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Cultural Appropriation 101: How Not To Appreciate South Asian Culture
If you've seen celebrities wearing bindis or saris before, then your cultural appropriation radar may have gone off when Willow Smith dressed up as the Hindu goddess Kali for Harper's Bazaar.
Willow Smith & Kali
Image courtesy: Harper's Bazaar
The magazine recently selected several models and actresses to embody their favourite icons, and singer Willow Smith decided on the Hindu goddess Kali. Her reasoning was well-intentioned: "When I was little, I would go to my mom's meditation room, and read her books about goddesses. Kali stayed with me because she is terrifying yet beautiful."
Yet very different from appreciating the goddess is dressing like her for a fashion editorial — and that too with Jean-Paul Goude, the notorious French photographer known for his racist imagery and divisive shoots with Grace Jones and Kim Kardashian.
With this situation in mind, we decided to take a look back at other examples of cultural appropriation.
Selena Gomez & Bindis
Image courtesy: Fashion
While Selena Gomez's song "Come and Get It" was definitely catchy, it was another example of exotifying bindis and inserting tabla beats for an instant hit. Subsequently, wearing bindis at every promotional appearance for the song didn't help matters, since bloggers and activists rightfully called out Gomez's usage and started the hashtag #ReclaimtheBindi around Coachella time.
Iggy Azalea is cultural appropriation personified, including shooting her music video "Bounce" in Mumbai and using the usual tropes of wearing saris, shooting typically colourful scenes and cutting to the slums occasionally. Azalea treats Indians and India like a backdrop, all while wearing saris and bindis as if being in the country authenticates her usage.
Gwen Stefani and Madonna & The "Asian Cool" Era
Image courtesy: Shameless Mag
"Asian Cool" was coined in the late '90s for the time when South Asian culture was en vogue in the United Kingdom and North America. This trend led to lots of musicians, like Madonna and Gwen Stefani, adopting bindis and henna in their red-carpet looks. This was one of the first mainstream moments of cultural appropriation, which was irksome because bindis, henna and saris were being worn without any acknowledgement of their roots and meanings in South Asian culture.
Here's the central debate when it comes to appropriation: why can white or non-white celebrities co-opt and wear our culture but people of our own culture would be ostracized for the same practices?
We'd love to hear your opinions on this topic. Please leave your comments below!
Feature image source: www.harpersbazaar.com
Rumnique Nannar
Author
Rumnique Nannar is a new journalist with a passion for all things pop culture, film, and art. Rumnique was born in London, with a predilection for devouring English chocolate with her Vogue, ANOKHI, and Glamour magazines in tow. She is currently in her Journalism Masters at UBC. Connect ...
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