I have yet to feel connected to the Occupy Wall Street movement, or even the Occupy Boston movement happening here in my backyard. I consider myself an activist, an at-times radical, and I clearly feel passionately about advocating for voices unheard and on the margins. But, Occupy Wall Street hasn’t appealed to me. There has been a lot of coverage …
Anthropologie "Haida Poncho"–is Haida the new Navajo?
A couple of weeks ago, I drew attention to how obsessed Urban Outfitters is with the term “Navajo” to represent a catch-all stereotypical southwest/plains asthetic. Then this week, reader Julia sent me a link to the Anthropologie website, with several “Native” inspired pieces. The one that caught my eye was the “Haida Poncho,” shown above. I just thought it was …
Your Daily Pueblo Pirate Clown on a Tricycle
What do you get when you combine a ken doll, some sharpies, maybe a little tempra paint, a small dancing mud kachina that looks like a bear, and an intricately carved to scale wooden three wheeled motorcycle? This, apparently. Thank my dad for this one–he was driving through Vista, CA on his way home from jury duty and spotted “The …
Random Appropriation of the Day! (Lush "Pow Wow" Lip Scrub)
It’s been a few months since I posted a “Random Appropriation of the Day”–things that use Native imagery/names/references that are just totally random and don’t necessarily necessitate (necessarily necessitate? ha. I’m leaving it.) an entire wordy post. These “Random Appropriations” are simply to point out how ubiquitous the use of Native imagery is in our everyday lives, and to question …
Cal’s "Affirmative Action Bake Sale": I want my free cookies.
Yesterday, UC Berkeley’s College Republicans Chapter decided to have an “Affirmative Action Bakesale” to protest a new bill that has been introduced into the CA legistlature that would reverse parts of Prop 209, which in 1996 banned the use of race as a factor in admissions decisions in the UC system. The premise of the bake sale is not new, …
A "Cowboys and Indians" party is just as bad as a blackface party.
2/8/2019: I want to do a more proper update and takedown of my own writing at a later point, but I can’t let this post stand without a note any longer–This post was from the very early days of the blog, when I was still figuring things out. I now know a lot more about making problematic and harmful comparisons …
Urban Outfitters is Obsessed with Navajos
“Navajo Nations Crew Pullover“ A search for “Cherokee” on the Urban Outfitters website reveals 1 result. A search for “Tribal”: 15. A search for “Native”: 10. “Indian”: 2. But Navajo? 24 products have Navajo in the name alone. This post started as a massive Urban Outfitters take-down, I spent an hour or so last week scrolling through the pages of …
NMAI Panel on Blood Quantum Today at 2pm EST
Today the National Museum of the American Indian in DC is hosting a panel discussion entitled Quantum Leap: Does “Indian Blood” Still Matter? The panel is 2-4:30pm (EST), and will be web-casted here. If you want some background, Dennis Zotigh posted an article yesterday to give some of the basic history and start the conversation, it’s definitely worth a read. …
Midweek Motivation Videos: 1491s and Hipster Fashion
Happy Wednesday everyone! I have a couple of fun Native videos that have been making the rounds on the internets that I thought I would share. First up, the latest video from the 1491s–the Native sketch comedy group that brought us the Wolfpack auditions, Day in the Life of a Powwow MC, as well as the gorgeous poem Geronimo E-KIA, …
Oh, (Miss) Canada.
So, apparently, Miss Universe Canada Chelsae Duroche decided it would be appropriate to wear a headdress for the “National Dress” portion of the competition. Her stereotypical stoic Indian pose is helpful too. From what I can find, I don’t think Chelsae is Native. But honestly, that wouldn’t have mattered. That’s a straight-up costume shop headdress right there. UPDATE: “Miss Canada …