This week in class we watched a film titled Ethnic Notions, which was about the
representation of black people in popular culture. The documentary talked about
the Mammie, Sambo and how white men would dress in black face to characterize
themselves as black Americans. The film also highlighted the repercussions this
had and more often than not the black people were represented in a negative
manner, which created animosity between white and black people. However this
was a very popular practice from the ante-bellum era through out the mid
twentieth century.
Nevertheless this kind of portrayal of black culture still
exists today and some may even argue that people today are obsessed with black
culture. For example celebrities like Miley Cyrus have been seen appropriating
black American culture by doing things like “twerking” and rapping. Or more
recently Kylie Jenner has come under fire for doing things like cornrowing her
hair, a hairstyle that is more typically worn by Black Americans.
Kylie Jenner
wore her hair in this braided style and posted a picture of herself on
instagram, with a caption promoting her new wig line. Amandla Stenberg a 16
year old Black American actress best known for her role as Rue in the hunger
games commented on the post saying,
“When u
appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to
help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police
brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter,”
The
Huffington Post wrote an article about the exchange and I think Amandla makes a
good point. Kylie may just think she is wearing her hair a certain way but her
actions have consequences. She is appropriating a culture. A Black Person today
cannot just pick and choose which parts of being black they want to embody so
why should Kylie Jenner have that option?
“The line between cultural appropriation and cultural exchange is always going to blurred, but here’s the thing. Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated, but is deemed as high-fashion, cool, or funny when the privileged take it for themselves,” she said. “Appropriation occurs when the appropriator is not aware of the deep significance of their culture they are partaking in.” This was a quote from Stenberg that really resonated with me.
ReplyDeleteI think the point of Amandla's response to Kylie Jenner's photo was to say that she didn't support black equality in her actions or public stances and yet she was using a sexualized or popular part of hair trends predominately worn by people of color. Kylie's hair is praised because of her whiteness whereas a black counterpart might not be. She gets to wear a black hairstyle without the consequences of what it means to be black in Americans. Cornrows are an easy way to maintain/style hair - and they can be made into many different unique and beautiful designs. Kylie Jenner I imagine didn't leave her cornrows in for several weeks. She exploited black hair trends for about a million likes on Instagram.
Lucy mentions the use of blackface in the documentary Ethnic Notions. White men would darken their skin and "act like black men" for entertainment. This was intentionally used to justify racism. Mimicking stereotypes or depicting ex black bodies for entertainment is
The response Kylie got for her cornrows compared to what it is actually like to be a black American with cornrows is probably not similar.
Here's a link that you guys may or may not agree with that talks about cultural appropriation.
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/07/white-people-black-hairstyles/
This kind of reminded me of an incident that happened about a year ago that also had to do with hairstyles. Giuliana Rancic, a talk show host for the show Fashion Police on the popular network E!, made a derogatory comment about one of the Oscar nominee's dreadlocks. The person wearing the dreadlock's was Zendaya, a young, African American woman. After seeing Zendaya in locs on the read carpet, Rancic commented that the young star must have smelled of "patchouli" and "weed."
ReplyDeleteZendaya then fired back at Rancic on Instagram, posting a picture of a quote I will post below with the link. This is not the same as Kylie because cultural appropriation wasn't the issue, but rather racial stereotyping based on a hairstyle. However, this can also be an example of generalizing and stereotyping based on race. Like in the film Ethic Notions, African Americans are often caricatured and depicted based on unrealistic and false ideas believed to be inherent to blackness.
Rancic issued an apology and tried to cover up her comments by saying she wasn't implicating a racial stereotype, but instead was referring to "hippie" and "bohemian" notions of style. For me, I don't buy this apology. I think Rancic's implicit racism was caught on camera, and in order to save herself and career had to make up an excuse for this ignorant comment.
Here is the link to the article where Zendaya respond's to Rancic's comments. It also includes her Insta post and Racic's apology.
http://www.people.com/article/zendaya-blasts-giuliana-rancic-oscars-dreadlocks-fashion-police
I completely remember when this happened and I remember talking about it in class as well. I could not believe when she said she must smell like "patchouli and weed." People laughed at the comment and viewed it as completely okay!
DeleteI also agree with you that it wasn't a legitimate apology. She was definitely just under fire so she issued that apology. I am glad younger stars like Stenburg. It's also frustrating to see rappers such as Iggy Azalea impersonating what she believes to be a "black style" when she raps or performs. It's incredibly frustrating that her and Macklemore were nominated for the best rappers of the year when they completely appropriated something and took one hundred percent credit for it, instead of giving credit where it was due.
I remember discussing cultural appropriation in a previous women's studies and social inequalities class. Why is okay for Kylie Jenner to receive praise and "likes" for having her hair in braids but any African American citizen trying to apply for a job would be completely discredited because of that hairstyle??
I strongly agree with Amandla Stenberg and the views she has about cultural misappropriation. It really angers me that these celebrities choose to misappropriate elements of minority heritage and try to make the fashionable, but they do nothing to advance the causes that African American's struggle with every day. They do not speak out or donate money, but choose hairstyles or style of clothing that has been historically been represented by people of color, and try to make it fashionable or beautiful. It should not take someone in a majority to declare what is and what is not beautiful. I applaud Amandla and others like her who speak out on these issues and hold celebrities accountable to the influence and agenda they are trying to push.
ReplyDeleteAs a black woman, I don't expect others to support the African American community, or even to acknowledge things we have brought into the front-line. We can easily take a look at our University, of course we all know how it built. But you don't have buildings named after slaves, or anybody of color. Society has gotten used to given others the praises, while African Americans remain in the back ground.
ReplyDeleteAs a black woman, I don't expect others to support the African American community, or even to acknowledge things we have brought into the front-line. We can easily take a look at our University, of course we all know how it built. But you don't have buildings named after slaves, or anybody of color. Society has gotten used to given others the praises, while African Americans remain in the back ground.
ReplyDelete