Hipster Headdresses and Flippant Fashion: Ignorance Masked by Innocence
Recently in my Queer History class a discussion arose about derogatory terms directed at LGBT+ folk. Being the token British student, I had to share the embarrassing story of how I innocently asked a gentleman standing outside a bar in the historically gay Castro District if I could “pinch a fag.” (Spoiler: I managed to obtain said cigarette without any physical pinching involved, coupled with extreme bewilderment on his part.)
Another student shared a story of how he used the term “bumbaclart” on the phone to an airline when organising a trip to Jamaica, to which the employee explained how derogatory and offensive the term is for Jamaicans in the LGBT+ community.
His complacency got me thinking: how much casual cultural appropriation - whether it be language, dress, customs or spirituality - goes on without second thought to its wider implications? In my mind, a lot.
This is particularly evident with regard to the appropriation of Native American costume. Dressing in tribal costume – 'Playing Indian' as historian Philip J. Deloria puts it – has a long history in the United States. Native American culture has been appropriated by white America since the eighteenth century, all the way up to the latter half of the twentieth century with the widespread New Age movement.
We see it today as wide-eyed party-goers headed to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival dressed up in feathered Native headdresses and tribal costumes. BuzzFeed even ran an article on the matter.
This year the festival took it a step further and offered attendees the option of spending the weekend camped in a tee-pee for $2,200.“Let the yuppies do what they want!” I hear you say? In response I implore you to think deeply about the complex identities they are choosing to represent.
The Native American population has hundreds of diverse cultures that cannot be associated with a singular costume. At the same time, however, that costume is also a reflection of deep-rooted spiritual identities that have struggled to stay alive as the United States has employed a policy of systematic cultural genocide over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In adorning moccasins, headdresses and costumes, people take away the right of Native Americans to choose how to best represent themselves. My guess is this wouldn't be binge-drinking in a bikini and warbonnet dancing to Skrillex.
Appropriating Native costume also promotes stereotypes. The (not so) innocent middle-class white girl attending a music festival is not the only culprit in this messy fiasco. The hugely influential Hollywood has a long history of appropriating Native culture with its ahistorical and uninformed representations that are methodically stereotypical, offensive and outright racist. (See Disney's Peter Pan. Your mind will be blown.)
Alternatively, look to the majority of Westerns. We are all familiar with the genre trope of the 'good guy' white cowboys engaging in a victorious battle over the 'bad guy' Indians. As Hollywood has perpetuated the stereotype of Native Americans as simply 'bad' or antagonistic, the adorning of Hollywood-style headdresses proliferates this association and oversimplifies complex identities.
The land that Coachella takes place on was once inhabited by Native communities for thousands of years before their systematic removal by colonists. What followed was a prolonged attempt by the American government to erase their culture. The ramifications of this are still being felt today - Native Americans have disproportionately high rates of poverty, alcoholism and suicide. Communities are working hard to somehow heal and mend the destruction that colonialism has brought.
With this in mind, suddenly Cher's adorning of a Native headdress for her 'Dressed To Kill' tour last week takes on a whole new meaning.