As we all know Halloween is quickly creeping around the corner and we are all scrambling to create a creative and unique costume, and while hunting for costumes, some can run into costumes that are appropriating a certain culture. For those of you confused, here is a run down on cultural appropriation and how it is NOT in style.
Dictionary.com defines cultural appropriation as “The act of adopting elements of an outside, often minority culture, including knowledge, practices, and symbols, without understanding or respecting the original culture and context”. When this time of the year rolls around, people don’t necessarily have the intention of dressing up to appropriate a culture or be offensive, however; such costumes carry weighted stereotypes with a shadow of centuries of racism and discrimination.
Before you pick a costume, here are a few simple questions to avoid unintentionally appropriating a culture:
- Does your costume involve changing the complexion of your skin tone to mock someone else’s? Don’t do it.
- Does your costume involve mocking a culture’s traditional garments? There is a fine line between appreciating a culture for its beauty and uniqueness and appropriating it to be an accessory.
- Does your costume invoke a name of an ethnicity and/or an offensive historical figure? This will cause pain among groups of people and overall not very nice.
If you answered yes to any of these questions, save yourself the time (and money) and reconsider your actions and how they will affect everyone around you.
Here are some examples of Halloween costumes that are NOT okay:
- Native anything
- Anything Blackface—need I say anything more?
- Anne Frank
- Geisha
- Eskimo
By no means is this list exhaustive; always conduct research before you choose your costume.
If your costume is offensive to people, mocks a culture or people; it is a no brainer, just don’t do it. If there is one message to be taken away is that a culture is not a costume. Enjoy Halloween, just not at the expense of someone or an entire group of people. Happy Halloween!
Images obtained from:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/cultural-appropriation-halloween-college-response
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-women-wearing-masks-787961/
Information obtained from:
https://studentlife.ryerson.ca/cultural-appropriation-halloween-their-culture-is-not-your-costume/
https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/cultural-appropriation/
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/09/27/offensive-halloween-costumes_n_12222350.html