Native - Indians in the American Cultural Imagination
• Blog: Native Appropriations
• What is Institutionalized Racism?
• Canada’s First Nations: The Legacy of Institutionalized Racism
• Book: Power, Privilege, and Difference
• Stereotypes and Prejudices
• Cultural Genocide
• Earthen Spirituality or Cultural Genocide?
• How to Combat Racism in Your Every Day Life
• History is a Weapon
• Why the ‘Native’ Trend is Pissing Off Real Native Americans
• Why Can’t I Wear a Hipster Headdress?
• Lets Talk About Pendleton
• Reality Check! Indian Images and [Mis]Representations
• My Culture Is Not A Trend
• A Critical Fashion Lover’s Basic Guide to Cultural Appropriation
• Cultural Appropriation: Still Refusing To See The Truth
• An Open Letter To All Appropriators
• What’s Wrong With Cultural Appropriation?
• Appropriation- The Reality of Indigenous
• Native Stereotypes In the Dominate Culture
• Readings on Cultural Respect
• Racism Primer
• Racism: What It Means, What Most People Think It Means
• Documentary: Reel Injuns
• Documentary: The Canary Effect
• Documentary: White Shamans and Plastic Medicine
• Commercialization of Native Spirituality
• Twilight Saga and The Quileute Indian Tribe: Opportunity or Cultural Exploitation?
• Truth vs. Twilight: Quilieute Website Explores Reality and Fiction
• Halloween: Time to Wear Your Indian Costumes
• When Cultural Appropriation Goes Too Far

  Other Terms to Research:

• Cultural Appropriation
• Stereotypes /Stereotyping
• Racism
• Institutionalized Racism
• Oppression/Institutionalized Oppression
• White Supremacy
• White Privilege
• White Guilt
• Imperialism
• Colonization
• Genocide
• Cultural Genocide
• Spiritual Appropriation

Reblogging this because of reasons. Important reasons.

Reblogging this in the hopes that some white douche with dreds will read this and shave their head.

(Source: rematiration, via msamberhazard-deactivated201210)