Is wearing a native american costume in the carnival racism?

[buritobr]

What do you think?

[ElectionsGuy]

Are we really this sensitive?

[Zezano]

No, silly question. Is wearing a viking costume racist? Roman?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

No, but it might be in poor taste.

[DavidB.]

No, but it might be in poor taste.

This. If you're wearing it to make fun of Native American identity, then it might be inappropriate to do so. But it isn't racist in and of itself, I guess.

[Famous Mortimer]

Not categorically but possibly.

[pbrower2a]

Heidi Klum, a German (who may not have known what she was doing), wore a full tribal headdress typically worn by men  -- so she was even cross-dressing without even realizing it.

[Classic Conservative]

Are we really this sensitive?

[SWE]

Not categorically but possibly.

Yeah, this

Are we really this sensitive?

Muh free speech

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Yes, it's cultural appropriation. It's not the same as dressing up as a Roman or a Viking because it perpetuates the misinformation that Native American cultures are dead or frozen in the past. Ceremonial Native American garb has real meaning to contemporary people. It is not our place to make a mockery of it. Having a white person where it as a carnival costume is necessarily an inappropriate context for that type of outfit.

Plus, setting aside the spiritual meanings, it's about as sensitive as dressing up as an Arab or Chinese person.

[DC Al Fine]

Yes, it's cultural appropriation. It's not the same as dressing up as a Roman or a Viking because it perpetuates the misinformation that Native American cultures are dead or frozen in the past. Ceremonial Native American garb has real meaning to contemporary people. It is not our place to make a mockery of it. Having a white person where it as a carnival costume is necessarily an inappropriate context for that type of outfit.

Plus, setting aside the spiritual meanings, it's about as sensitive as dressing up as an Arab or Chinese person.

Serious question. The hotel down the street from my office makes most of the male staff wear traditional Highland dress. Is that a racist appropriation of my Scottish culture?

[politicus]

No. It does not demonstrate a feeling of racial superiority or the belief that certain races have certain innate qualities/abilities. These are the only two sensible criteria for racism.

Racism is a term that is thrown around far too much about different things like cultural insensitivity, ethnocentrism etc.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I feel like I'm in no position to say, being that I am not a Native American. It doesn't seem racist to me - unless it's coupled with inane stereotyping; but what do I know, I guess.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Not categorically but possibly.

I agree with this. It depends, as it always does.

Yes, it's cultural appropriation.

I bet there's a lot of food that must really outrage you if this is something you actually get incensed about.

[angus]

What do you think?

I think that's more of a New Orleans thing.  They always have them, at some point after the second-line dancers in the Mardi Gras parades.  Also, in the first grade, we all dressed up as Algonquins to honor the Thanksgiving People.  I got to be Squanto.  Quite an honor, as I recall.  That was in 1973.

Don't know whether it's racist.  I suppose that it depends upon your definition of the term.  I think racism requires some sophistication.  Usually the things that are labelled racist lack that.  Dressing up more like the sort of innocent bigotry we see every day, which I generally assume is the result of insensitivity and ignorance, rather than the result of racism.  People got really upset about the blackface performers.  That brings wisdom.  After wisdom, one cannot claim ignorance.  A blackface European or European-American nowadays might be reasonably labelled a "racist" by a reasonable definition.  I know of no widespread publication of the sort of wisdom that might inhibit non-indigenous peoples from dressing up like them during parades or carnivals, so it's a little hard for me to legitimately label them racist in the same spirit.  If the moral fashion sets in that regard, then we might reassess, of course.  Just my opinion.

[DemPGH]

No. Especially if we're talking about a carnival. I'd expect to see almost anything there.

If a person of African descent dressed up as a Viking, which is closest to my heritage, would that bother me? Hell no.

Are we really this sensitive?

Yeah, I agree, it's just something I plain don't get worked up over, and I usually don't relate well to the perspective of people who do. People who are bothered by this sort of thing are just seeing something way different than what I am seeing. I'm not seeing blackface or whatever.

[DavidB.]

If a person of African descent dressed up as a Viking, which is closest to my heritage, would that bother me? Hell no.

That's just no comparison. Africans didn't oppress Vikings.

[angus]

If a person of African descent dressed up as a Viking, which is closest to my heritage, would that bother me? Hell no.

That's just no comparison. Africans didn't oppress Vikings.

Not during the Viking age of exploration, but their descendents were.  Barbary Corsairs in the 17th Century regularly raided as far north as Scandinavia.  Although obviously the bulk of their European slaves were Spanish, Portuguese, and British, there have been a number of documented Scandinavians. 

Still, I don't think that's really the best criterion for establishing racism.  If that's the case, then every Halloween costume ever sold is racist, because every witch, lion, ninja warrior, prisoner, mullet-wearer, waitress, robot, zombie, sailor, pokemon, grizzly bear, and cable guy could be said to represent some exploited individual. 

[Cory]

Yes, it's cultural appropriation.

Ugh, this crap again.

I guess we should all just exist in separate racial/cultural enclaves to prevent any kind of "appropriation". Culture in modernity is meant to be shared and mutually explored.

If somebody is wearing it explicitly to make fun of Natives, then yes it's racist. But otherwise no. Whatever happened to common sense?

[ingemann]

I like not to think of it, because I rather use my mind to think about real problem, like the fact that so many seem to suffer from a kind of retardation or mental illness, where they think wearing costumes is racist.

My thoughts goes out to all the people who suffer from that disease, but lucky there's a easy cure, growing up and dealing with real problem (like their college debt, they can't pay with their minimum wages jobs).

[they don't love you like i love you]

I can't take any talk of "cultural appropriation" seriously after the moronic nonsense spewed by R2D2 in that stupid Iggy Azalea thread.

[/]

Generally, yes.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Racism? Not quite. Offensive/insulting? Yeah. This is one of the few areas where "cultural appropriation" is a real thing, because what it does is take an actual religious symbol that is sacred to the culture, and use it as a fashion prop.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

I'm going to join the camp saying that it's perhaps not quite technically racism but still is in very bad taste. There are actually, I think, many things that get excoriated as cultural appropriation that are really more just tacky than anything else. It's less 'hateful stereotype' and more 'some douchebag Instragramming herself with sushi rolls held over her eyes'.

[dead0man]

I really don't understand how it can be racist, or even culturally insensitive unless it's done to be racist or culturally insensitive.  It can be perceived that way, sure, but lots of things are perceived wrong.


(but I think people worry way too much about protecting culture, or worse, other people's culture....if the culture is that freaking important, it will stick around.  If not, it will die like all the other cultures that have died.  I have the same issue with language.  Why should we care if a language dies (assuming we have a fairly full knowledge of the language for etymology reasons), nobody is hurt by this.)