The Privilege of the Yay Life Tribe

 (screenshot from the Yay Life documentary trailer...not exploiting Native cultures at all, right?)

Someone posted a link to the "Yay Life Tribe" on the Native Appropriations Facebook page a couple of days ago. The "Yay Life Tribe" is the brainchild of a 20-something named Tucker, who got a spirit hood, it changed his life, and then he quit his job to devote all his time to spreading the message of loving life and positivity. The way he plans to do this is through selling Spirit Hoods, having a blog, twitter, and facebook page, and traveling around to music festivals this year where he will spread the gospel (and make a documentary while he's at it).

I spent a fair amount of time that night looking at the facebook page, clicking through fan photos, and watched the trailer to the documentary. When I was done, I shrugged, and thought "I'm all for positivity and loving life. If this is how they want to do it, whatever." I was perturbed at the use of the "tribe" idea--but I'm clearly not going to claim that American Indians are the only people who can use the word. There was also something else that really bothered me about the whole thing, but I couldn't put my finger on it until yesterday.


Yesterday afternoon, I got a comment on my Spirit Hood takedown from the founder of the "Yay Life Tribe" himself, Tucker Gumber:

You guys are amazing. You are taking a product that actually adds happiness to the world and make it come off as some jab at native americans. Spirithoods have changed my life and inspired me to start a movement to get the world to realize that being happy is a decision (one that it seems like many of you on here need to make). Just google Yay Life Tribe to find our Trailer to the documentary we are making. You should also get used to seeing Spirithoods.... this is only the beginning.

I would be honored if you would join our tribe.

Tucker, Chief Of The Yay Life Tribe

I really had to take a step back here, and read the message twice. It's rare these days, when I get constant emails of horrible outright appropriations and stereotypes, that I get a burn of outright rage in my chest. For some reason, this did it.

The bottom line is, The Yay Life Tribe, and Tucker's message, reek of privilege and self-promotion.

Unfortunately, I can't conquer the complexities of power and privilege in this post. What I can do is offer my interpretation of his words, and point out how it makes me feel.

Tucker, perhaps for the first time in his life, has felt the pinch of privilege. All of a sudden, someone tried to burst his bubble--taking something that he is intensely proud of and protective over, and told him that it exploits an entire group of people, and continues to contribute to the oppression and marginalization of Indigenous peoples. That's a lot to handle. So he reacts. He reacts by blaming me for being overly sensitive (a classic tenet of colorblind racism), that I'm "making it come off as some jab at Native Americans." He tells us that we need to "realize that being happy is a decision," and then, in closing, to "get used to seeing Spirit Hoods." He was happy in his land of protected privilege--a land where he had the ability to quit his job, cash out his 401K, and spend the summer traveling to music festivals where he will hang out with others who have the ability to shell out hundreds of dollars for a ticket, and propose that we all love each other, and that somehow will change the world. Who am I to come along and burst his happy bubble? How dare I.

First of all, honey, I didn't "make it come off as a jab at Native Americans". The darn thing is called a "Navajo Black Wolf" hood, and the founder of your beloved Spirit Hoods confirmed that he is "influenced" by Indian "culture." I didn't make that up. I'm really glad that a disembodied animal head changed your life. But for someone who is all about happiness, your message really hurt me. You dismissed my opinion, didn't listen to what I had to say, and basically wrote me off as a party pooper trying to ruin your dream. The tone of saccharine laced with malice is what gets me the most. A "get used to it" threat in closing does not paint you as a peace-loving happy freak.

And then, THEN, you have the audacity to list yourself as the "chief" of your "tribe". I'm sorry. Chiefs of our communities are respected, honored, revered figures--leaders who serve the people, not 25 year olds who run around with stuffed animals on their heads.

The thing is, I honestly don't give a flying eff about your campaign to change the world one drunk music festival goer at a time. But there is absolutely no reason to bring Native cultures into this. Celebrate loving life, talk about how awesome you are for giving away your iphone, promote the hell out of your documentary, paint yourself as a martyr for the cause, gain some of the fame you clearly desire in the process, but why do you have to call yourself a "tribe"? Why do you have to paint yourself up and wear a breastplate? Just wear the animal on your head. Leave it at that. There is nothing that inherently screams cultural appropriation about "Spirit Hoods"--the cultural appropriative and exploitative aspects have all been added on after the fact--and that's what bothers me.

So no, I won't be a member of your "tribe." Sorry. #yaylife?

Oh Spirit Hoods.

Oh Spirit Hoods. One of those fashion trends that makes me pause, cock my head, and say "really??" If you're unfamiliar (meaning you're not one of the 15,000+ people who "like" the brand on facebook), Spirit Hoods are furry animal hat/scarf combos that are all the rage with tweens, celebs, and hipsters alike. I've gotten a few tips recently about the company, particularly their use of the tag-line "join the tribe":

http://spirithoods.com/about-2/

At first, I was annoyed by the tag line, but found the whole concept of wearing an disembodied stuffed animal on your head so ridiculous, figured it wasn't worth the fight. They also don't focus solely on what I would call the stereotypical mystical, Native animals (wolves, bears, deer, buffalo, owls, etc), they have pandas, leopards, and lions as well. But then, I started exploring their site further, and I got a tip about their new "Navajo wolves" line. And boy did I change my mind.
 

The "Navajo Wolves" collection are the wolf hoods, lined in Pendleton-style fabric.

For each "animal" they provide a description of what the "animal spirit" represents--traits and characteristics that the wearer will somehow embody. And the accompanying description for the "Navajo Black Wolf" is just fantastic:

Black Wolf-Navajo
Mysterious » Shapeshifter » Beauty

The black Wolf spirit has unmatched ferocity, cunning, stealth, confidence, and loyalty. They howl at the moon and are great communicators with a strong appreciation of music. This animal spirit feels at home within order and chaos. Often a teacher or dancer with keen senses, these warrior spirits will also defend their ground. The Black Wolf is in touch with lunar influences and the shadow within. This healer brings the magical spirit-medicine.

Deep breath. Ready? Let's looks at this critically. How many stereotypical "Indian" traits can we fit into a short paragraph? So apparently Navajos are described by the terms "mysterious, shapeshifter, beauty"--because we're all like twilight and turn into wolves. Though, it's an interesting reference to skinwalkers too (f you want to be scared s***less, have a Navajo tell you some of those stories. ::shudder::). Then we've got the "warrior spirit" and "brings the magical spirit-medicine"--basically every line of this description reads like a bad Indian fantasy novel. We've got the warrior stereotype, the connected with nature and the environment stereotype, the wise teacher stereotype, the mystical healer stereotype, the musical stereotype...on and on and on. "But," you may be saying, "it's about a wolf, not an Indian, you silly blogger-woman!" I think it's fairly obvious the connection they're trying to make with the Pendleton fabric and calling the darn thing a "NAVAJO" wolf.

So, a few brave Native Approps readers took the issue head-on over at "Kingdom of Style". Look for the comments by "Mea." The fascinating part comes from a comment by the Co-Founder of Spirit Hoods--this is the philosophy of the company, straight from the horse's mouth. Another deep breath may be necessary, and try to read past all of the misspellings and grammar errors:

This is a good topic for discussion, and in fact we at SpiritHoods have taken a lot into consideration when it comes to Native American culture. In no way are we trying to demean or prostitute Native American's, in fact their way of life has been so inspiring to us that it has forced us to evaluate our lives and everything we do within it. For instance us four owners went to a traditional native American sweat lodge out here in California together. If anything we are inspired by native culture and their respect for the land and it's animals, but not just Native American's, native's all over the world.
The animal headdress is seen in many cultures, Alaskan natives, American natives, South American natives, African natives etc. The Spirit of the animal and our connection to it is seen in cultures all over the world and we believe it is innate within us. Hence the importance of Product Blue and why we give back to non-profits that help in the rehabilitation of these animals.
Native American's see this duality and the importance of our co-existence and protecting it. If anything we are trying to help perpetuate that.
We try our very best to respect all people and cultures in everything we do, we are inspired by their designs, their philosophies and what we want to do with SpiritHoods is embrace self expression with a foundation of giving back.
If your interested in more about this topic here is a good read:
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/04/13/american-indian-is-in/
and check out out http://www.spirithoods.com/problue/ to learn more about how we support the animals
Alexander Mendeluk
CO-Founder/Director of Design&PRSpiritHoods www.spirithoods.com/problue

Wow, thank you, Alexander for telling all of us what exactly Native Americans (all of the millions of us) think! and thank you for realizing that there is only one "Native American culture" and that we are all exactly the same! and thank you  for finding our way of life (since we only have one!) "inspiring"--since marginalization, colonization, and ongoing poverty are awesome, right? and thank you for going to a "traditional Native American sweat lodge" so you now have the first-hand experience and knowledge to speak for all of us! and finally, thank you for considering the animals first. I'm glad to know your "foundation of giving back" doesn't extend to the people that your product is so clearly "inspired by"--that would be silly!

Dripping sarcasm aside, I love the irony of him linking the SocImages post that's a summary of my blog. Talk about missing the point.

Honestly though, it's a hard line, because clearly Alexander and Spirit Hoods don't think they're being offensive. They truly believe that going to a "traditional Native American sweat lodge" is enough to force them "to evaluate our lives and everything we do within it," they truly think they are showing respect to Native peoples and cultures. 


So how do we go about addressing something as deep as this? That's a struggle I have with many of these examples--if the owners read this, they are going to get defensive and dismissive, and not actually think deeply about what effects their actions are having on the collective American consciousness about Native peoples. Especially when their products are making them hella cash (each retails for $150) and are all the rage--what motivation do they have to change? So if we can't change the company, let's change from the ground up: Don't buy from Spirit Hoods, because they promote the stereotyping of Native peoples, the appropriation of our tribal names and traditions, encourage the problematic practice of "playing Indian", and the company philosophy is based off of a harmful romanticized vision of Native cultures. 

Spirit Hoods Official Website: http://spirithoods.com/
Kingdom of Style: The Night Owl

(Thanks Jackie, DC, Christi, Alyss, and the others who sent this in!)