Not Your Idea: How to Avoid Cultural Appropriation in Babywearing
In my post Not Your Idea: Cultural Appropriation in the Birthing Community on The Toast, I wrote about cultural appropriation specifically around baby wearing and belly wrapping/binding. In the comments, I was asked how can white birth workers introduce their clients to baby wearing and belly binding in a way that is respectful of cultural traditions, not appropriative, and not exotifying. I responded with three key ways, but upon further reflection I have a fourth addition, which I would call the number one way. I am providing all four of these methods below, for those invested in doing this work.
I would like first to address a misperception that came through in many of the discussions of my post. I have not suggested that white women shouldn’t baby wear. Quite explicitly in the original essay, I say:
I am not suggesting that white women should not practice belly support/binding and babywearing. The benefits of both are so great that they should be widely known and practiced.
The question is why is there a whole industry designed to capitalize on the techniques and teachings of marginalized communities, that involves exotifying language, using actual items (rebozos, Mei Tai, etc) that are specific to a culture and have meaning & context within only that culture, and that often speaks over/further marginalizes/makes it inaccessible to people of the culture from which it came. European women have also practiced baby wearing since forever. It is not exclusive to “other” cultures, but it is marketed now as some mystical connection to a “simpler time” and a “primitive art”. Which leads me to the number one way I think that white birth workers can teach their white clients about baby wearing in a respectful, non-appropriative way:
1) I would very much welcome white women getting back in touch with their OWN cultural traditions and teaching classes on Celtic baby wearing, Eastern European baby wearing, etc. I challenge white women to ask themselves why they want to teach rebozo to fellow white women (or think they can teach it to Latin@s and Indigenous women) but don’t even know of their own ancestral traditions. That would be my first suggestion if I am to re-write it.
If choosing to learn multi-cultural methods of baby wearing and belly binding, these are the other things to please keep in mind. This is also true for birth workers of color who are interested in learning/teaching methods from outside our own culture(s), just as much as for white birth workers:
2) Learn from women of color who CHOOSE to share this information and PAY THEM for the learning. The Zulu Birth Project is a phenomenal program that I participated in this past summer and highly recommend. It is taught by a Zulu woman who is choosing to open up her cultural practices to other birth workers and we had several white women in our local class. We learned both baby wearing techniques and extensive Zulu massage and postpartum belly binding techniques. They also offer a doula exchange program. The ICTC Full Circle Doula training provides doula certification around the Black Granny Midwife model and includes training in African American baby wearing and belly wrapping for support during pregnancy.
3) If you do decide, as a white woman, to go forward and teach your new skills, do so in a way that honors who you learned from. Continue to educate yourself in that culture/tradition, treat it with respect and not as something “exotic”, be prepared to acknowledge discomfort that WOC might express about you teaching and to clarify how you received your expertise. Also, be open to WOC correcting you or adding to your knowledge base, especially if they come from the culture that the tradition you are teaching originates with.
4) One of the most important aspects, is REACH OUT TO WOC. If you are going to teach, make sure that you are building ongoing relationships with WOC and that you are doing the outreach to bring WOC into your classes (and eventually, as teaching assistants - do not only hire white women but claim that you are outreaching to WOC). Please understand that one of the most damaging aspects of cultural appropriation is how it often makes our traditions inaccessible to us, or is taking and popularizing a tradition that we were shamed for participating in. Make a plan to provide at least one private scholarship every time you are teaching a paying class to ensure that a WOC who would not have the financial means to participate gets that opportunity - without ever treating her like a charity case or letting anyone else in class know that she is there on scholarship, and while making sure that she is made to feel welcome and comfortable participating (which really means, your scholarship person should never be the only WOC in the group.)
