Worry about racism, not cultural appropriation, this Halloween
Updated
Worried about whether your spooky Halloween costume makes you guilty of cultural appropriation? As long as you're not being racist, you're good, writes Alex McClintock.
It's Halloween tomorrow, when overstimulated children, dubious costumes and think pieces about cultural appropriation by white people walk among us.
And it's into that lattermost, and scariest, category that this article falls (bear with me ... if you dare).
If you haven't heard of it, cultural appropriation is the adoption of some aspect of one (usually minority or foreign) culture by another (usually white or dominant) culture.
It's largely perceived as a negative phenomenon and even a form of racism, and is a shibboleth among internet activists and the identity politics left (a phrase that makes me sound like an incredible curmudgeon).
To pick a few recent examples, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea has been accused of putting on a modern day minstrel show, while Kylie Jenner faced charges of appropriating African-American hair, lips and dress and various fashion houses of plundering Native American culture.
Concerns about cultural appropriation tend to peak at Halloween, probably because Halloween is really the only time of year it's acceptable to dress like an idiot. Indeed, for many, that is the stated goal.
Each year, we watch in morbid fascination as photos emerge of the supremely ignorant and deliberately provocative in their blackface and "sexy" [insert culture here] costumes.
Yet I'd argue this kind of caricaturing is just old-fashioned out-and-out racism and has little to do with cultural appropriation. Dressing up as a racial stereotype is as offensive as a word, joke or comment based on that stereotype. De-sacralising the symbols of other religions is probably not a great idea either, as Melbourne law student Matthew Gordon found out last week.
But the objection to cultural appropriation has become a sort of orthodoxy that goes beyond these obvious examples. That's what's baffling about the blanket opposition to cultural appropriation: policing it with any consistency is impossible.
In July, Boston's Museum of Fine Art was forced to cancel part of an exhibition in which patrons were invited to try on a kimono due to protests about cultural appropriation and orientalism (despite the fact that it was organised in association with Japanese state broadcaster NHK). Mexican-American 'chola' style was declared off limits in The Guardian. And last year TIME ran an opinion piece accusing white gay men of "stealing black female culture".
The list goes on and the water gets murkier. If Iggy Azalea is problematic (and she has undeniably adopted a lot of African-American mannerisms) then what about virtually all of Aussie hip-hop? How about people of all backgrounds who buy local art, jewellery and clothing when they holiday overseas? Can Asian-Australian chef Dan Hong open a kitschy Mexican restaurant? Are people who do yoga culturally appropriating? (If so, I suspect many who oppose the practice would be in trouble).
Rather than being progressive, the impulse to call out cultural appropriation is reactionary. After all, what would a world where cultural borrowing was prohibited or restricted look like? Would cultures be kept separated in hermetically sealed boxes?
Those who object to cultural appropriation will point out that it is, in fact, about a power dynamic - the majority culture steals from minorities, indigenous people and the developing world, and those groups don't get to control, or enjoy the benefits from, the sale of parts of their culture.
Yet calling people out for appropriating parts of minority cultures does nothing to materially improve the situations of those minorities - it just makes the caller out feel better.
And except in certain rare circumstances - like the Navajo Nation suing American clothing company Urban Outfitters for using Navajo patterns - that control is impossible to assert. Cultures, by and large, are not immutable objects regulated by people or organisations. They are permeable, diverse and ever-changing.
There is no central body for Indian culture that you could ask permission of and pay royalties to if you wanted to get a henna tattoo at a school fete. Even if there were, the Iranian equivalent might disagree - the same object or practice can have different meanings in different cultures (which, when you think about it historically, goes to show how fluid culture has always been).
Even within cultures there are differences of opinion - witness the many Japanese-Americans who counter-protested those who objected to the kimono exhibition in Boston.
Why do the protests focus so overwhelmingly on fashion? Certainly we're a culture that privileges the visual, but could it also be that the futility of the exercise and the problems with its underlying assumptions become apparent when you start to apply it to other aspects of culture: food, music, dance, art, architecture, mythology, philosophy, literature, law - essentially everything that humans and societies do?
So probably don't worry about your spooky costume this weekend or your Saturday morning yoga class, unless you're racist. Happy Halloween, and Namaste.
Alex McClintock is the deputy editor of RN Online and a writer. Follow him on Twitter @axmcc.
Topics: community-and-society, race-relations
First posted
Comments (149)
Comments for this story are closed, but you can still have your say.
Algernon:
30 Oct 2015 8:14:31am
What is Halloween other than imported nonsense.
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LB:
30 Oct 2015 9:02:44am
"What is Halloween other than imported nonsense."
One of the most highly profitable days of the year for big sugar corporations.
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gnome:
30 Oct 2015 9:49:10am
It's all a bit like Xmas isn't it? Or Easter. Whether you call it the spring festival (or the autumn festival) or the satyricon or whatever, it's all derived from a culture somewhere else and it all gets a big push from the sellers of sugar and associated products.
But the kiddies still love it.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:38:32am
also bars and restaurants. Most Halloween revenue comes from adults
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Mike:
30 Oct 2015 12:22:34pm
This is exactly why retailers, especially the duopoly supermarkets, are heavily promoting it then claiming they are simply meeting customer demand.
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Eric Quang:
30 Oct 2015 1:21:24pm
LB, the most profitable days don't end with the sugar companies because as the Halloween kids become more addicted to sugar based products into their adult years, tooth decay and morbid obesity will manifest themselves to the degree that the medical and dental profession will make a real financial killing, well done halloween
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Bill:
30 Oct 2015 9:15:28am
what ISNT imported? other than familiarity, Halloween is no different to Easter or Christmas.
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LB:
30 Oct 2015 1:44:38pm
Exactly! Every holiday or named day, such as Valentine's or St Patrick's, are becoming, or have already become, commercialised. These "special" days have completely lost their original meaning and only exist today as a celebration of capitalism and for us to waste our money on items that we wouldn't normally buy. I don't know about anyone else, but I think that large corporations get enough of our money without us subscribing to ridiculous events in order to give them even more.
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Paul By The Bay:
30 Oct 2015 2:21:27pm
LB, you do realize that it is not compulsory to participate, don't you?
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Elle:
30 Oct 2015 4:32:08pm
Technically you can choose to not participate re: chistmas, easter and goodfriday.
However, those who do not celebrate it are subjected to the imposition placed upon them either through aural assault via shopping centres, forced observances and inconveniences of businesses being closed for days at a time, unable to purchase alcohol at whim and the absurd assumption that you do not love the people you are with unless there is a price tag attached to it.
This is an aside to the verbal and psychological abuse received for not participating from peers, colleagues and educational institutions.
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Rhys:
30 Oct 2015 3:13:13pm
Or that exchanging your factors of production (for most labor) for a good or service that you enjoy (a dress up party on a 'commercial day' don't make it evil... Got forbid back in the old days when parents would MAKE the outfit or milk the cow... they were (wait) exchanging their factors of production for a good or service they wanted.
Is what you are really saying 'I don't like people exchanging money'? Is that what is bad- that people exchange tokens that they earn with effort for things they desire?
What are you 'railing against man'? Or are you just being 'counter cultural dude' because 'things were better man... like... before corporations came and allowed people to easily poor effort in a manner that reduced their risk of personal liability in an effort to invent such horrible things as vaccinations, the computer you're using, the car you drive, the clothes you wear.... Wait... what am I protesting again? Oh yeah... other people... I hate them when they do things that aren't what I am doing.
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LB:
30 Oct 2015 4:50:00pm
Rhys, did you read your own comment before posting? Most of it doesn't make any sense and you've jumped to some pretty big conclusions if you think that's what I meant.
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Aldebaran:
30 Oct 2015 9:19:52am
Thanks for asking Algernon! In the age of the www are we really 'importing' something from one part of the internet to another? Btw halloween is a lot of fun..so BOO!!.
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Algernon:
30 Oct 2015 3:22:56pm
Really, Halloween didn't really exist in this country as little as 15 years ago.
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Ditch:
30 Oct 2015 12:46:34pm
fun
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JoeBloggs:
30 Oct 2015 1:03:30pm
The pagan Celtic Festival of Samhain (Halloween) has arguably always been a part of western culture, just as has Yule (Christmas) and the celebration of the pagan Great Mother Godess of the Saxons called Eostre (Easter).
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fcg:
30 Oct 2015 2:11:48pm
Hell's bells! Something from the UK that Australians do appear to welcome . . .
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DM:
30 Oct 2015 1:30:20pm
It just another element of the annual retail sales promotion cycle that typifies consumerist societies. It neatly fills the gap between Fathers Day and Xmas. Xmas, New Year sales, Valentines Day, Easter, Mothers Day, End of Financial Year Stocktaking sales, Fathers Day, Halloween, and back to Xmas.
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Suzanne:
30 Oct 2015 1:45:03pm
The United States may have promoted Halloween in a big way but don't blame them for inventing it.
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Realist1:
30 Oct 2015 4:35:31pm
Suzanne
Oh come on get of the Gillard case!!
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Rhys:
30 Oct 2015 3:06:51pm
The same could be said about Easter, Christmas, Passover, Father's Day, Mother's Day, birthdays, the Queen's Birthday or in fact most of the holidays and cultural celebrations White Australia celebrate, are all 'imported nonsense'.
I think what you're really trying to say is 'American culture that I did not celebrate as a child is nonsense'; but you didn't want to say that because it is obviously bigoted.
Either that or you're an old person screaming into the wind of irrelevancy with 'I hate change. It scares me and I can't taste the sugar anyway. Now somebody, get me my diaper. Kids don't respect me anymore.... tattter tee taaaaa'.
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Alfie:
30 Oct 2015 8:26:06am
"Dressing up as a racial stereotype is as offensive as a word."
So how does one NOT dress like an average stereotypical white Australian person?
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Mark James:
30 Oct 2015 10:24:59am
Alfie, Australians aren't a race, they are a nationality.
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Me too:
30 Oct 2015 11:10:01am
Okay. So dressing up as a stereotypical African American is okay, dressing up as a stereotypical African is not?
This whole cultural appropriation trend is a natural consequence of multiculturalism - the real problem is idiots that think cultural identity must remain solely with that culture instead of being shared amongst whomsoever may wish to adopt it.
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Mark James:
30 Oct 2015 11:45:06am
Me Too, national stereotypes are often far less offensive to people of that nation than racial stereotypes are to people of that race.
Having said that, though, it's not a strictly either/or. It's simply about being aware of others sensibilities.
As for the idea that cultural appropriation didn't happen before multiculturalism, that's simply untrue. Cultural appropriation has existed as long as culture has.
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Rhys:
30 Oct 2015 3:16:06pm
Whenever you see the All Blacks do the Haka I see Maori pride. If we don't celebrate minority culture it will die. Culture didn't stay steady state before white imperialism...
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Realist1:
30 Oct 2015 4:38:36pm
Mark James
Ok I will ask, if Australian is a nationality what race are we?
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Good Grief:
30 Oct 2015 11:18:29am
I have always been perplexed with the increasingly daft demands from the Brittle Brigade as to how the rest of us should act and behave, lest we break their wee little hearts made of eggshells or accidentally tear holes in their little hugbox realities.
Is it wrong for my white neighbor's daughter to dress like a Chinese lady if what she really wanted was to be Fa Mulan or an Native American because she wanted to be Pocahontas? How is it any wrong than my niece, of Asian descent, decided to dress like a classic Disney princess (which draws inspiration from European culture)?
The only offensive person on Halloween night will be the PC brigade who go out of their way to tell little kids that they are barred from pretending to be what they want to be and that their little dreams shouldn't come true because it's evil and needs to be purged. "Phobia" much?
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:43:50am
I agree completely. If only the social justice warriors would be so kind as to hand out some sort of book of instructions to all Australians on how to think, act and speak. Life would me much easier.
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Good Grief:
30 Oct 2015 12:28:58pm
That won't work either. They will come out with a new, thicker edition every year; with each succeeding author berating the previous one for being intolerant and not forward thinking enough.
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Algernon:
30 Oct 2015 3:21:45pm
Think I'll go trick or treating dressed as Tony Abbott. That ought to scare the living daylights out of everyone.
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al:
30 Oct 2015 8:45:03am
We used to "bob for apples" on Halloween. This modern trend is just a copying of Americanism.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:28:41am
Halloween originates in Ireland
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 1:03:23pm
But it got here via American TV.
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Zooooom:
30 Oct 2015 1:51:49pm
I'm not seeing the problem.
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 3:29:49pm
I would prefer Australia to have retained the unique culture it had before American TV culture took over.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 1:52:27pm
Stop The Broadcasts!
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A Former Lefty:
30 Oct 2015 1:47:24pm
No Clicky, Halloween is not Irish. Halloween is derived, via America, from the much older pre-Christian Celtic (more than just Ireland you see) festival of Samhain which was related to the end of the harvest and the beginning of the cold dark winter.
Samhain itself was derived from much older pagan festivals, so the appropriation has been going on for a very long time.
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buderimboy:
30 Oct 2015 8:45:20am
Here I was thinking Halloween was about small kids dressing as ghosts and witches collecting candy, where in fact it's about how I as a (obviously) racist White person has stolen the identity of some wonderful culture as part of a plan to create a White Fascist Cabal.
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Vi:
30 Oct 2015 9:00:20am
We are not Americans, so why are we celebrating Halloween? Answer of course is - it makes the retailers more money.
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should be working:
30 Oct 2015 9:26:03am
Actually, Halloween started as an ancient Celtic festival, not in the USA.
It does really exist here though because companies can see money in it. It's not just sugar companies either, the cheap shops are full of potential costume ideas, and decorations for the house, and I saw a 'organic' jack o lantern pumpkin for sale for $32 this morning ... that seems an awful lot to me, but then I don't really participate.
It is a bit of fun, and we should see it that way. I think nowadays you need to teach your kids what is advertising and what is real and important, because nobody else is, especially the media or corporations that are after a quick buck.
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Sea Monster:
30 Oct 2015 9:46:57am
Or is it because its fun, exciting for the kids and there's a great community vibe.
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Trish:
30 Oct 2015 11:19:25am
Yes, there's a " great community vibe." Especially when they egg my house because I'm not home to give them sweets when they come around.
I'm just loving the community vibe, when I'm cleaning off the splattered egg from my front door and admiring the damage to the paintwork. I'm just loving it!!!
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Sea Monster:
30 Oct 2015 12:07:57pm
Doesn't happen where I live. Only houses that are approached are houses with decorations out.
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spacey 101:
30 Oct 2015 3:37:28pm
Not where I live. Kids knock on each and every door.
I have find recollections of a cherub faced little girl knocking on our door. She was so cute in her ballerina outfit. Unfortunately we didn't realise it was Halloween and didn't have any lollies.
When my wife told the little girl we were sorry we didn't have anything to give imagine out shock when the little cherub blurted 'well eff you then' and stormed off.
We find it easier just to not open the door now, or go watch a movie so as not to be home.
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Trish:
30 Oct 2015 12:28:41pm
Your locality must have got the memo about Halloween protocol Sea Monster. Wish mine had. I shudder every year wondering what they will do to us next.
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 1:04:44pm
I'm with you Trish.
Halloween provides kids with an excuse to be obnoxious.
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Helvi :
30 Oct 2015 11:25:42am
In some countries there are people and activity on the streets day and night, here we have few lost kids once a year in the suburban streets- begging for lollies.
We need more people to make it a bit more exciting all year long...
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Sea Monster:
30 Oct 2015 2:15:20pm
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work,
But when they seldom come, they wished for come,
And nothing pleases but rare accident.
Setting aside Will, I'll note in some northern and germanic countries, people freak out if you smile at them or wish them good morning in the street.
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:45:06am
Yeah sure. Kids going to complete strangers houses for food. Stranger danger is taught to not exist on one day a year
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Sea Monster:
30 Oct 2015 12:11:53pm
Well taking a broad view stranger danger is hyped. A child's own relatives present a much greater danger than strangers.
On the specific Halloween topic, parents usually accompany the kids. And if not the kids don't go one-out. They go in groups.
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Vi:
30 Oct 2015 12:27:12pm
True Grant, its incredible that today's parents who are often over protective to the point of hysteria, would let their kids participate in this business. Yet they do.
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Terrence:
30 Oct 2015 12:59:08pm
Why should children operate on the basis that all strangers are dangerous? What a bleak outlook on life.
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Vi :
30 Oct 2015 1:11:07pm
Problem is Terrence, it's sometimes hard to tell who are the goodies and who are the baddies.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 1:55:00pm
same with stray dogs. It's a worry.
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Kirk:
30 Oct 2015 2:25:41pm
Its all fun and games until some child gets the candy laced with LSD. (I'm remembering a popular story that used to go round about Halloween in the USA).
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Pete:
30 Oct 2015 2:55:52pm
Acid would probably be healthier and more beneficial than most the sweets haha.
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Mike:
30 Oct 2015 12:25:09pm
No it does not. I've had those little twerps throw eggs at my front door because I choose not to participate in something that has no meaning in this country.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 2:13:18pm
lol that's not why they did it
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Curmudgeon:
30 Oct 2015 2:58:53pm
Here we are, innocent citizens minding our own business, when some snotty kid comes to the door and demands sweets. If they aren't handed over, the home owner is threatened with vandalism or some other terror. Meanwhile the parents look on and smile thinking "isn't it nice that my child is having fun."
I hate Halloween. I wish it would go away.
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Dove:
30 Oct 2015 9:49:09am
Pre Christian harvest festivals were absorbed by Catholicism into All Hallows Eve, which is where we get the name, Halloween.
The pagan remnants endured most strongly in the Celtic parts of Great Britain, and the Scottish and Irish took them to North America. Halloween is not American
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 1:06:42pm
The Halloween we have in Australia is pure American.
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Vi :
30 Oct 2015 1:13:31pm
Exactly Athinker. If it wasn't for Hollywood, hardly anyone here would know what it was.
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jocks trap:
30 Oct 2015 1:24:56pm
Exactly Dove, and I remember as a young bairn (child) in Scotland the good times we had at Hallow'een,
Now the USA's Trick or Treat thats a whole different bag of candy.
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Shaun:
30 Oct 2015 10:36:08am
'We' are not celebrating Haloween, kids are just having fun! It is not compulsory for you to participate.
In any case, I would much rather have kids knocking on my door and asking for lollies than have the little brats sneaking in through a window and pinching my tele!!
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:46:27am
Well those like you who want to participate should advertise the fact and leave others alone to get on with our lives without intrusions
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Mike:
30 Oct 2015 12:25:47pm
Tell that to the brats who throw eggs at your door if you won't give them lollies.
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Curmudgeon:
30 Oct 2015 12:58:57pm
I for one don't want them knocking on my door asking for lollies or nicking my tele!!
Just go away and leave me alone.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:42:20am
They are not forcing people to participate Vi. Presumably when people give retailers money it is a voluntary exchange of goods and services. What's wrong with that?
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John:
30 Oct 2015 9:02:15am
Hallowe'en should be banned because it is teaching children that blackmail works.
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Alfie:
30 Oct 2015 9:27:12am
Where else can unionists gain the fundamentals?
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Greg:
30 Oct 2015 9:39:18am
Preconditioning Australians to be good union officials, BRILLIANT!
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:29:25am
I wish people would learn the difference between blackmail and extortion.
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Alfie:
30 Oct 2015 1:02:49pm
Extortion...sorry my bad.
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Angela Faye:
30 Oct 2015 9:47:30am
Halloween, like Mothers'/Fathers'/Valentines day has been hijacked by retailers to guilt/con us into buying more and more expensive stuff than we need. When we do want to buy something that attracts us but might have orignated in another culture, now we have to ask ourselves is this "culture appropriation" or "racist" or "offensive" to the original members of the culture.
When did it all get so complicated? I'm 67 so by the law of averages don't have much more time to spend in this wonderful place, sometimes when I read articles like this I'm quite relieved that I won't be around to see what a quagmire the PC and fragile, quick to take offence brigade will have made of society
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:55:33am
"like Mothers'/Fathers'/Valentines day has been hijacked by retailers "
None of those existed before retailers invented them
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Sea Monster:
30 Oct 2015 9:48:38am
The etiquette in, Sydney at least, is that you only approach a house that has Halloween decorations upm
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:47:21am
Since when do kids follow etiquette.
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Terrence:
30 Oct 2015 12:57:47pm
In my experience, since Halloween became a "thing" in the suburbs of Melbourne, the kids always follow the etiquette of only knocking on the doors of houses with Halloween displays. I apologise if this does not fit with your bah humbug philosophy on life.
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 1:08:07pm
In all of Sydney?
Not in Melbourne. At least not where I live.
So, since there is no etiquette surrounding it here, can I detest it?
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 2:15:59pm
"can I detest it?"
Of course you can, but "detest" seems a tad extreme for what is just harmless fun.
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 3:28:10pm
It's not harmless.
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Sea Monster:
30 Oct 2015 2:18:31pm
You don't need my permission. Detest your uncouth area all you want.
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Trish:
30 Oct 2015 3:01:48pm
I live in Sydney Athinker. No one knows the etiquette in my suburb. Maybe they should have a nationwide ad campaign to teach children not to terrorise their non-participating neighbours.
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Tory Boy:
30 Oct 2015 9:55:21am
I found this entire article pretty racist....."usually white"....any more racial stereotypes you'd like to shout out? As for cultural appropriation....isnt that the entire goal of multiculturalism or are you saying that cultures must be retained in perfect isolation so as not to risk cross-pollution, and besides which, how on earth can you link culture to race? Are you seriously saying that two kids raised in Australia will adopt cultural practices based on how their ancestors adapted to climate and environment variances?
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Dove:
30 Oct 2015 10:27:12am
That's interesting. Of all the scores of articles on The Drum regarding race and ethnicity, of all the articles on asylum seekers, indigenous communities and immigration, you consistently argue that racism doesn't exist in Australia. You argue that people should harden up.
Except now, and suffering as you are in the face of a tidal wave of costume bias, fancy dress discrimination and face painted bigotry, you see racism with such clarity and conviction.
Is it because this time, it's directed at you?
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Tory Boy:
30 Oct 2015 11:24:47am
Actually, I was just pointing out that an article bemoaning racism started off from a racist base. As for your other comments, having been raised in the north of england, and worked across south east asia, I can confidently say that Australia has not come close to having the racial and cultural issues that exist in most other nations. For example, try not being Japenese in Japan, or try being an atheist in Indonesia.
Finally, given that you have absolutely no idea what race I actually am....thin ice comrade.
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Dove:
30 Oct 2015 11:57:41am
I'd call that a bullseye, kamerad
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A Former Lefty:
30 Oct 2015 1:52:59pm
"a tidal wave of costume bias, fancy dress discrimination and face painted bigotry"
Dove you just get more ridiculous with every passing day, can you ever come up with a comment that doesnt involve high drama, self righteous cop outs and victimised claims of racism?
Please try it just for one day, or maybe consider posting less on The Drum as you are clearly making a fool out of yourself while adding nothing of substance to the debate.
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Dove:
30 Oct 2015 3:01:32pm
Going to the effort of exposing your linguistic envy is one thing. Your flattery, is everything. I only wish that I could quote you as much as you quote me :)
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:43:50am
"....."usually white"....any more racial stereotypes you'd like to shout out"
The author isn't the one making these statements, they're just reporting on them.
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:48:00am
Excellent comment
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Blackheart1916:
30 Oct 2015 9:56:50am
Halloween is a wonderful time of the year. All year we drum into our kids not to take gifts from strangers and not to eat too many lollies as they are bad ,causing the obesity epidemic, then some parents.... send them out door knocking to strangers houses to ask for lollies. What's not to love about it!!
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:44:46am
It's horrible, people going outdoors and mingling with their neighbours. What's next? Communities?
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Beth:
30 Oct 2015 10:00:29am
When people are ridiculed and oppressed because of their culture, I don't see how one would think it appropriate to adopt such culture for the purpose of "fun". Some parts of cultural appropriation can seem questionable, but wearing traditional outfits of minority's when you are the dominant culture is extremely insensitive. There are plenty of things you can dress up as. Leave the feathered war bonnet and pick up some cat ears. A lot easier than trying to argue your way out of cultural appropriation because you do not identify as a racist.
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Aven:
30 Oct 2015 11:16:21am
What about going to the Nara Candle Festival (Australian-Japanese festival of peace), buying a kimono (there's plenty for sale there) and wearing it? Seriously, if you buy a kimono, there aren't many other places to wear it to in Canberra. And a real kimono is very beautiful (although I unfortunately don't have the figure for it).
I went with my Sri Lankan friend and we both seriously thought about buying one (stopped only by the expense). I understand cultural appropriation but I fail to see it in this case.
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Beth:
30 Oct 2015 3:36:23pm
I don't really see an issue with buying traditional items from the culture, I guess the biggest issue is companies and people making profit off a culture that is not their own. But is halloween an appropriate time to even wear a kimono?
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Michael:
30 Oct 2015 11:29:24am
I must admit I find this comment odd.
No comment about participating in Halloween, and appropriated festival of pagan origin, co-opted by Christians and exported to the US.
But a comment about what you dress as for the appropriated festival potentially being appropriated....
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Aussie Sutra:
30 Oct 2015 10:02:16am
First the bozoz want us to important millions of people we don't really want to have to live beside because their cultures don't blend with our, but no, we are told, it will "enrich" us.
Then, if we any aspect of that culture IS embraced by the home culture, it now "appropriation". Make up your bloody minds.
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:49:44am
I second my notion for a handbook from the more morally correct on how think, act and speak.
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Tabanus:
30 Oct 2015 10:13:11am
I have noticed the distressingly common habit of obviously "white" people using chopsticks while eating what appears to be culturally appropriated food. I admit to eating spaghetti using only a fork, in a most non-Anglo fashion.
To be serious though, at the first read I thought Mr McClintock was writing a humorous piece about the current mania for looking for racism everywhere. (And of course finding it).
Sadly I think he actually is warning people that they could be inadvertently racist. That is according to the now apparently accepted belief that what determines racism is not the intent of the person accused, but the feelings of anyone who observes or even hears about the behaviour. Feelings that cannot be challenged let alone ridiculed for being ridiculous.
That this is madness is not acknowledged. Even the innately ludicrous insistence that "cultural appropriation" can only be one way. Otherwise all those indigenous singer of Country and Western would be in trouble.
Mr McClintock's only regret is that those shouting "racist" are not financially rewarded for claiming to be offended by someone who did not have a racist bone in his/her body.
PS It is commonly believed that Halloween is a US tradition, foisted in some sort of cultural imperialism on the world. It is of course an British tradition that waned in the UK but flourished in the USA before heading back.
A bit like the word "fall" being the original word for autumn that survived in the USA though replaced by the more trendy French word in the UK.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 10:49:14am
" I admit to eating spaghetti using only a fork"
Marco Polo brought pasta back from China so if you eat spaghetti you are doubly appropriating! Not sure who invented the fork, but it probably wasn't an Aussie either.
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Michael:
30 Oct 2015 11:13:24am
I think that depends on your perspective.
Greeks, Romans, Egyptians all had forks for cooking, but I believe it was the middle east, Iran-ish area where they first started to be used at eating utensils.
This is largely due to advancements in metalwork and new alloys.
Though Thailand also had forks as utensils and seem to have developed them separately to the middle east.
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Helvi :
30 Oct 2015 11:32:17am
You don't need forks for push-tucker.
I think it's uncouth to eat pizza with fork and knife.
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Helvi:
30 Oct 2015 1:18:18pm
Helvi, should that not be bush tucker...?
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Politically Incorrect:
30 Oct 2015 1:29:14pm
Actually the Marco Polo myth is just that... a myth.
First of all the pasta sheets themselves date back to the Roman Empire in the 1st Centaury with a 5th centaury Roman cookbook actually has a proper lasagne recipe. There is also mention of pasta noodles in the Arab world also in the 5th centaury.
Marco Polo did indeed discover noodles something like pasta (using rice instead of actual pasta) but he was 1300 years late to the game.
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Dove:
30 Oct 2015 11:49:03am
Tabanus, the author, IMHO, draws together some possibly insensitive but pretty low key examples to try and make a point. In the 1980s some policemen through it would be a merry jape to nugget-up and slip nooses around their necks to lampoon aboriginal deaths in custody. It wasn't. I recall some military cadets who dressed up in bullet-holed pyjamas to go as The Holocaust. And Prince Harry thought is was amusing to dress as a Nazi (Afrika Korps, whatever).
People shouldn't need guidance on not dressing up as drowned asylum seekers, beheaded hostages, napalm charred Vietnamese, MH17 victims or flammable Buddhists. Jokes can be had without being grossly insensitive or making a point to ridicule. Clearly, there are no hard and fast rules.
The moral to the story is have some thought and sensitivity about what (not you) people are dressing up as. Donning some face paint and costumes to depict a minority or to deliberately try to mock a different group might not really be appropriate. I don't think that's unreasonable
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Tabanus:
30 Oct 2015 1:16:30pm
Dear Dove
Some of the things you mention are clearly insensitive and those who mocked or found humour in these topics need to examine their souls.
But none are racist and some are OK by me. My uncle fought against the Afrikakorps and the Italians in NAfrica and I have no problem with Prince Harry dressing up in a German Army (not Nazi) uniform. Dressing up as an SS concentration guard would be wrong, as a Waffen SS - maybe.
My point was this fascination with finding an insult where none exists, or a desire to make money out of a cultural style that does not belong to an individual, or even a group of individuals.
Should jazz only be played by (can I say Negro?) musicians from the US south? Is point painting owned by a few indigenous artists? How about scrimshaw? Is it Lapp or Esquimaux property?
We have reached a ridiculous point.
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Dove:
30 Oct 2015 3:29:33pm
A negro playing jazz is fine. A white person dressed up as a negro playing jazz, not so fine. Should I be surprised that you find nothing racist in those depictions of deaths in custody, the holocaust or wounded Vietnamese? Best keep your costume on indoors tonight
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a happy little debunker:
30 Oct 2015 1:05:47pm
Tabanus,
It would seem the author remains in thrall of his university education - where he was undoubtable taught the 'evils' of cultural appropriation.
Every meal time - I too, am guilty of this grievous racist sin - as rather than lump all my food onto a single plate - I partake of different courses - mocking those of the Middle East & probably causing the ISIL uprising.
No doubt as a result of unrestrained uncouth colonialism - the very definition of your 'average' Aussie.
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Sea Monster:
30 Oct 2015 2:42:24pm
Salsa music was invented in Cuba; a fusion apparently of African rhythms and European melodies. Salsa dancing was invented in New York city.
Peruvians who would have been called Creoles (ie whites) in the old racist caste system are mad keen for Salsa dancing.
Chilli was only introduced to India about 500 years ago. Potatoes and tomatoes were introduced to the old world at about the same time.
All these cultural appriopriation complaints sound very dodgy to me. People copy each other. That's what they do. The complaints look very much like linking race and culture. Or cultural purity. And those are very illiberal ideas.
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Notcomplaining:
30 Oct 2015 10:33:49am
Yes. The list of things white people can't say and can't do increases. It might be worth pointing out that this list is almost entirely controlled by white liberals who can choose when, where and under what conditions they interact with people who don't look like them. Something poor whites can't do.
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Tabanus:
30 Oct 2015 11:17:36am
Dear notcomplaining
I have noticed that the distance from the problem leads to incredible accuracy in solving it.
People living in quite comfortable suburbs in inner Sydney are happy to tell those living in high indigenous population areas what they need to do.
As someone who as a child was not allowed on the streets of a small town in the outback on the days following government pensions (due to the violence and racist attacks on "whites") I understand that things are not as easy to solve. That concern about locking up a 15 year old fades a bit when that 15 year old has been robbing the neighbourhood for years and has now started to assault people.
Because of course from thousands of km away they know that the issue is "white racism". And the cure is to attack the victims. As they haven't done anything, one must manufacture offences.
Thus we have "unintentional racism" and "cultural appropriation".
PS This is not an attack on indigenous Australians. This is an attack on the behaviour of some indigenous Australians, and those who see racism everywhere. That I even have to explain this shows how all pervading this issue is.
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:54:00am
Fine observation. Yes it seems quite often that those doing the complaining about being offended are hardly ever the actual group that is supposedly being targeted. It's mostly likely someone with too much time in their hands, looking for publicity and financial gain, someone who won't ever deal with those of the group they claim to be supporting and most certainly won't get out from behind their electrical device to actually help that group with their own sweat or funds
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reaver:
30 Oct 2015 11:03:33am
And then there is the rest of us, the vast majority who could not care less about the whining of the "progressives" and who just want to dress up and have a good time.
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 1:10:39pm
By following a custom you learnt from American TV?
How about inventing your own good time?
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a happy little debunker:
30 Oct 2015 1:31:40pm
What, like some sort of a special day for all Australians to celebrate their Australianness?
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Zooooom:
30 Oct 2015 1:36:02pm
Name something purely Aussie in origin. AFL? Nup, you got the ball from rugby.
And I learnt to say "learned" and "spelled". "Burnt" is okay, it's an adjective which describes the state of something which has been "burned" (verb). Not so for learnt or spelt, they are both verbs so should be spelled the same way as "burned".
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gerard oosterman:
30 Oct 2015 11:14:14am
I have a nice cane basket behind the front-door with lots of snappy juicy celery sticks. When I get the knock on the door they get one stick each. If they complain, I'll give them a sermon on how my mum used to boil potato peeling soup and how we all appreciated the solitary yearly glass of orange cordial on our birthday. That was only after the WW2 had ended.
If kids had any sense they would give me a lolly.
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West by North:
30 Oct 2015 12:20:54pm
Yum, celery. I believe those who earnestly seek the harmonious good of our nation would be greatly encouraged by your healthful contribution.
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Maxx:
30 Oct 2015 11:16:49am
We should worry more about the mimicking and importation of cultural BS like Halloween.
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 11:46:34am
Why on earth should we "worry" about something like that?
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Dennis Prcik:
30 Oct 2015 11:25:47am
"Worry about racism, not cultural appropriation, this Halloween?"
No, and I could not care less who gets offended.
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Grant:
30 Oct 2015 11:41:49am
I was feeling a bit down heading into the weekend. Now after reading this piece, I feel much better. Very amusing indeed
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RadicalUrge:
30 Oct 2015 11:53:11am
Given the religion base and times of origin, Go meet the local pedophiles while yer out begging for candy kiddies makes perfect sense.
Ignorance is bliss? For whom?
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Stephen Allen :
30 Oct 2015 11:58:43am
Perhaps the most thoughtless of all is to refer to being a person, or being of a peoples as "culture". Notwithstanding that such a reference is a thoughtless easy way to refer to something (here personhood/selfhood) that is poorly understood, if indeed it is understood at all. The reference to 'culture' is to approach peoples and persons as an object, that is, something about which the essence of their existence can be asserted without due regard to who people and peoples are in and for themselves. To deny the existence of peoples by asserting their existence, that is, by saying that who they are is "culture" is consummate imperialist nihilism.
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dogeatdog:
30 Oct 2015 12:14:19pm
Whenever I hear or read of someone banging on about 'cultural appropriation' I want to refer them to a story written many years ago by a sociologist named Ralph Linton called: "The 100 Per Cent American". (I first read it in my sociology textbook in high school)
This story points out in a a semi-humorous fashion that nearly all of the things that surround us in everyday life, and that we think of as part of our 'culture' actually originated somewhere else, and it has been absorbed by us - often so far back in time that we've forgotten where it first came from, so we think of it as 'ours'.
There are several versions of The 100 Per Cent American in circulation, its too long to quote here but its available to those who want to Google it. Just as a taste the last line reads:
"... as he reads his newspaper imprinted in Roman letters upon a material invented in China by a process invented in Germany, with its accounts of foreign troubles, our patriot will not fail to thank a Hebrew God in an Indo-European language that he is 100% (decimal system invented by the Greeks) American (from Americus Vespucci, an Italian geographer)"
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mike j:
30 Oct 2015 2:06:57pm
Nice, I hadn't seen that before.
To put it another way:
"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan
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Clicky THE Robot:
30 Oct 2015 2:18:04pm
oh, I like that
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ZZZombie:
30 Oct 2015 12:19:08pm
No-one is thinking about zombies in all this. Where are their rights? As a practicing zombie I find the insensitivity shown towards me and my kind to be completely obfuscated. I am going to have to go on a depression-fueled brain-binge. I will avoid eating the author's brain though, after reading that article I am worried it will be an underwhelming meal, or worse I may contract something.
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old bat:
30 Oct 2015 12:33:12pm
Gee, many of these comments have made me realize that Christmas is not the only 'silly season'. I do not become involved in Halloween however have a bag of sweets in case some children come to my door. Can always enjoy them myself if they do not. Why not consider it a bit of fun, not another reason and season for social analysis, nit picking and whinging. Get a life and enjoy that life.
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Athinker:
30 Oct 2015 1:12:53pm
I grew up without Halloween, but with Guy Fawkes night at this time of year. I had fun.
Then we submitted to American TV shows.....
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Zooooom:
30 Oct 2015 2:51:58pm
"Then we submitted to American TV shows....."
Did you? How does that work, submission to a television show?
Did you ever think shows about Americans in America might depict things Americans like to do? I don't recall any need to submit to anything.
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Jerry Cornelius:
30 Oct 2015 12:41:55pm
Until now I had no idea that there was something I didn't have to worry about. I hope that doesn't make me a racist. Oh bother!!!
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mike j:
30 Oct 2015 1:06:21pm
Attempt #2:
It's a given that any minorities complaining about 'cultural appropriation' reserve the right to appropriate any and all aspects of white culture that they like.
Scratch the surface of someone bemoaning racism and you will usually find not just a racist but a hypocrite.
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KittyKat:
30 Oct 2015 1:09:43pm
I would just like to point out that with the Boston Museum incident, there was a lot of debate on Japanese forums where they couldn't work out why anyone would want to ban it. They wholeheartedly encouraged the kimono trying on, and they even did so when the painting was displayed in Japanese museums (everyone was allowed to try it on). They ended up accusing the protesters of being a Chinese and Korean conspiracy to suppress their culture. And from what I saw, a lot of the protesters weren't actually Japanese in origin.
Cultural appropriation is an incredibly slippery slope and I've seen people descend to the depths of saying white people shouldn't be allowed to use spices in their food, or start bullying campaigns against people for drawing Native American characters. Sometimes it seems like they're far more hate festering in the groups that accuse others of cultural appropriation than those they're accusing.
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Breach of peace:
30 Oct 2015 1:12:53pm
Another American nightmare custom for materialism as the real day of October 31st is Reformation Day when Martin Luther nailed his 75 thesis on the door of the Roman Catholic Church identifying the corrupt practices of the clergy and the church. It has been turned into a goblins and witches going to strangers doors and asking for tricks or treat....
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Michael:
30 Oct 2015 3:06:43pm
"as the real day of October 31st is Reformation Day"
Oh and here I thought it was practiced as Samhain for a while... you know the gaelic calendar was around when the romans stole the idea of a seven day week from them.
But no of course it's a Christian thing.
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Orion:
30 Oct 2015 1:13:30pm
Well Halloween was Celtic before the church got involved so probably only Celts and Christians should celebrate Halloween but I think the worst example of this cultural misappropriation is half the world wearing jeans who are not culturally entitled to. Everybody who does not identify as or who is not descended from French, Italian, English or American white working men should stop wearing jeans immediately.
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DM:
30 Oct 2015 1:39:28pm
I can't see anything wrong with cultural appropriation as long as it is honestly acknowledged and performed sensitively. Without cultural appropriation, we would not have the art of Albert Namatjira and pipe band membership would be denied to everyone of non-Scottish ancestry.
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VoR:
30 Oct 2015 1:58:05pm
Bah! Humbug!
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Sarah:
30 Oct 2015 2:23:40pm
And how should we deal with so much of the non-western world which has "appropriated" so much of western tradition?
White weddings, cars, fast food, Christmas, democracy(!) ... do we say these should only be reserved to ourselves?
When Marco Polo brought Asian noodles back to Italy and it was "appropriated" into pasta, should the Chinese have objected?
What about tea (again originating in China / Asia) and coffee (South America) - do we hand these back?
Frequently cultural appropriation must be of enormous benefit to the originator of that cultural tradition - it can create a huge market.
Utter utter nonsense.
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Orion:
30 Oct 2015 4:30:10pm
"When Marco Polo brought Asian noodles back to Italy..."
Um I don't think he did. Marco Polo reportedly described Chinese rice noodles as resembling what Italians called lagagna which had been known in the middle east from antiquity. Pasta is made from durum wheat not rice. Also traces of pasta have been found in ancient Greece, where according to Greek mythology the god Hephaestus created the first pasta machine, and it was reportedly introduced to Sicily by the Arabs in the 9th century. The story of Marco Polo bringing pasta to Italy from China apparently first appeared in the 20th century.
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steve3:
30 Oct 2015 3:04:02pm
Culture does not equal race.
Cultural appropriation is not racism.
People of different races can have the same culture and people of the same race can have different cultures.
Millions of people in the United States are culturally American but of different races, Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton for example. They can be vastly different culturally but the same race. Jews and Palestinians are both racially Semitic, yet have different religions, customs and world views.
There are people of course who are blind to the difference.
These same people also confuse racism with religious criticism. Which makes me think if you are constantly worrying about race and think cultural separatism is essential to society then the racism is in your own head, not in the people around you.
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Bannicus:
30 Oct 2015 3:29:57pm
The fact that people always have to point out majority culture vs. minority culture (read white against others) tells that it's not to do with principle, but socio-political, feel-good fads.
If appropriating culture were such a crime, there would never be changes in the world. All culture is borrowed and reinterpreted.
And to bring history into it is ridiculous. To say white people born today can't wear other cultures because of things people have done in the past should be to say young Japanese are responsible for Japan's past with China, young Germans are responsible for the holocaust, and young Russians are responsible for communism. As an Anglo-Irish-Nordic Aussie, I could demand the Japanese don't wear suits, and that most people can't dress as leprechauns on St. Patrick's, or as vikings.
As a male, I could demand women don't wear pants.
As a gay male, I should ban those black women who have such a problem with gay men taking part in their lives/culture from having anything to do with rainbows.
It's so ridiculous when laid out.
Also where are these people's cries when (all hail) Madonna or Gaga offend Catholics? Hate to make presumptions, but the rules suddenly stop when it involves European culture.
If people aren't going out to hurt others or taking things to the extreme, why try to bully away their freedom to do as they please? Like always, racism is used as a means to try fix racism, even if it isn't there.
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Dugong:
30 Oct 2015 3:57:16pm
So let me get this straight:
If a smaller culture (eg Australia) imports a larger culture's (eg America) cultural events (eg Halloween), then it is America culturally dominating us.
If a larger culture adopts aspects of a smaller culture, then it is cultural appropriation and is akin to racism.
So logically then the transfer of culture either way is clearly wrong. The logical conclusion is that we should discourage the transfer of culture from one group to another lest we all be accused of perverting something-or-other.
Better close all museums, art galleries and bookshops.
Can't have that culture spreading - it's racist.
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BP:
30 Oct 2015 3:59:02pm
The economic benefits of Halloween are simply not worth the risks. Kids are vulnerable, especially with sweets on offer and many wouldn't hesitate to enter a strangers home. I've seen kids here in OZ trick or treating at the age of 6 or 7 unsupervised. As for costumes, unless it is a blatant racist outfit, I can't see what the fuss is all about. I lived and worked overseas as a volunteer and still wear the traditional attire of that country as part of my regular wardrobe. It generates conversation and initiates discussion that on occasion encourages others to consider providing aid to countries in need. Culture is something to be shared and wearing traditional attire is often a sign of respect towards that culture. Not all anglo-saxons are bigots.
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Ben Nallay:
30 Oct 2015 4:04:42pm
A very enjoyable read and food for thought for someone like me who makes a big deal out of wearing plain polo shirts in the colour of the day here in Thailand. Trying my best to speak the language and listening to talkback radio that I can barely understand a complete sentence on political matters.
Maybe it's appreciated by some folks that I try to make a decent effort, but maybe not everyone appreciates a clumsy whitefella appropriating their cultural ways so blatantly and not all that finely. It gives me something to keep in mind, to not be such a great pretender. It's all a bit of a gimmick and might sometimes be seen as a farce if not done with sincerity and precision.
I shall be a bit less Thailike in public from now on until I know what I'm doing. Shirt colours are probably acceptable because they help me remember what day it is and how long I have until the visa runs out and I'll have to make the border for another couple of weeks legal entry into the Kingdom, but I'll keep the drinking in the room and try not to overdo it in dangerous circumstances. I've lost enough teeth for one lifetime.
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Lostarrow:
30 Oct 2015 4:40:43pm
All of earth's human cultures have acquired design, cultural and technological characteristics from each other since the Pleistocene and the archaeological record shows this to be true, so what we have here is many hundreds of thousands of years of borrowing from each other, as humans its what we do but now over the last 30 years or so we have certain ethnic groups calling this normal human behaviour "stealing" their culture or racial stereotyping; give me a bloody break! Do Japanese business men (and virtually every other ethnic group on earth) wear European business suits? does the entire world drive around in motor vehicles, originally European technology? Didn't the entire world acquire gunpowder from the Chinese? Its probably about time these whinging minority groups stop using all the cultural and scientific acquisitions that were not part of their original culture, its then that they'll likely find themselves, cold, hungry, isolated, miserable and sick, or their lives would be more akin to the Thomas Hobbes description back in 1651 "Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short"
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