Tom Ford in a Headdress; but that's not the interesting part

 (image via HuffPo)

AK Note: Hi, remember me? My apologies for the sudden post drop off, school has been ridiculously busy. But I'm back, promise. And I'm still always looking for guest posts if anyone is interested...nativeappropriations@gmail.com

A few days ago, Huffington Post posted some preview pictures of Tom Ford's photo spread in French Vogue (he's a fashion designer, btw). The first picture of the spread is of Ford, sporting a warbonnet. So, we all know why it's wrong, and we can add him to the list of recent celebrity redface transgressions. Not that exciting. 

What I am fascinated by, however, are the comments on the article on HuffPo, but mostly on the re-post over at Jezebel. We all know I'm not a big fan of the Jezebel commenting community on issues of race, especially on Native issues, but check some of these out (the whole comment thread is here):

"That photo is many types of wrong.  I have never seen a racist as big as a horse before."

"Nothing like a little cultural insensitivity to start out a... lunch."

"Why has the NA/1st Nations type headdress become the new hipster fashion statement? Was blackface just too messy?"

"You guys!! I'm sure he's 1/16 Cherokee! Totes ok!"

"If I were a Native American I would have a complete wardrobe of religious headgear from every possible sector of Anglo culture and I would wear them at the most inappropriate times and places. I would dress up as the Virgin Mary for Halloween and wear my sporty pope hat to the beach."

and I liked this one, as a reference to the whole Meghan-McCain-Trail-of-Tears-tag debacle (thanks!):

"Doesn't Tom know that such things are only tasteful if you include a handy trail of tears tag?"

 Some Native voices even came out of the woodwork:

"As a first nations woman, I challenge all headdress wearing hipsters to come to any powwow, next year in your fake feathers. If you are arrogant enough to wear them, then I assume you're brave enough to wear them around those who earn their headdress one feather at a time.

"Dear Tom Ford,
My culture is not a photoshoot prop.
You're an ignorant douche."

or this woman, married to a Navajo man (her screenname is "DineBoo"--just cute):

"What is it with people wearing headdresses? Heck, I'm married to a Navajo man and I don't bust out the turquoise, the velvet, and the squash blossoms to wear out in public.

The headdress is sacred, which carries individual meanings to each different tribe. It is not a flashy hat. The way people have been wear the headdress makes it look like there is only one tribe in existence now."

Um, what happened? Where are all the cultural appropriation defenders? Where are the people telling me to "get over it?" Why can't I fill my Bingo Card?! There is one woman, who posts a question about wearing a headdress and Indian jewelry, but she then thanks the commenters who respond and send her links about why its wrong. She thanks them.

The HuffPo article has one comment about the wrongness of wearing a headdress as well--and no one pushed back. The replies thank her (him?) and agree.

Have we just witnessed a shift in the space-time continuum? Has the message started to get across? Definitely too soon to tell, but I can't even tell you how refreshing and uplifting it was to see these comment chains. I mean, it was barely a month ago that we were talking about Paris Hilton on Halloween.

Thoughts? Are people getting sick of the trend? Is this just an anomaly? Are the people who click through to an article about high fashion a different, more enlightened subset of the population? Whatever it is, this is ridiculous. In a good way.


Jezebel: Tom Ford Shows French Vogue His Headdress Collection
Huffington Post: Inside Tom Ford's French Vogue

(Thanks Alicia!)

Jezebel Uses "#trailoftears" to Describe Megan McCain

(link to article here)

Notice anything distinctive about this posting from Jezebel this morning? Please direct your gaze to the upper righthand corner of the photo. See the hash tag? Here, I blew it up for you:

Yes, that says #trailoftears. Trail of Tears. The forced relocation of my ancestors, where they were unlawfully and forcibly removed from their homelands in the Southeast and marched over 1000 miles, in the dead of winter, to what is now modern day Oklahoma. Over 4,000 of the 15,000 Cherokees who began the journey died along the way from exposure, hunger, and disease. 

The Trail of Tears was also unlawful in the truest sense of the word. Chief John Ross of the Cherokee Nation took the case to court, fighting for the right for his people to remain in their homelands, where they had been for thousands of years. The Cherokees argued that as a sovereign nation, the state of Georgia had no right to enforce a removal within Cherokee territory. The case worked it's way up through the court system, ended up in the supreme court. In a series of decisions, Justice John Marshall and his court sided with the Cherokees, stating that only the national government had the right to intervene in Indian Affairs. To which President Andrew Jackson reportedly stated:

"John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"

With the signing of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, Jackson took matters into his own hands, authorizing the removal of thousands of Native people from throughout North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. 

To put this in perspective, this is the mid 1800's. The Cherokee Nation was a successful and prosperous community, with large plantations, farms, schools, printing presses that produced books and a newspaper in the written Cherokee language, a literacy rate exponentially higher than the local white community, and a system of colleges that educated members of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (I hate that term) in a way that incorporated both mainstream and tribal education traditions.

The federal government sent in troops to enforce the removal, and without warning, they swooped into these communities, burning homes, killing livestock, and removing families without even time for them to gather belongings. They were then rounded up into concentration camps where conditions were squalid and supplies limited, and then forced to begin their journey.

My great-great-great grandparents came over on that journey, a time that is called Nunna daul Isunyi in the Cherokee Language--The Trail Where They Cried. 

So, Jezebel, calling Megan McCain crying over her dad picking Sarah Palin as his running mate a #trailoftears? You are dismissing the pain and legacy of my community's genocide--and that's not something I take lightly. 

UPDATE 9/15: The #trailoftears tag is still there. On the day the post went up, I tweeted my thoughts on the tagging to Jessica Coen (@JessicaCoen), the Jezebel editor who authored the post, and received no response. Later, I tweeted this post, and again received no response. I received numerous emails from Native Appropriations readers who said they emailed the editors, and they received responses from the site ranging from "complaint noted" to "thank you for your response" to "dissent noted". There are also multiple comments on the Jezebel post expressing concern over the tag, and then there is this comment thread: http://jezebel.com/comment/28874773/ (complete with the typical "stop whining" troll) that exhibits the thoughts of some of the Jezebel readership. 

Am I surprised they didn't take the tag down? Not really. Jezebel is not exactly know for sensitivity about issues pertaining to race. Of course it's still upsetting and frustrating, and the most annoying part to me is it seemed like such a simple fix--something that they could have gone in and corrected with little fanfare and no one would have been the wiser. I know it's embarrassing to get called out when you eff up, but, I'm sorry Jezebel, ignoring the issue isn't gonna fix it. This may seem small and inconsequential to you, but these are my ancestors and my community, and the way this was handled does nothing to restore my faith in how people of color are treated on your site.   

Original article here: http://jezebel.com/5632704/meghan-mccain-cried-when-dad-picked-palin

More background on the Trail of Tears: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

The Jezebel Fashion Post that keeps on giving

 (Jen Mussari's now iconic image :) )

I've come across some awesome blog posts in response to the Jezebel piece (found here) on Native fashion that Lisa at Sociological Images pulled together with images from this blog. The comment thread on the piece was really interesting, with people debating what should be deemed "ok" what is "offensive" and some just telling us all to STFU. I thought I would share a couple of the responses here. (If anyone knows of any others, please let me know)

Juila at a l'allure garçonnière posted a great response entitled "The Critical Fashion Lover's (basic) Guide to Cultural Appropriation" and it's definitely worth a read. I'm tempted to quote the entire thing. It's beautifully written and insightful. She says:

" I have heard a lot of arguments that there are way more important things we could be debating instead of cultural appropriation; that native people themselves don't give a shit if a severely intoxicated white hipster decides to tattoo pocahontas on his leg or if some magazine decides their next nude photoshoot should feature blonde women wearing headdresses. who knows! maybe the jingle dress will be the next hot thing in haute couture, but it doesn't impact the quality of life of the people who make, wear and perform in those dresses.

my response to this is clear and simple; i don't think the issue of institutional racism and discrimination can be completely divorced from the question of cultural appropration. they feed into one another. one would not exist (at least not in the same way) without the other. if we lived in a culture that acknowledged the fact that most of us live on stolen land in north america and that recognized native people as complex, diverse, intelligent people without romanticizing or glamourizing them, i'd like to think that it would put an end to these sorts of reductive stereotypes popping up in fashion, film, music scenes. reducing an entire culture to a simple "inspiration" for your outfit, art project, fashion collection, or photoshoot is disrespectful and unhelpful, especially when we look at the bigger picture."

 And later she addresses what many of the Jezebel commenters were struggling with--what is ok to wear and what isn't?

the biggest problem with the concept of cultural appropriation, in my opinion, is that it doesn't set out any explicit black and white rules for people to follow. as you can see based on the comments on jezebel, people are genuinely confused as to what the "right thing" to do in these situations are, and there's nothing wrong with that. you can't get answers if you aren't asking questions. my advice in these situations is largely about context, intention, and education.

She was able to put into words many of the issues I was struggling with after reading the comment chain. great stuff.

Another post came from Molly at the University of Michigan Arts Ink blog, entitled "The Hipster Headdress: A Fashion Faux Pas." The post itself is great, but I really appreciated the back-and-forth she posted in the comments between her and some facebook friends. It's really enlightening and says a lot:

Friend 3: …great opinionated synopsis molly, really like your writing style and i agree with the feathered headdress as a stupid hipster clique. Although to be honest, I sometimes wear a feather in my hair (completely in humble respect to the Native Americans)…a modest little decorative item once in awhile.

Molly: I think moccasins are items of comfort – though I realize there are “designer moccasins” out there selling for hundreds of dollars. You don’t put on a headdress because you lost your baseball cap. They’re not practical or comfortable. Plus, you can wear moccasins and walk down the street, go to a party, and nobody would really notice. I don’t know why people wear headdresses around, but whether or not it’s their intention – they get attention. I realize throwing in that P.S. is rather hypocritical regardless, but perhaps the note’d make more sense taking into account that Native Americans, at powwows, posts, what have you, might sell moccasins or dream catchers or other crafts – but you never see them selling headdresses (unless for ceremonial purposes, I suppose, but I’ve never seen a headdress for sale personally, at least). I found a hawk feather and wore it around for a little while. I don’t think single feathers are offensive, though I know that’s again flirting with contradiction. It’s like the difference between wearing some green eyeshadow or painting your entire body green. Also, I’m not insinuating that anyone who enjoys wearing headdresses occasionally is absolutely void of morals. I’m just not a fan.

Thanks to both of you for keeping the conversation going, I'm just so glad these issues are being discussed in the blog-o-sphere after remaining off the map for so long. Keep up the good work!



Julia's post: http://alagarconniere.blogspot.com/2010/04/critical-fashion-lovers-basic-guide-to.html

Molly's post: http://www3.arts.umich.edu/ink/2010/04/14/the-hipster-headdress-a-fashion-faux-pas/

The original Jezebel post: http://jezebel.com/5516362/feathers-and-fashion-native-american-is-in-style

Sweat Lodges Part II: No, you can't. Here's why.

AK note: This is Part II in discussing sweat lodges and non-Natives. For Part I and background,click here.

After that long lead in, lets break it down into some of the major issues at play here. I feel like I'm treading in a bit of dangerous water here, because admittedly sweats have not been a part of my spiritual tradition. If anyone has corrections or comments, please let me know, and know that it is not my intention to generalize, stereotype, or offend.

Sweat lodges are sacred. plain and simple. Not every tribe in the Americas has a tradition of sweat lodges, but many do. Each tribe has different origin stories surrounding the ceremonies and songs--hear that? songs, not chants!(one of my pet peeves)--that go along with them, so it is impossible for me to write a concise history. But realize that these ceremonies, when performed in their traditional cultural contexts, are religious practices. Equivalent to something, like, say, the act of receiving communion for Catholics (not an exact comparison, but work with me). Even non-Catholics respect the role of a priest and his position, and would never wander around selling "communion ceremonies" out of a backyard or garage, and moreover, people wouldn't think that participating in one of these ceremonies was a replacement for the real thing.

Why, again, is it ok to appropriate sacred traditions from Native peoples?



There are many directions I could go with this discussion--the commodification of cultural practices (ie there are many "legit" Natives who sell their services as medicine men and women or lead sweats for money) , the fact that these men (and jezebel women) are participating in dangerous practices that when not understood or performed correctly can result in death and injury (see this case from Arizona last year where 4 people died in a sweat run by a white new-ager), or the fact that these non-Native "shamans" are making $500 an hour on an appropriated (well, stolen, really) practice while Natives live in some of the poorest communities in the US. All valid issues. But, for sake of space, I'll focus on the Macho Man/oppressed women narrative.

Assumption One: Participating in a sweat is a way to "prove" your manliness, push yourself to the limit, put on a show of bravado

No. Again, I can't speak for all tribes, but from my understanding, it is the exact opposite. A sweat is a time to be humble, not assert your strength. This description from a book written by a non-Native, called "The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat" (you can read part of it online here) shows just how unimportant machismo is to the process--though I hesitate to post it because I can't vouch for the accuracy or if the community is ok with the publication:

(I hope I'm not violating like 1200 copyright laws with that). Note the lines "This was not an endurance contest", "insisted he was not worthy", "repeatedly stated that he was poor, humble, and nothing". Does this sound like the description from Details? not so much.


Assumption Two: Not allowing women who are menstruating into the sweat is a sign of patriarchy and sexism and is rooted in a deep disrespect of women.

No. Again, it is completely the opposite. Barbara Omaha, White Earth Ojibwe, says of the practice:

During her Moon time, a woman is going through her own natural purification process. While her body is going through this natural purification, she is also recharging her own body's powers and energies, so it is a cleansing and restorative time for her. Because a woman's power is being renewed during this process, she must stay away from all sacred ceremonies...A woman's power during her moon time is so strong that it can draw the power away from the sacred Sweat Lodge, Sundance, and Pipe ceremonies. Her power during this time can interfere with the power in the Sacred Pipe, Eagle Feathers, and the food offered for the feasts following ceremony.

Women cannot participate not because they are "unclean" or as a sign of male power, it is because women have so much inherent power that they can interfere with the ceremony. Omaha also notes:

Men do not have their own natural purification and renewal process, therefore they must come to the Sweat Lodge ceremony for purification.

So, Jezebel women, it's not a sign of disrespect, it's a sign of ultimate respect. That's the case with many practices outsiders deem sexist towards women in Native communities--standing outside the drum circle, for example--come out of a place of a deep understanding of the power and role of women in our communities.

In sum, cultural sensitivity: ur doin it rong.

For a great documentary on the subject, check out "White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men", which is actually on youtube, in three parts (but it appears part 3 is missing). Watch it. Inform yourself. Part 1 below:



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCLmT_M-qtk)

Article on deaths in Arizona sweat lodges:  http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religionandtheology/1906/new_age_tragedy_in_sedona:_non-indians_in_the_sweat_lodge__/

Earlier: http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/04/sweat-lodges-bro-therapy-part-i-summary.html

Details article: http://www.details.com/style-advice/grooming-and-health/201005/sweat-lodges-enlightenment-health-detox?currentPage=1

Jezebel article: http://jezebel.com/5517139/sweat-lodges-the-therapy-of-choice-for-bros

Sweat Lodges: "Bro" Therapy? (Part I, the summary)

AK note: Thank you all so much for the love and positive feedback I've gotten in the last few days. It's so exciting and humbling that this project I thought wouldn't go outside of my family and a few friends has taken really taken off. I'm so appreciative of the support and so glad these issues are getting out there!

So, I had another post all ready to go for today, but then logged onto Jezebel this morning and saw this post entitled: "Sweat Lodges: The Therapy of Choice for Bros", and decided that after the comment thread on the post about tribal fashion yesterday (here) I should say something.



The Jez post is based on an article in Details concerning a new "trend" towards successful, macho, business men participating in "sweat lodge" ceremonies for renewal and cleansing purposes. The Details article is pretty bad overall, though I feel like the tone is a little mocking towards these "bros", so that's good (?). First of all, the title of the post is "The Hottest (and Most Dangerous) New Trend in Therapy". They then describe Durek Verret, a former model and self-described "healer" who looks "more like a hipster than a healer":

Verrett works out of a converted garage next to the laundry room in his home. Between chants, you can hear the dryer churning. On a makeshift altar on the wall behind him, he has placed a beeswax statue of a rotund woman he calls Mama, a cylinder of sea salt, an empty wine bottle, and a dried pomegranate...Verrett charges $500 an hour for these sessions and sees about 25 clients a week.

 and describe a "healing session":

Verrett—the son of a Norwegian medicine woman and the grandson of a Haitian shaman—starts by summoning Hale's spirit guides, asking them to enter the young man's body, which is reclined on a massage table. "We now begin to unprogram all of the fears he has in his relationships," he says. "He's running from love. He uses these fears to block him from experiencing women the way he needs to." Verrett moves his hand in the air above Hale's body like a magician set on making something vanish. As Hale shakes and flops, the healer yells, "Now, spirits! More, spirits!"

This reads like a parody of a new-age healer. Working out of a garage? makeshift altar? summoning "spirit guides"? but it gets worse:

In the garage in Silver Lake, after some chanting in Greek and Italian, he closes the session by rubbing lemongrass on Hale's chest to clear his mind and sprinkling sea salt on him for protection.

Chanting in Greek and Italian? rubbing him with lemongrass and sea salt?  a Jezebel commenter pointed out that it sounds more like he was preparing him for dinner than summoning spirits.

The second half of the article describes a group of men who participate in "sweat lodges," which are described by the author as "macho bonding experiences":

A fixture in Native American culture, sweat lodges were embraced by men's groups in the sixties and again in the nineties as macho bonding experiences, hearty cures for the emasculating upheaval of the women's-liberation and political-correctness movements. Today they're mostly seen as dangerous.

These men in the article sit in a sweat lodge in a backyard that is adorned with elk antlers and a disco ball "just for fun" and participate in primal screams during the final round of the sweat. One man mentions he found his "spirit animal" during a sweat in Alaska--he now calls himself "Summer Fox" in his prayers to the "Great Spirit". gag me.

Anna, the author of the Jezebel post, had this to say as her closing:

And before I rag on the middle-aged white dudes in Schaefer's article for appropriating Native American traditions to solve their decidedly white-dude problems, I should confess that I too once signed up for a sweat. But I couldn't go. Because I was menstruating. True story.

She had an opportunity to address the inherent issues with the idea of white bros and white "shamans" appropriating spiritual practices, but instead the comments turned to swapping stories of sweat lodge experiences and disdain over the fact that menstruating women weren't allowed into Anna's sweat.

Some of the Jezebel comments:

"I used to do a sweatlodge with my all female feminist women's group in my hometown, all were welcome, no matter the time of the month. It was actually amazing. We'd sweat and meditate and then run out buck naked and jump in the river. Young, old, skinny, fat, and we'd just dance or howl or sit quietly. It was great. And we always called the sweat lodge "the womb" so take that Macho Man!"

and

Sweat Lodge culture is very weird place for women. I once had to do a sweat lodge ceremony when I was dating the future Mr. Tusk (his godfather was WAY into it) and I was asked in front of a large group of strangers (and my boyfriends parents!) if I was menstruating!! I was told that if I was, I had to go and sit in the other tent by myself and I couldn't participate. Needless to say, I'm a bit jaded on sweat lodges and their lodgers.

 and

I did a sweat lodge once. My friend was doing a rotation in holistic-style medicine and one of her teaches had a lodge in her backyard. A Native American man led the experience with the appropriate chanting and so on. I have to say, it was an incredible experience. I did not expect to be affected the way I was.  

All I have to say is: YOU'VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!! There are so many assumptions and inaccuracies in this discussion, I don't even know where to start. This is already the longest post ever, so I'm splitting it into two. Part II immediately to follow.

Part II can be found here. 

Jezebel Post: http://jezebel.com/5517139/sweat-lodges-the-therapy-of-choice-for-bros

Details Article: http://www.details.com/style-advice/grooming-and-health/201005/sweat-lodges-enlightenment-health-detox?currentPage=1