Native Appropriations

Last updated
Native Appropriations
Type of site
Blog
Available inEnglish
Owner Blogger
Created by Adrienne Keene
URL nativeappropriations.com
CommercialNo
LaunchedJanuary 11, 2010;14 years ago (2010-01-11)

Native Appropriations is a blog that complains and about and analyzes the ways that Indigenous people are depicted in mainstream culture. [1] [2] [3] Active since 2010, the website is created and maintained by Cherokee Nation scholar Adrienne Keene.

Contents

Subjects

Some of the most frequently discussed topics on the blog are "hipster headdresses", the Native American mascot controversy and what the author deems to be appropriation and misrepresentations of Native American cultures in Hollywood movies. Targets of critique include the Washington Redskins use of an ethnic slur as the name for their football team, [4] The Lone Ranger movie remake, [5] depictions of skin walkeres and Native American spiritual beliefs in the work of author J. K. Rowling, [6] the wearing of a hipster headdress and statements by musician Christina Fallin, [7] Halloween "Pocahottie" costumes, [8] and Urban Outfitters. [9]

Though much of the blog's commentary is critical, it is not exclusively so: Nelly Furtado, for example, has been praised for her respectful engagement with Native hoop and shawl dancers. [10]

Coverage and influence

Keene observes that Native Americans are barely represented in mainstream media, and journalists often turn to non-Native sources, rather than to Natives themselves, on the rare occasions when they do cover Native issues. [11] However, the increasing popularity of her blog and appearance on other social media such as Twitter has made her a widely quoted expert [12] on matters to do with appropriations, with mentions in the BBC, [11] NPR, [1] The Guardian , [13] the Phoenix New Times , [14] Al Jazeera, [15] Time magazine [16] and other major news outlets. The Guardian has credited her with leading a successful campaign against stereotypical imagery created by Paul Frank Industries: the company later invited Keene and other experts to help design new product lines working with Native artists. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelly Furtado</span> Canadian singer (born 1978)

Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted Furtado's musical versatility and experimentation with genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powwow</span> Native American and First Nations cultural dance gathering

A powwow is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today are an opportunity for Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or public, indoors or outdoors. Dancing events can be competitive with monetary prizes. Powwows vary in length from single-day to weeklong events.

Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be especially controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures. According to critics of the practice, cultural appropriation differs from acculturation, assimilation, or equal cultural exchange in that this appropriation is a form of colonialism. When cultural elements are copied from a minority culture by members of a dominant culture, and these elements are used outside of their original cultural context – sometimes even against the expressly stated wishes of members of the originating culture – the practice is often received negatively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War bonnet</span> Native American feathered headgear

War bonnets are feathered headgear traditionally worn by male leaders of the American Plains Indians Nations who have earned a place of great respect in their tribe. Originally they were sometimes worn into battle, but they are now primarily used for ceremonial occasions. In the Native American and First Nations communities that traditionally have these items of regalia, they are seen as items of great spiritual and political importance, only to be worn by those who have earned the right and honour through formal recognition by their people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LaDonna Harris</span> Native American social activist and politician

LaDonna Vita Tabbytite Harris is a Comanche Native American social activist and politician from Oklahoma. She is the founder and president of Americans for Indian Opportunity. Harris was a vice presidential candidate for the Citizens Party in the 1980 United States presidential election alongside Barry Commoner. She was the first Native American woman to run for vice president. In 2018, she became one of the inductees in the first induction ceremony held by the National Native American Hall of Fame.

<i>Loose</i> (Nelly Furtado album) 2006 studio album by Nelly Furtado

Loose is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, released on 7 June 2006, by Geffen and Mosley Music Group. Recording sessions for Loose took place from 2005 to 2006. Timbaland and his protégé Danja produced the bulk of the album, primarily a pop album which incorporates influences of dance, R&B, hip hop, latin pop, synth-pop, reggaeton, new wave, funk, and Middle Eastern music. Lyrically, it explores the theme of female sexuality and has been described as introspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maneater (Nelly Furtado song)</span> 2006 single by Nelly Furtado

"Maneater" is a song by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). The song was written by Furtado, Jim Beanz, and its producers Timbaland, and Danja. It was released to mainstream radio in the United States in July 2006. The song's musical style and production were inspired by the Hall & Oates song of the same name and other music from the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hipster (contemporary subculture)</span> Subculture defined by claims to authenticity and uniqueness

The 21st-century hipster is a subculture. Fashion is one of the major markers of hipster identity. Members of the subculture typically do not self-identify as hipsters, and the word hipster is often used as a pejorative for someone who is pretentious or overly concerned with appearing trendy.

Ribbon work is an appliqué technique for clothing and dance regalia among Prairie and Great Lakes indigenous peoples.

<i>Mi Plan</i> 2009 studio album by Nelly Furtado

Mi Plan is the fourth studio album and the first Spanish-language album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. It was released independently on September 11, 2009 by Furtado’s own record label Nelstar Entertainment with distribution by Universal Music Latino. This marks Furtado’s first independently released album. Recording sessions for the album took place from 2008 to 2009. The album was produced primarily by Furtado with other contributions made by James Bryan, Lester Mendez, Salaam Remi, The Demolition Crew, Julieta Venegas and Brian West. Furtado described the songs on the album to be "simple love songs".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010s in fashion</span> Fashion-related events during the 2010s

The 2010s were defined by hipster fashion, athleisure, a revival of austerity-era period pieces and alternative fashions, swag-inspired outfits, 1980s-style neon streetwear, and unisex 1990s-style elements influenced by grunge and skater fashions. The later years of the decade witnessed the growing importance in the western world of social media influencers paid to promote fast fashion brands on Pinterest and Instagram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Hoops (Bigger the Better)</span> Single by music recording artist Nelly Furtado

"Big Hoops (Bigger the Better)" is a song by Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, taken from her fifth studio album, The Spirit Indestructible. It was released on April 16, 2012, through Interscope Records, as the lead single from the album. The song was written by Furtado in a collaboration with its producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. "Big Hoops (Bigger the Better)" is an R&B song influenced by hip hop collective Odd Future and 1990s productions. The track's lyrics refer to the singer's life as a teenager, describing her passion for hip hop and R&B music at that time. "Big Hoops (Bigger the Better)" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, who praised the song's breakdown but criticized Furtado's vocals.

<i>The Spirit Indestructible</i> 2012 studio album by Nelly Furtado

The Spirit Indestructible is the fifth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. The album was released on 14 September 2012. Furtado served as the executive producer for the album as well as a principal writer. Further production on The Spirit Indestructible comes from the likes of Darkchild, Salaam Remi, Mike Angelakos, Bob Rock, Fraser T Smith, Di Genius, The Demolition Crew, John Shanks and Tiësto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parking Lot (Nelly Furtado song)</span> 2012 single by Nelly Furtado

"Parking Lot" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, from her fifth studio album, The Spirit Indestructible (2012). The song was written by Furtado and co-written and produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, who also produced her two previous singles "Big Hoops" and "Spirit Indestructible". The song was released as the third single from the album on October 12, 2012.

Hipster racism is engaging in behaviors typically regarded as racist and defending them as being performed ironically or satirically. Rachel Dubrofsky and Megan W. Wood have described it as being supposedly "too hip and self-aware to actually mean the racist stuff one expresses". This might include wearing blackface and other performances of stereotyped African Americans, use of the word nigger, and appropriating cultural dress. Talia Meer argues that hipster racism is rooted in what she calls "hipster exceptionalism", meaning "the idea that something ordinarily offensive or prejudiced is miraculously transformed into something clever, funny and socially relevant, by the assertion that said ordinarily offensive thing is ironic or satirical." As Leslie A. Hahner and Scott J. Varda described it, "those participating in acts of hipster racism understand those acts as racist when practiced by others, but rationalize their own racist performances through a presumed exceptionalism."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waiting for the Night</span> 2012 single by Nelly Furtado

"Waiting for the Night" is a song recorded by Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado. It was written by Furtado and co-written and produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins for her fifth studio album, The Spirit Indestructible. Lyrically, the song is about Furtado having a crush on a boy and was inspired by a diary she kept as a sixteen-year-old on a summer vacation on São Miguel Island, Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redface</span> Use of costumes to caricature Indigenous Americans

Redface is the wearing of makeup to darken or redden skin tone, or feathers, warpaint, etc. by non-Natives to impersonate a Native American or Indigenous Canadian person, or to in some other way perpetuate stereotypes of Indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States. It is analogous to the wearing of Blackface. In the early twentieth century, it was often white performers, who wore blackface or redface when portraying Plains Indians in Hollywood Westerns. In the early days of television sitcoms, "non-Native sitcom characters donned headdresses, carried tomahawks, spoke broken English, played Squanto at Thanksgiving gatherings, received 'Indian' names, danced wildly, and exhibited other examples of representations of redface".

Nadia Aboulhosn is an American fashion blogger, model, and designer from Orlando, Florida. She is best known for designing clothing lines for Boohoo.com, Addition Elle, and Lord & Taylor. Aboulhosn has been featured in Vogue Italia, Complex Magazine, Refinery29, Seventeen Magazine, Teen Vogue, American Apparel, and BuzzFeed. She is of Lebanese descent. Originally from the big town of Btekhnay in Mount Lebanon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethany Yellowtail</span> Fashion designer

Bethany Yellowtail is a Native American fashion designer based in Los Angeles, California. Known for her work that reflects her Indigenous heritage, she is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and a descendant of the Crow Tribe of Montana. She serves as designer and CEO for her line B.Yellowtail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrienne Keene</span> American and Native American academic, writer, and activist

Adrienne J. Keene is a Native American academic, writer, and activist. A member of the Cherokee Nation, she is the founder of Native Appropriations, a blog on contemporary Indigenous issues analyzing the way that Indigenous peoples are represented in popular culture, covering issues of cultural appropriation in fashion and music and stereotyping in film and other media. She is also an assistant professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, where her research focuses on educational outcomes for Native students.

References

  1. 1 2 "Q&A: How Is The Native College Experience Different?". nprEd. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Powwow Party Flub Leads To Fashion Line". Npr.org. 12 August 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Spring's least-wanted fashion trend: The co-opting of Aboriginal dress". Elle Canada. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Bustle". Bustle.com. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "The Real Problem With a Lone Ranger Movie? It's the Racism, Stupid". Indian Country Today Media Network.com. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Keene, Dr. Adrienne, "Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh." at Native Appropriations, 8 March 2016. Accessed 9 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Newspaper Rock". Newspaperrock.bluecorncomics.com. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Spring's least-wanted fashion trend: The co-opting of Aboriginal dress". Elle Canada. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Fashion designer Paul Frank teams up with Native American artists". Denverpost.com. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "Nelly Furtado's "Big Hoops" Video: Native dancers represent!". Native Appropriations. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  11. 1 2 "BBC News - #BBCtrending: Native Americans reject 'super drunk' label". BBC News. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  12. ↑ "Powwow Party Flub Leads To Fashion Line". NPR. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  13. 1 2 Tansy Hoskins (22 August 2013). "Fake Native American clothing ranges show the darker side of fashion". the Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  14. ↑ Rebekah Zemansky (18 September 2012). "Bloggers Adrienne Keene and Dr. Jessica Metcalfe on Native Headdresses, Patterns, and "Aztec" Labels in Popular Fashion". Jackalope Ranch. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  15. ↑ "Don't Trend on My Culture" . Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "Johnny Depp as Tonto: Is 'The Lone Ranger' Racist? - TIME.com". TIME.com. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
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