Cultural Appropriation & Coachella "Hipster Headdresses"

We’ve all heard the term, so what exactly does it mean?

Cultural appropriation, simply put, is the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture.

Susan Scafidi defined cultural appropriation as “taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artefacts from someone else's culture without permission.” This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, and so forth. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. a sacred object.

I’m going to take a wild guess, and say that we are all pretty familiar with the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Coachella is cultural appropriation at its finest, where a bunch of hipsters rip-off other cultures traditional (and often sacred) clothing or items, all for the sake of “fashion”. Take for instance the Native American headdress; the notorious “hipster headdresses” of Coachella.

One may argue that cultural appropriation is really cultural appreciation, and that the adopting of aspects from another culture is really all about ‘cultural exchange’. But this tends to be a very grey area, and can often go really wrong.

There are some questions one should consider before incorporating parts of a certain culture that you don’t belong to:

1.       Is it a genuine representation?

2.       Is it a sacred item? Or part of a sacred tradition or ritual?

3.       Who wears the item or participates in the tradition? Just anybody? Or respected members of the community, who had to go through a specific process in order to gain access to it?

4.       Is it from a historically discriminated group? Are they still discriminated against today?

5.       Is it a stereotype?

Now, back to Coachella. The hipsters who wear Native American headdresses at this festival, often do so without taking into consideration any of the above questions. Traditionally, Native American headdresses are worn by males of the American Plains Indians 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. They are seen as items of great spiritual and political importance. The “hipster headdresses” of Coachella take away the sacred significance of this item, distorting history and cheapening a culture.

So next time you want to dress up as a Native American, Geisha, or Mexican to a Halloween party, think again…