Cultural appropriation is where the members of a dominant grouping in society use and – well, appropriate – take the signifiers of the culture of an oppressed or dispossessed part of society. You know, if a white Australian blows a digeridoo as Rolf Harris did then that’s cultural appropriation from the Aborigines. If a white bloke makes green curry – no, really, this has been seriously asserted – then that’s such from SE Asians. A sombrero while eating tacos – no, again, something seriouosly asserted – from Mexicans (or Latinos, Chicanos, dependent upon the rightonness of the complainant).
So, what are we to make of this?
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has caused a stir with a striking image of her walking the halls of Buckingham Palace swathed in a traditional Māori cloak during this week’s Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
The prime minister wore a Kahu huruhuru; a Māori cloak adorned with feathers and bestowed on chiefs and dignitaries to convey prestige, respect and power, said Mark Sykes, guardian of Māori special collections at Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand.
Sykes said Ardern’s choice was a proud moment for Māori around the world. “Cloaks are worn for warmth, protection and to symbolise your status and mana [power],” said Sykes. “I think it shows how she is portraying herself as a leader of Māori, of all of New Zealand, of everyone. It made me feel proud. She wore it well. She wore it so well.”
On social media in New Zealand the striking image went viral, with many people commenting that the picture captured the inversion of traditional gender roles; a female world leader wearing a powerful cloak while pregnant and representing her country.
We do, after all, have to insist that the Maori are oppressed in New Zealand society. Absolutely nothing at all about politics there makes sense without agreeing with that point. Ardern is one of the oppressing class, descended as she is from Northern Europeans doing all that oppressing. And her wearing a Maori cloak is obviously appropriation from that non-dominant culture.
So, how do we explain this? That this is all being praised and not condemned by the usual suspects?
Ideologically, Ardern describes herself as both a social democrat and a progressive
Oh yes, silly me. It’s different when progressives do it, isn’t it?
Thanks, now i want to see Jacinda do the Haka
‘The rules are different if you’re one of us’ should be the motto inscibed on every left-wing political party that has ever existed.
You’ve got to be kidding, haha. It’s not cultural appropriation if the culture gave you the thing and asked you to wear it. It’s cultural appropriation if you take the thing without asking or without considering the history and social impact of wearing the thing. Also, just because one guy said a dumb thing, doesn’t mean that dumb thing represents the opinions of all his mates. Obviously, no one except that one crazy guy on Twitter thinks you’re not allowed to make green curry. But otherwise, yes, enforcing caricatures is damaging to minority cultures. Your views are black and white… Read more »
I’m sitting in a sombrero? Where do I say that?
It was actually in a US campus cafeteria that the complaint was made…..
I do stuff all the time “without considering the history and social impact.” And I come here partly because I enjoy that Tim’s “views are black and white.” Your adversaries lack “perspective and context” and “show no understanding”? Only the sanctimonious leftie does.
Tim, “I’m sitting in a sombrero?” is to ask where Colonel Mustard shot the victim, in the conservatory or in the left buttock. I see no evidence that Coyiz doesn’t know what a sombrero is.
+Coyiz such logic. On a trip to Cancun I buy a sombrero and poncho from what appears to be a genuine Mexican. Is this cultural appropriation, no. I now wear said sombrero and poncho to a costume party attended chiefly by non-Mexicans. Is this cultural appropriation, according to you yes. You see, you have attempted to spin a web of deceit from words cunningly woven together, i.e. a word-based argument that actually means f-all like the one about whether you can walk around a person who keeps turning to face you. Regarding Ardern I read you as saying that in… Read more »
“Cultural appropriation” is the essence of separatism. That the majority honors the minority by adopting its insignia — such as a university calling its athletic teams the Seminoles — is an honor, and taking offense is the old chip-on-the-shoulder.
But a political leader of a nation whose politics disfavors the Māori wearing a Māori cloak is not honor but the usual fakery, as when John Kerry goes to Ohio and asks, “Can ah get me a huntin’ license here?”
What is it called when the dominated group adopts things from the dominating group? For example, in rural Mexico you won’t really see a lot of people wearing stereotypical ultra wide sombreros unless they are mariachis, but you will see them wearing regular cowboy hats. Ditto on American Indian reservations. Should that be condemned?
Yup, they will sell you a mariachi hat in any crafts bazaar, but what people in the desert wear is handed-down T-shirts commemorating obscure anniversaries of small U.S. towns, which Pepsi paid to have printed up with its logo.
The problem with cultural appropiation as well as manspreading microaggressions and all the bollocks of lefty rhetoric is that any and all of them should be dismissed as bollocks at every opportunity. Don’t let them raise it, point out how ridiculous it is, every time. Never be seen to be giving any of these desperate memes any consideration al all. Don’t judge case by case, dismiss all loudly and with as much derision as possible. They are not to be taken seriously, and nobody’s action after getting the wrong side of some snowflake whinger is to be excused or apologised… Read more »
Cultural appropriation in the sense the SJWs mean simply isn’t an issue in NZ. There are some race issues, but this isn’t one of them. Maori tend to take the opposite view — that theirs is the native culture and immigrants should move to it. People are strongly encouraged to use Maori terms and ways, regardless of race (and it can cause friction if they do so reluctantly). There’s fuss at the moment about people not pronouncing names correctly — educated people are expected to be able to do so. The vast majority of NZ like it that way. Also… Read more »
The vast majority of NZ like it that way. Doesn’t sound like diversity has much of a foothold there does it.
I believe the maoris are one of the leading examples of a group that makes sure it’s cultural symbols are only used in a way which benefits them through licensing etc.
Not quite BNIC, they keep it in house, but anyone is free to use it if considered eligible. They do market what they have quite well though, given it was a stone age culture so not a lot to work with (tbf there wasn’t any free metal to work up like other places). The big problem is that now the tribes have sorted their shit out and got functioning business arms it’s 40 years too late. The whole tribal system is falling apart as people marry outside the tribe. A modern “Maori” might be 1/8 Ngai Tahu, 1/8 Tainui, 1/4… Read more »
A few thoughts on CA: Exactly whose permission does one get in order for this to be OK? For years there has been a row in the U.S. over the nickname of the Washington Redskins football team, with a concerted effort to get them to change it. Then someone did a survey of American Indians and found that a piddling number of them gave a fling flip about it. Since then it’s mostly gone quiet. I remember a story a year or two back about two white women who ran a food truck business and were selling tortillas that they… Read more »
You could establish a committee to determine whether something was CA or not. They could wear horse hair shirts when in session.
There was something bothering me about the article written and then it hit me – the fact that you flipped off what some respected Maori elders/experts like Mark Sykes have been saying – that they see Jacinda wearing the cloak as a statement as our leader representing Maori and Kiwis as one. Now I won’t lie, I’ve been trying to find some information on you to know who you are and to see in what context you’re coming from. I do agree there are cases of cultural appropriation and I have publicly pointed it out when I think it was… Read more »
I am the husband of PolyWomaninNZ. I am an American immigrant that has been living in NZ more than 17 years. I am involved with the Maori community (forgive me as I don’t have the macrons used in written te reo Maori for this response) through friends, through my local marae and through my local community and my work. So many things that were once Maori culture are now NZ culture…Kia ora or the haka at weddings or funerals. Or the wearing of Maori cloaks at special occasions. This is not an appropriation of the culture but a sharing of… Read more »
“I don’t know what culture or country you are from but I don’t think it is fair for you to criticise a part of our culture”
You’ve rather missed the point. This was very much more a snide reference to our own social justice warriors here in the UK than it was a reference to anything elsewhere. The *example* is from NZ, the *point* is about the UK
Agree with Tim. We are no more harming Kiwis by commenting on events and symbolism there than I am harming Mexicans by enjoying a good burrito. Of course our understanding of NZ context will not be as complete as yours. But your confrontational interpretation of it as “criticism” smells just like American blacks’ interpretation of many things as “racism” when it doesn’t play out to their advantage.
PS — So “wearing the cloak as a statement as our leader representing Maori and Kiwis as one” versus other wearings being cultural appropriation? It strikes me as the same inscrutable difference between the recommended burning of a tattered flag in reverence, versus burning the national flag in protest. I take it one is only permitted to do what the PM did if you, asserting some connection to the aboriginals, approve of it. By the way, call it CA, but I don’t like the reference to the big bad United States as a benchmark for bad treatment of First Peoples,… Read more »