Every fall, Americans are excited by the return of cooler weather, changing leaves, seasonal lattes, and the endless possibilities for Halloween costume choices. Whether it be for attending a party, going trick or treating, or just handing out candy, a majority of Americans choose to dress up and celebrate the holiday. Choosing a Halloween costume used to be an untroubled task, yet it has become an increasingly difficult decision in recent years. In times of an “easily offended society,” choosing an appropriate and non-upsetting costume has now become tedious and wearisome. Much of this is because Halloween costumes contribute to and promote cultural appropriation in our society. The Cambridge English dictionary defines cultural …show more content…
Compounding the issue, merchandising and marketing also aid in the appropriation of these cultures because they “continue to sell us costumes that are inarguably politically incorrect and disrespectful to the very identities they are portraying” (Zulch 2015). Some examples of common costumes that are considered to be culturally appropriated are gypsies, Egyptian goddesses, and Geisha girls. One group that is particularly affected by cultural appropriation during the Halloween season is the Native American Indian population. By appropriating Native American culture into Halloween costumes, Americans dismiss the historical Native American Indian genocide, hypersexualize Native American women, and preserve offensive stereotypes regarding Native people. Throughout history, the Native American population in the United States has been denigrated on multiple levels and continues to face inequality and hardship today. Members of the Native American community are constantly reminded of the harsh and devastating history lived by their ancestors, especially around Halloween time. According to Kyle Dlaakaw.éesh Wark, an Indigenous Researcher and Policy Analyst for the First Alaskans Institute, “Stereotyping minorities is bad. Costumes that stereotype minorities are bad. But
The lack of accurate representation of Native Americans in our everyday lives has left members of society without more than a stereotype to draw from when thinking about characteristics of Native Americans. Native Americans have “relative invisibility” in mainstream media and this lets the few inaccurate portrayals, such as a sports team’s mascot, have an overwhelming amount of power in forming stereotypes (Fryberg, Markus, Oyserman, Stone, 2008, pg. 208). Many members of society have a very narrow view of what they understand a Native American to look, dress, and act. These ideas mostly come from what they see in media through the caricatures used as mascots, childhood cartoons, and similar
Associated with wearing skins, living in teepees, and riding horses Native Americans are viewed as ‘country’ and lack of knowledge. Shown as dumb and have a lack of formal education, most of them live in poverty invested areas. Because of this, they feel that “one representation is better than no representation.” When a group feels underrepresented their psychological relevance and has a toil on the overall ethnic group and can make a difference in lives. Inaccurate and negative representations of Native Americans can be detrimental to the overall perception to the race in general.
Cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture. Cultural appropriation is portrayed as rude, called cultural misappropriation, and claims to be a violation of the history of a culture. Often unavoidable when cultures come together, cultural appropriation can include using another culture's traditions, such as fashion, symbols, language, and cultural songs without permission. Even though society consistently uses Native American and African American styles at festivals, in magazines and on celebrities, this form of cultural appropriation is not right because we are not using it for the right reasons.
The American Psychological Association had found that using representation of the mascots “undermines the educational experiences of members of all communities- especially those who have had little or no contact with Indigenous peoples” (APA). When people view a culture being paraded as a mascot, it can become their singular view and knowledge on the ethnic group. There is nothing to stop the formulation of what students know about Native Americans when there are few natives around. With the allowance of mascots to represent Native American in a way as they do now, wearing headdresses or war paint and using “peace pipes” has become a trend and something “cool” to do. Headdresses are traditionally a part of the Plains tribes and are considered sacred. Only revered warriors or significant people could wear war bonnets or headdresses. Feathers, especially eagle feathers, are very sacred to Native Americans. These appropriations continue to be a negative and demeaning aspect of using Native Americans as
The constructive portrayals of Native Americans exist in the same way as the negatives and can be equally as damaging. Positive tropes tend to set a higher standard for a race and can lead to vacuous
The 2005 APA Resolution called for the immediate retirement of Native American-themed mascots, symbols, images, and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams, and organizations (Steinfeldt, 2010). This resolution is incredibly significant, bringing a community of scholars from a variety of disciplines together in asserting the negative effects of perpetuating societal stereotypes. According to the ruling, these kinds of representations of Native Americans are detrimental for a wide variety of reasons: not only do they perpetuate racist stereotypes and possibly violate the civil rights of Native Americans, they “undermines the ability of American Indian Nations to portray accurate and respectful images of their culture,” and their use even “create[s] a racially hostile environment for all students,” (Steinfeldt, 2010). These findings are supported by psychological research, and have been confirmed by over a hundred similar resolutions produced by professional organizations. One of the most disturbing revelations is that the presence of these kinds of stereotypical images in American history and culture breeds an air of acceptance and indifference—the kind that subtly undermines ideas and language that is actually harmful or even offensive to the group of people it references (Hemmer,
Another de-humanizing example of Native Americans is the way they are depicted in movies and films, especially old Westerns. The way they are portrayed in these movies is the same way many people unaware of Native culture still view them. Their dress is one inaccurate portrayal of Native Americans. Every Native American in a movie is either wearing a full tribal headdress, or some other sort of feather attire. Basically it all amounts to all tribes being considered to dress the same, when they actually had different attire and forms of dress including forms of presentation, and different types of jewelry. Another stereotype used in these movies is the assumption that all Native Americans live in teepees. This again points to the fact that all Native cultures were grouped together and viewed as the same. Yet another example of
In society today there are many stereotypes, including those surrounding Native Americans. The largest of these stereotypes is caused by the misrepresentation of Native Americans as sports mascots. Today, most Native Americans are depicted as, “Objects, cartoon characters, and savages” (Cummings, 2008). Often in the American
When one is exposed to a different culture, he or she may experience a deviance. An example of a deviance behavior that is violating a culturally practice is wearing a Halloween costume to a grand business meeting. In any business meetings, the ideal attire is to dress up and act in the professional you want to be (Shandrow, 2014). Men are suppose to dress clean and be crispy looking from head to toe by wearing a suit, tie, black pants, and shiny shoes while women are dress with a blouse, blazer, and dress pants or a skirt that isn’t too short. Mainly, one should dress up appropriately to who the audience is. In contrast, dressing in a Halloween costume is
Today, the public would see that as a derogatory and disrespectful action, but there are still some of those who would inherit Native American symbols, such as clothing, jewelry, trinkets, and even tools such as theater masks, into their own culture, all in an attempt to act more “Native American.” Dressing up and paint and feathers, some people do this to “honor” Native Americans from a long time ago. These actions can be insulting and demeaning, using symbols that mean so much to a people and are so important to them, only to be used as a costume to wear during a sporting event or a holiday such as Halloween. These types of depictions are still rampant in popular culture today. Native Americans are dehumanized, used as tools and representations of the wilderness, violence, and the untamed land, all reducing Native Americans to
In the article done by Ariel Rothfield she states that “In recent years, controversy has swirled around sporting teams, mascots, and team traditions. Native American activists have demanded the Washington Redskins football team be renamed and Kansas City Chiefs fan refrain from dressing up.” Dr. Daniel Wildcat is an indigenous and American Indian studies professor at Haskell Indian Nations University and he said “It’s a stereotype, it’s a fabricated notion.” He then stated “We do find it incredibly disrespectful when a non-native tries to dress up like a chief.” “It’s an act. It’s more than just putting on a hat,” said Wildcat. He also said “Those kinds of grotesque characters of who we are, are offensive to people who’ve struggled mightily in the United States to maintain cultural language, ceremony and song.” What he’s trying to say is that it’s very disrespectful for these people to do all of these things that they are doing. What he has to look at is that people don’t do this as a phase to disrespect people. Some people do this as a sign of respect. Maybe they like how Indians do the tomahawk chop. Not everything should be taken as a disrespect, because depending on how you look at things that’s how you choose and pick what is and isn’t disrespectful. I don’t feel that
The Native Americans seldom receive recognition when aspects of their culture are appropriated by famous celebrities and well-known brands. This essay will examine the ways in which Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams and Spur Steak Ranches appropriate the Native American culture, as well as explore their intentions to do so. The term cultural appropriation is defined to be “the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture.” Cultural appropriation harms the appropriated community, and wrongly allows one to benefit material detriment from others such as benefiting financially. Jonathan Hart states in his book Translating and Resisting Empire: Cultural Appropriation and Postcolonial Studies that the debate over
In a campaign called “My culture is not a costume”, people from different ethnicities denunciate the use of their traditional clothing as a Halloween costume. For example, aboriginal complained that non-aboriginal wore loincloth and feathers. First Nation wears those kinds of outfits during Pow Wow. Pow Wow is an important celebration for Natives and understanding their origin is important.
The concept of cultural appropriation of Dia de los Muertos is how consumers purchase Dia de los Muertos themed products such as necklaces, earrings, bed coverings, costumes, masks,
Women who wear revealing costumes on Halloween are regarded as undignified or lack self-respect; however, I believe it’s a form of self expression. In a study done by Dr.Glasgow, a professor at the College of Liberal Arts’ Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, has stated that 72% of women agreed that Halloween costumes are indeed an example of body entitlement. According to one the woman who participated in this research said that