Rachel Brice in Kuchi Jewelry - Why That Is Wrong
Rachel Brice is among the most famous belly dancers in the world, and her performances are always stunning, as usual. I admire this woman a lot, but there is something wrong with her showing up in Kuchi jewelry that just makes me loose a little respect for her.
Don't know who the Kuchi's are? The Kuchi's are a nomadic Pashtun tribe from northern Afghanistan, primarily from the Ghilzai tribe. Many of them have light features, like blue/green eyes and blonde hair. The Pashtuns are believed to be the descendants of Alexander the Great's Greek army of soldiers.
They are known for their colorful embroidered clothes and chunky jewelry (often wrongly believed to be from India). This type of costume is a favorite among belly dancers, because it allows them to exaggerate their moves when they dance.
But why is it wrong for a non-Pashtun to wear Kuchi jewelry and clothes?
1. Being an Afghan comes with a history of un-decided events, such as the ethnic cleansing of a group of people, war, racism, and the eradication of entire tribes of people and their cultural traditions.
For example, Afghans have had pressure on them to be more 'western' in the 60's and 70's (skirts and suits instead of traditional clothes, just google 'Afghanistan in the 60's') and now they have a pressure on them to cover their body as much as possible - a result of the Taliban regime. Even in their own homeland, it is becoming more and more rare to see Afghans in their own traditional clothes - instead, you will find most of them wearing shalwar kameez, traditional Indian/Pakistani clothes. Their culture is being ripped away. This does not grant anyone the right to appropriate what little pieces of their past they have, robbing them of their dignity.
Part of being seen as "trendy" also makes an entire culture not only a commodity, but also something that people will (and can) tire of - therefore being disposable. That is offensive as ethnic costumes are supposed to be TIMELESS.
2. Blindly wearing ethnic customes without knowing the significance of it, IS actually taking the significance away from the custome. Mimicing and fetishizing cultures is not acceptable.
3. The Kuchi jewelry found in the market are often not Kuchi jewelry at all, just some crap put together to make it look more 'Kuchi' to attract customers (Kuchi jewelry is considered to be of 'high rank' and is the new trend among bellydancers). Therefore, almost anything can be labeled Kuchi, like Turkoman and Banjara jewelry etc. and someone will believe it and buy it, no matter what it's true origin may be.
I hope this could give you guys a clear insight of the new (and unfortunately wrong) trend wave that is Kuchi costumes.