A Tribe Called Red is a musical group from Canada made up of three First Nation DJ’s. Their song “Electric Powwow Drum” combines chanting and drumming with dubstep elements and the result is a clever, exciting work-of-art and a great example of what can happen when people blend elements of different cultures.
In 2013, the band asked non-aboriginal fans to stop wearing war paint and headdresses to their shows. They did this in the name of combatting cultural appropriation, the idea that certain cultures shouldn’t adopt or use or celebrate certain elements of other cultures.
The idea is that when historically oppressive cultures—say, white people in America—wear the clothes of, adopt the hairstyles of or reinterpret the art of a historically oppressed culture—say, Native Americans—the result can often be a mockery of the latter culture.
The idea of cultural appropriation has been used to condemn everything from non-Indian women wearing saris or henna tattoos to Miley Cyrus twerking.
The problem is that these aren’t problems. These are all wonderful things we get to experience as a melting-pot culture. All the people who keep shouting “cultural appropriation” should take a step back and realize that multiculturalism—and the natural blending of various cultures, even when that blending comes across as offensive—is a beautiful thing.
A non-Indian woman wearing a sari or henna tattoos is a person who saw elements of Indian culture as beautiful and decided to take part. She might not buy into the cultural significance of those things, but she shouldn’t have to in order to wear comfortable clothing and tattoo patterns she finds appealing. And if a pop star shaking her butt is stealing your culture, I have no words for that.
I’m an Irish-American. My ancestors were potato farmers and only came to America when forced to by the Great Potato Famine. Hundreds of thousands of Irish fled to America during that time and formed a culture rooted in shared misery. A staple of that culture was Catholicism, especially the sacred feast of St. Patrick’s Day, Which commemorates the spread of Christianity to the previously pagan Irish.
Today, St. Patrick’s has become synonymous with binge-drinking and premarital sex, two activities that the founders and devout practitioners of the holiday would find offensive. My mother and grandparents, Irish-Americans all, qualify as devout practitioners and they certainly do not embrace the Americanized, modernized St. Patrick’s Day. But they don’t ask people to stop invoking their heritage even though it definitely qualifies as sacrilegious. My family just continues to celebrate their holiday in the way that makes them happy. They let others do the same, no matter how non-Irish they are, no matter how offensive they are.
So when a band of First Nation Canadians asks fans not to wear headdresses, I think it’s silly. When someone complains about saris or hennas or cornrows being adopted by someone of a different culture, I think it’s silly. Being offended is a choice. And the idea that certain customs, foods, clothing, music, hairstyles, art or dancing can ‘belong’ to one race or culture is missing the whole point of a melting-pot.
I have no great desire to wear a headdress, or get cornrows or twerk, but if you enjoy drinking on St. Patrick’s Day, don’t be upset if an Irish boy wants to do those things.
