{"id":23508,"date":"2015-03-03T15:07:52","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T20:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=23508"},"modified":"2015-03-04T19:55:04","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T00:55:04","slug":"cultural-appropriation-race-themed-parties-and-other-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2015\/03\/03\/cultural-appropriation-race-themed-parties-and-other-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Appropriation, Race-Themed Parties, and Other Woes"},"content":{"rendered":"Over the past school year, I have noticed a troubling amount of race-themed parties being promoted on campus. It wouldn't be as offensive\u00a0if the organizers of these events were sincerely\u00a0ignorant of race relations; however, many individuals have\u00a0voiced concerns, only to be ignored for the sake\u00a0of a \"good time.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>When you actively ignore concerns - more importantly, real concerns coming from the racial group you are\u00a0\"celebrating,\" then both you and your tacky, commercialized Wal-Mart poncho are in the wrong.\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>What does matter is that it's 2015, and it should be common knowledge\u00a0that race-themed parties or any other forms of cultural appropriation are\u00a0not okay<\/strong>.\r\n\r\n<strong>You may ask: Ondiek, why isn't this okay?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nLet me first explain to you what cultural appropriation is. <strong>Cultural appropriation is when members of the dominant group in society take certain elements of marginalized\u00a0culture and adopt it for use in a different context. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2014\/sep\/29\/racism-black-people-experience\">It is a form of covert racism.<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2014\/sep\/29\/racism-black-people-experience\">\u00a0<\/a>So, why is this discriminatory? If I told you all the reasons why it's wrong, this would be a 5000 word paper. Here's a good video that further explain the issue.\r\n\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZT1sTYpOJ04?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<strong>Let me explain to you what I think are the three most important reasons why cultural appropriation is problematic:\r\n<\/strong>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li><strong>You're perpetuating offensive stereotypes. <\/strong>By dissecting\u00a0certain elements of a culture, and\u00a0making these elements hyper-evident, you are furthering racist ideologies. For example, in the context of race-themed parties, if you have a Black-themed party, and don \"primitive\" apparel, Black face, or gangster-related accessories, you are the wearing the costume while simultaneously contributing to the<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/lfoster\/2006-07\/sosi4440b\/lectures\/RACIALIZATION_THEPROCESSOFRACIALIZATION.html\">racialization<\/a><\/strong> of\u00a0that group.<strong><strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/h-a-goodman\/if-trayvon-martin-eric-ga_b_5674633.html\">I don't really need to explain\u00a0why stereotypes are problematic.\r\n<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>You're dismissing the racism faced by those who wear visible cultural garments.<\/strong>\u00a0Moreover, you are neutralizing and dismissing ccertain fragments of a culture so that you can have a fun time. There\u00a0is a\u00a0historical context (often in relation to colonialism) that makes them important or sacred to a culture. You are belittling that culture - making it less than what it really is. <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/nativeappropriations.com\/2010\/04\/but-why-cant-i-wear-a-hipster-headdress.html\">Think twice.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>There's a double standard.\u00a0<\/strong>As much as we'd all like to think that we live in a post-racial society, the sad reality is that we don't.<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/files\/mcintosh.html\"> As minorities, if we choose to be visibly ethnic, we are looked at as \"other.\"<\/a><\/strong> We are often bullied, alienated, and looked down upon for it.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/wocinsolidarity.tumblr.com\/post\/61733500235\/why-white-people-cannot-wear-a-bindi-made\">An\u00a0elementary-aged\u00a0Indian girl could be made fun of for wearing a bindi; however, Selena Gomez, and other White-passing people are celebrated for their creativity when they do the same.<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Similarly, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/2015\/feb\/25\/giuliana-rancic-zendaya-hair\">a Black individual could wear dreadlocks and be assumed to be a deviant<\/a><\/strong>, while White people who do the same are once again - creative. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theroot.com\/blogs\/the_grapevine\/2014\/12\/q_tip_gave_iggy_azalea_a_much_needed_hip_hop_history_lesson_but_he_forgot.html\">Looking at you, Iggy.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nStudents need to come together and recognize that this is wrong. For a university that's as diverse as we are, we all have to make it our mission to educate ourselves on these topics. It's our duty to make the student experience as equitable and accessible to everyone.\u00a0<strong>As long as you are open to learning, you are part of the solution.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIf you are facing an equity issues in any way, there are many resources around the campus to help you. Here's just a few:\r\n\r\n<strong><span style=\"color: #373737\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hrandequity.utoronto.ca\/about-hr-equity\/diversity\/equityresources.htm\">U of T Human Resources and Equity.<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.antiracism.utoronto.ca\/\">U of T Anti Racism and Cultural Diversity Office.<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/life.utoronto.ca\/get-involved\/diversity-equity\/\">And more\u00a0resources can be found here.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nBest,\r\nOndiek\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nOver the past school year, I have noticed a troubling amount of race-themed parties being promoted on campus. It wouldn't be as offensive\u00a0if the organizers of these events were sincerely\u00a0ignorant of race relations; however, many individuals have\u00a0voiced concerns, only to&hellip;\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2015\/03\/03\/cultural-appropriation-race-themed-parties-and-other-woes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Cultural Appropriation, Race-Themed Parties, and Other Woes&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2015\/03\/03\/cultural-appropriation-race-themed-parties-and-other-woes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Cultural Appropriation, Race-Themed Parties, and Other Woes&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,69,66,67],"tags":[12032,1515,2400],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23508"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23550,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23508\/revisions\/23550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}