Showing posts with label headdress. Show all posts

For the love of all, PUT DOWN THE NATIVE HEADDRESS!


Literally all you have to do is google image search "native headdress" and up pops copious amounts of pictures of pale faced light haired people sporting their "inspired" hipster headdresses they bought for a mere 25 bucks at urban outfitters.

No matter how many times cultural appropriation articles blip across your screen, it doesn’t seem to matter in the slightest when October rolls around. The likelihood of being familiarized with this term in a liberal college classroom is very high, but incase you haven't let me give you a quick lesson.

If you need a definition on Cultural appropriation, click HERE, or HERE... or HERE.

It’s mostly associated with white people donning themselves in Native American "inspired" garb, and calling themselves Indians. No no no, you are not dressing up as an Indian, you are dressing up as a Native American... and it’s not OK.

So what’s the problem? Dr. Keene, as you may know my fondness for her if you read this blog, puts it quite well in a post she wrote titled "But Why Can’t I Wear a Hipster Headdress?" among many others.

To put it simply;
  • > Headdresses promote stereotyping of Native cultures.
  • > Headdresses, feathers, and warbonnets have deep spiritual significance.
  • > There is a history of genocide and colonialism involved that continues today.

Listen, from one caucasian to another, the problem is that when white people take the attributes of underrepresented, marginalized and oppressed people then use them for their own gain, it is continuously perpetuating the image of racism and superiority in America.

If your child wants to dress up as Pocahontas for Halloween, that’s a different story. Disney princesses are hard to debate with a 5-year-old. Perhaps use that time to educate your child on the history and culture of the Native American people, or whoever else your child wants to dress up as.

Use your best judgment and if you have to question it, don’t do it. Don't dress up as generic native americans for Halloween, don't proudly adorn yourself in some cheaply made knockoff head dress for your photoshoot, and please PLEASE PLEASEEE, stop calling yourself Native American because you think or were told your great great great grandmother was Cherokee (whom might I add aren't even indegenious to the area where we live)! If you want to argue about the fact that you are Native American, then take the initiative to get a DNA test and start tracking down your lineage so you can reunite and share the struggles of your people, don't only claim to be when it is convenient for you.

If you are still questioning what kind of message you (as a Caucasian) are sending in relation to cultural appropriation, see my article "We're a Culture, Not a Costume."

Until next time. - D💋

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Head Coverings: Can I Wear One?


Khloe Kardashian set off an internet firestorm when she posted an Instagram photo of herself wearing a niqab, or veil that covers the face. Fierce accusations of “gross” and “cultural appropriation” ensued. As a mother to multiracial children and a blended family I decided to dig a little deeper into the culture surrounding head coverings.


In some places, such headcoverings are banned entirely. France prohibits women from wearing the niqab in public, arguing people's faces should not be obscured. Cities across the EU have followed suit. Critics say such bans inhibit freedom of religion and expression, not to mention further misconceptions and distrust around the wearers.

The Headwrap Expo in Dearborn, Michigan, aims to bust stereotypes around this tradition, as well as share new styles, fabrics and scarf-wrapping techniques. The expo “was established to build love and understanding between peoples of the world by tapping into our shared love of fashion,” explained organizer and creator Zarinah El-Amin Naeem. She encourages people to “Speak with someone different from yourself, learn from others. Ask who are they and why they wear the scarf.”

For many people around the world, a head covering is a personal choice, whether spiritual, cultural, practical or fashionable. Head covering uses or meaning can vary depending on the location and/or religion of those who wear it. Head coverings may be worn for a variety of purposes, such as protection of the head or hair from rain, wind, dirt, cold, warmth, for sanitation, for fashion, recognition or social distinction; with religious significance, to hide baldness, out of modesty, or other forms of social convention. Head coverings are now mainly worn for practical, cultural or religious reasons. Until the latter 20th century, head coverings were commonly worn by women in many parts of the Southwestern Asia, Europe, North Africa, and the Americas, as well as some other parts of the world. In recent decades, head coverings, like hats, have fallen out of favor in Western culture. They are still, though, common in many rural areas of Eastern Europe as well as many areas of the Middle East.

Headscarves, headwrapping and other cloth head coverings can be worn big, piling the hair on the head; with the hair tied close to the head but wrapped to be large, like a crown; some women might tie a simple scarf around their head to keep their hair out of their face. People have to cover their hair if they work in a kitchen — and some simply want to look fashionable when they do it.

Many cultures wear head coverings, beyond the Muslim niqab, including Native Americans, Japanese, Turks, Eastern Europeans, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs as well as Africans. “White” is a phenotype, not a culture. White people belong to many cultures, including cultures in which head coverings are worn. Head coverings are universal & don’t belong to any culture. People all over the world have been wrapping their heads in cloth for thousands of years. "Black" is also a phenotype, not a culture. Black people belong to many cultures. Just being black doesn’t automatically give a person exclusive ownership of certain hairstyles, clothing, music or food. Being black doesn’t necessarily make a person part of the culture that originally developed these things.

El-Amin Naeem says that in the workshops she holds on headwrapping, Caucasian American women are often apprehensive about wearing a head covering, out of fear for cultural misappropriation. They don’t want to be seen like they are mimicking a culture, even though they want to wrap their hair. “But when you look at traditional clothing in Eastern Europe, they have something on their head, as well; ornate flowers, lace scarves… It is a global phenomena."


Comparison of a "tichel" head covering worn by a white woman & a "low bun" head covering worn by a black woman.








At the expo, Nabintou Doumbia, 18, stressed that wrapping hair or wearing a scarf is “not just religion. It’s beautiful.” She said in Ivory Coast, women do it as much as a fashion statement or as a part of their culture, not just for religious purposes.

El-Amin Naeem explains some of the religious meanings of head coverings: Orthodox Jewish women will cover their hair with a tichel or a wig after they marry; showing their real hair only to their husbands is considered a bond of intimacy. Some Muslim women traditionally cover their heads after they reach puberty. "It’s not a marker for marriage, but it is a marker — a protection, a reminder of your self that you are covering for Allah alone," says El-Amin Naeem. The New Testament also directs women to cover their heads, in 1 Corinthians 11:6: "For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head."

Others wrap for spiritual preferences: "There is some type of energy coming from our heads,” El-Amin Naeem says. “When people cover their heads, they are protecting it and blocking negative energy. Some people also say wrapping presses down on different chakras, so it forces you to have a mental focus.”

Filipino Janette Torrico-Woo is from the North, or Catholic, part of the country where they don’t traditionally wear head coverings, but she likes to wear her hair wrapped like the women from the Southern islands.

Rose Onwenu, from Nigeria, is Christian, and even though she must wrap her hair before prayer, she chooses to wear head coverings as a fashion statement. “When you dress up, you feel you are sophisticated and elegant, and you walk differently. You have the crown. You are the queen.”

Carlotta Whitney founded a headscarf business based on her experience with cancer. She was working as a bus driver when she underwent medical care and lost all her hair. Her employer refused to let her wear hats or colored scarves, so she designed a headscarf to look like hair. Whitney has been cancer-free for 17 years, sells her scarves in 18 states and donates scarves to women with cancer. She was so successful with the line, she quit her bus driving job.

It’s practical: Whether you’re growing your hair out or just not happy with a new haircut, “you should never have a bad hair day once you learn how to wrap,” says El-Amin Naeem. “You should always know how to go out and be fashionable.”

Fashion can flatter these cultures, but at the end of the day it's a luxury. Many people are still targeted simply for adhering to cultural traditions, style aside. Across the U.S., where freedom of religion is a sacred foundation of the nation, women have been fired or not hired because they choose to wear a hijab, a traditional covering worn by some Muslim women that shows the face. After 9/11, Sikhs were victims of hate crimes because of their head coverings, which they wear for religious purposes unrelated to terrorism. In February, an entire Arab family was attacked while grocery shopping, accused of being a part of ISIS and told to "take the rag off your head."

We’re all members of a worldwide human culture, regardless of where we live or what we look like. We all enjoy and benefit from things that were not originally created in the place we currently live or by people who look exactly like us. The way to curb ignorance is through education, at events like the Headwrap Expo, where wearing a head covering is embraced rather than shunned.

Until next time. - D💋 

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We're a Culture, Not a Costume


As the days get shorter, the smell of bonfires looms, here in the Midwest there is a heavy chill in the air, leaves are changing color, and people are frantically acquiring pumpkin spice anything. Yes, Halloween is quickly approaching!

The older you get, the less you tend to enjoy the holidays but halloween just happens to include fun for the entire family. Though I cosplay (check out my first cosplay), I know I’m not the only one who loves the excuse to dress-up as an adult without anyone staring or mocking at least once a year. It’s fun to pretend to be someone, or something you aren't for a night, and costumes run a gamut as wide as the human imagination. With such a variety of humorous, frightening and even sexy ensembles to choose from, it’s disappointing to see that tired stereotypes, oblivious prejudice, and nonchalant racism still manages to find a way to the store shelves and in the hands of our friends and families.

Last year, Ohio University’s S*T*A*R*S (Students Teaching About Racism in Society) released the incredibly popular “We’re A Culture, Not A Costume” ad campaign showing ethnic minority students holding photos of people dressed up as stereotypes of their culture.



The best way to get rid of stereotypes and racism is to have discussions, raise awareness, and educate others on matters that the public school system will not. The most obvious stereotype is when someone dresses in blackface, because of it historical context, however the message applies to all races and stereotypes, and not just during Halloween. “Halloween as a holiday has a history of being focused on inversion of power,” says professor Susan Scafidi of Fordham University. She is the author of Who Owns Culture: Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law.

Let stop for just a minute to examine, what is cultural appropriation? The most simple definition of cultural appropriation is that it occurs when members of a dominant culture borrow from the cultures of minorities without their input. Typically those doing the exploiting, lack a contextual understanding of what makes the cultural symbols, art forms and modes of expression significant. Despite their ignorance of the ethnic groups from which they borrow, members of the majority culture frequently profit from the exploitation. If you need a better look at that blurred line, head over and read The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation.

People dress up as plenty of powerful figures that don't get misconstrued and that is OK! But when you dress up as a culture that you are currently oppressing, or have subjugated in the past, you’re not inverting anything, you are just further “reinforcing current power structures in an offensive way.” We need to learn to treat people the way that they deserve, the way we want to be treated. If it’s something that [you] have the privilege to wear, where others would not, do not wear it. You should know when you go past the limit, but as we all know there are people in society who don’t know, don't see, or don't care about that limit. If we really begin to examine the subconscious thoughts of our peers and brought them to attention, maybe we can collectively start to stamp out these stereotypes that have been ingrained into american society.

If you are still questioning what kind of message you (as a Caucasian) are sending in relation to cultural appropriation, here is a list to help sum up what we went over:

  • > Don't wear blackface.... EVER. Point blank period. Never ever.
  • > Don't wear a native american headdress... If you were "native american" like many claim, you would know better. Headdresses are a sacred item, built from individual eagle feathers that are earned over time. And to see somebody who hasn’t earned that right adorning themselves as such, it’s completely disrespectful. Just like you don’t get to wear a medal of honor by being born American, you don’t get to wear a headdress even if you have Cherokee in you. Simple as that. If you need more reasons why -> just read But Why Can't I Wear a Hipster Headdress.

That leads into...

  • > Don’t adopt sacred artifacts as accessories.
  • > Don't sexualize minorities.
  • > Cite your cross-cultural influences publicly and often.
  • > Engage with other cultures on more than an aesthetic level.

If you have to question it, don't do it. If you absolutely must come out dressed as such, be prepared to talk about it. It’s easy to say it’s “just a costume,” and at the end of the night, you can take it off. But minorities cannot change who they are, and will continue having to live with the consequences of the subtle, casual hatred your costume spreads.

Until next time. - D💋

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