Neon Indian is a hipster-indie band that has been gaining some notoriety as of late. They performed on Jimmy Fallon, and have been making the music festival circuit as well. Though the name annoys me, I hadn’t actually associated them with any cultural appropriation, since nothing I’ve read about the band references anything Native. I figured maybe they were talking …
Educating non-Natives at Lightning in a Bottle
My friend Ricky (who made this awesome graphic I’ve posted before) headed out to the Lightning in a Bottle (LIB) music festival a few weeks ago, and was prepared to approach the concert-goers in headdresses and other forms of cultural appropriation in the mindset of an educator. He encountered many headdresses, and more. I’ll let him tell the story himself: …
Thanks for the severed head, you’ve proved my point.
Game 4. Philly Flyers vs. Chicago Blackhawks. The Flyers score a goal, and VERSUS tv shows this guy. This guy, holding an impaled, severed, Indian head. On national tv. Close up on his prop: So disturbing, so graphic, and just what I wanted to wake up to on a Saturday morning. Truly sickening in the literal sense. This proves it, …
Headdresses and Music Festivals Go Together Like PB and…Racism?
I don’t know what it is about outdoor music festivals that seems to invite headdress-wearing these days, but we saw it at Coachella, and Ke$ha at The Bamboozle, and now at Sasquatch! in Washington over memorial day weekend. The Seattle Weekly Blog posted about the phenomenon (more photos on the site), and questioned the reasoning behind the Native-inspired garb: We …
Ivy League Graduation Appropriation
Sunday was “Class Day” at an Ivy League university, and I sat with 5 of my family members, watching my little sister graduate. Class Day tradition at this school dictates students wear “funny hats” along with their graduation robes (the traditional mortar boards are saved for commencement the next day). As I waited for my sister to enter through the …
Not Again, Ke$ha.
Our favorite warbonnet-wearing-hot-mess of a musician sported another headdress at The Bamboozle (a big music festival). The photographer calls her get up a “psuedo-patriotic costume of a feather headdress, aviator sunglasses, and the American flag”. Right. Plenty more pictures at the photog’s site: http://ishootshows.com/2010/05/21/photos-kesha-the-bamboozle/ A couple of tipsters had sent over Ke$ha’s new video for “Your Love is My Drug”, a …
"The sexiest rain dance ever": Cyanide and Happiness cartoon
It took me a minute to even get the joke in this cartoon. Let’s break it down: We all know all Indians do rain dances, right? (riiiight) And high roller strip club patrons “make it rain” by throwing money up in the air so it falls down like rain on the stripper. Therefore, it’s funny, get it? When they dance, it’s …
The Jezebel Fashion Post that keeps on giving
(Jen Mussari’s now iconic image 🙂 ) I’ve come across some awesome blog posts in response to the Jezebel piece (found here) on Native fashion that Lisa at Sociological Images pulled together with images from this blog. The comment thread on the piece was really interesting, with people debating what should be deemed “ok” what is “offensive” and some just …
Tribal Fashion Roundup!
(http://www.etsy.com/shop/coyotepheonix) I’ve gotten a few tips this week about more tribal fashion appropriations, so I thought I would compile a few of them into a single post, because let’s be honest, I’m a little lazy this week. I found the image above thanks to Lanova posting my hipster headdress piece on a blog that “loved” this headdress (thanks girl!). It’s …
Really? Amy Poehler? A headdress, really?
(http://peteryang.com/images/a7/x_amy.jpg) Amy, you’re funny. I like you. But the headdress? It’s not irreverent, it’s not quirky, it’s not funny, and I don’t like it. And frankly, it’s starting to be a bit played out now. Celebrities in headdresses are taking over the internets. Not. Cool. Previous entries for background on the issue: Ke$ha, the headdress, and the trend that won’t …