mitten. if artists from a community sell something without drawing a lot of ire from that community its generally safe... example a lot of native jewelry. you can wear moc's but expect a lot of smiles and laughing behind hands if you wear them on the rez. not making fun of you just laughing a little bit cos it would be considered funny. pendleton uses designs by artists that are meant to be sold to the outside world therefore not disrespectful.

All I know is that, as someone who is a "chunk" Coast Salish, (whatever you meant by "chunk"), I wouldn't be caught dead in a good-times headdress. I think I would die of shame for my cultural appropriation. I certainly wouldn't want to run into any of my native buddies. Oh dear god! I have to hide under the blankets just imagining such a thing.

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I was raised to ascribe value and ownership to cultural symbols. You don't wear something, perform a ceremony, make art or sing songs that you don't have a right to. If someone goes around doing these things, they obviously have no respect for protocol, are trying to turn a buck, or are just ignorant of it. This is a pretty shameful thing. There can be room for meaningful art, but that's not what we're talking about with most hipsters.

If you are raised in a culture that doesn't take such symbols seriously, of course you're not going to give a fuck about stomping all over someone else's protocol. But you will look like a fool to most people who do, at best. Add to this layers and layers of colonization, exploitation, marginalization, fetishization, etc etc, and you get a frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is best avoided.

So, I checked out the Native appropriation blog, and many things on there seemed pretty, um...not Native. Making a headband out of ribbons and sticking a few feathers in it doesn't make it a Native headdress, just something that was inspired by such. Ditto on the fabric. It's possible that the reason young people are attracted to this sort of thing right now is because of other cultural things that are going on. Although it may or may not be totally romanticized and inaccurate, Native American culture is often associated with living in harmony with the land, handicrafts, use of natural materials in art and apparel etc. These things are really exciting to people right now, which is actually kind of nice. The late 1960's and early 70's was also a time when youth/pop culture embraced Native American iconography and some of these same concepts. And let's face it: feathers are used EVERYWHERE, by all cultures always. On hats, on jewelry, on accessories.
Upon reflection, I can certainly understand how some of these reinterpretations will offend people. If it was happening in Europe or something, it probably wouldn't matter as much, but here in the U.S. where genocide happened, and where poverty/property/education issues with respect to Native Americans still exist-dramatically in fact-it probably is pretty offensive. Especially as a facile arty fashion statement. It really is too soon.
Complicating the issue further is the context in which the material is found. To use the poster as an example unpacks whole layers of irony and intent. The poster is for a pre-pride dance party and even in the above comments, The Village People are referenced. So, is the poster a tongue-in-cheek sendup of current hipster fashion, of the costumey character from the Village People (gay history), or an insensitive appropriation? Maybe all of these things, but I'm sure the intent wasn't to offend.
I'm not really sure what the answer is, but I have learned from these comments that the headdress has religious significance, as opposed to say, moccasins or textile print. That was something I didn't know. Native American art and traditional costume are, from an aesthetic standpoint, really beautiful and inspirational. Maybe it's just good to discuss these things so that people's viewpoints are heard. I know I will take this discussion into consideration when I draw inspiration from cultures not my own.

The whole notion of "sacred" is offensive.

When I live in a big city in North America, I'm not surprised to see people making a giant, careless, incoherent mishmash of their surrounding cultural influences, because big cities in North America are giant incoherent mishmashes of cultural influences. When I live in a small town in the Middle East, I am not surprised to see people treating all nonconformists with fear, contempt, or confusion, because those small towns in the Middle East tend to be cultural monoliths that don't have room for freewheeling individualists.

Both of those cultures, and all others, are arbitrary and possess no inherent value beyond what their adherents personally invest them with. Commenters are correct in that certain groups have more reason than others to be suspicious of the motives of any cultural appropriation, but that doesn't mean that the culture of those groups should be more sacred to outsiders than anyone else's.

I have ancestors who were persecuted, and grew up in an area as impoverished as the West gets because of it. That doesn't give me any rational basis for flipping out if I see that some WASPy 20-something thought one of my ancestors' cultural signifiers goes well with her outfit. Moreover, I'll be moving somewhere quite shortly where the local culture's values are outright hostile to my own, and where people would think I was crazy or dangerous for doing any number of things I take for granted here. I won't feel any more persecuted or disenfranchised than I ever have, because I'm an adult, and don't really give a fuck about what anyone's parochial, cultural restrictions mean to anyone but themselves and their own lives.

tl;dr version: "It's mine, and you can't have it or it won't be special anymore" is childish, regardless of who's saying it or what they're saying it about.

@76 "No member of the queer tribe appreciates the straights aping us." Ah, finally someone from my own community says something assholish that I can feel 100% good about commenting upon. As a longstanding (and politically hardworking) member of the queer 'tribe'/community/whatever: uh, no. Please stop speaking for me, and please feel free to fuck the hell off.

@ mitten

if you love it, I say go for it. I know you're not gonna be wearing a ceremonial headdress to a stupid music festival, so you shouldn't let this shit play too hard on your conscience. the quandary you found yourself in reminds me of something that occurred to me earlier when I left this thread after asking a question no one bothered to respond to... for ages people would say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I can't imagine harmless appropriation being that far from imitation in the realm of inauthenticity. it's weird, however, that these days no one ever sees it as people holding any kind of reverence for things they won't ever understand fully but maybe wish they could (besides @ 105 that is).

again, the headdress trend is stupid and pretty insensitive, but I think it's just as harmful to always assign a kind of malice to these things that are basically innocuous. honestly, it just seems like it furthers the cause of those who would actually do evil upon people who are a different race or culture or sexuality because it makes their job of hurting a segment of people so much easier.

@mitten

If you want to wear clothing and items from other cultures, particularly marginalized ones, and be respectful in doing so you should:

1. stick to items that people from that culture have chosen to share with outsiders;

2. wear the items in a way that doesn't perpetuate stereotypes about that culture;

3. wear the items as clothing, not a costume that parodies the people who are part of that culture;

4. support artists that belong to the culture you admire by buying from them, rather than buying from companies that are owned and run by privileged outsiders;

5. educate yourself about the cultural significance and context of the items you admire.

Hope that helps a bit.

Cultural appropriation doesn't equal racism, but it may make you look like a douche. Then most people are douches, myself included, and espically everyone else here! :)

(Ps Dan, you rock, just saying, although part of me thinks you like causing a shit storm).

Is that actually a Chippewa headdress? It looks more Kiowa to me.

Meh, I'm joking, because I'm not an expert on Plains headdresses. But I felt a need to point out that "Native American" isn't a single culture. I think that the tendency to blend all "Indians" into one tepee-living horse-riding bonnet-wearing stereotype causes more loss of cultural legacy than cultural appropriation.

@49: "I must say, though, that I feel like I could punch the next hipster I see dressed up as an "Indian."" Because ... hipsters can't be Native Americans? My advice: continue to stew silently. Safer for everyone.

I think if Dan posted a picture of a stick figure with the comments "Settle down people, this isn't racist" people would start screaming it's racist. People are douches, and bored and need something to do to kill time.

@Baconcat -- You're nuts.

I still haven't seen any explanations as to how a headdress is inherently racist. The comparisons to blackface are silly. Blackface is racist because it was something imposed on black people by white people in order to degrade them. How does that apply to headdresses? Or saris? Or sarongs? Or kilts?

Amanda, if someone wanted to dress up "like an Indian", what is the single most stereotypical thing they could do to accomplish that? To me, that's what's wrong with casual use of the headdress as a symbol or fashion statement, and it should give people pause even if they know nothing about the actual significance of the item in Native cultures.

In the U.S., for whatever reason, native people are often generally represented by caricatures wearing that stereotypical headdress, and we know that in some contexts (e.g. Washington Redskins?) this is done in a blatantly offensive manner. So why would anyone want to go there on purpose, using this symbol in a trivialized fashion? And why would it make any difference whether the people who go there are "part-Native"?

Cultures are neither static nor "owned". If you wear a particular piece of clothing or costume for ceremonial reasons, that's grand. My wearing it because I think it's nifty says NOTHING about your reasons for wearing it, and does NOTHING to diminish it's place in your life and heart.
Using stereotyping to ridicule others is in poor taste, and probably should be avoided. That said, symbols are important for the very fact that they are invested with meaning. The hats worn by various Hasidim are important to them, but if I wear one it doesn't mean that suddenly all of their culture has been crushed.
"They stole all of our land, now they're taking our religious symbols too!" is a great rallying cry. Alas, there is no way to keep secret or special anything exposed to a wider world. Would the headdress wearing been as insulting if the person doing it came from the Huron or Mohawk? They are just as much outsiders to the ritual and culture of the Plains as any European. How about an Aleut or Athabaskan?
Can I complain if others take up the trappings of my culture-such as literacy, tee shirts and denim pants, secular humanism, etc? I suspect that any laws forcing people to stay in the lifestyle of the Native Americans as practiced in the per-European era would be (quite rightly) seen as a Bad Idea.

@117

I assume you didn't read any of the other comments because every single thing you wrote was already touched on.

E.B. White (I believe ... too exhausted from reading all of this to even Google):

A: "Do not give needless offense."
A.1: unless you're offending someone who really needs their shit stirred up (which doesn't seem to be the case here.)

The poster is awful. To whoever critiqued the design, and to the other who's eyes are bleeding, but not enough: what you both said.

Also, I feel the need to incorporate the words "onus," "meme," and "trope," (at very least) to show you all that I have a formal theoretical apparatus that I am bringing to bear on the issue. Consider yourselves shown.

If I see a child wear one, people at a costume party or during Halloween wear one, performers wear one, old crazy bus people wear one - I don't care what color you are.
But hipsters? Please don't wear Indian Headdress my stomach hurts and I just see the word DOUCHE all over.

@117-"Can I complain if others take up the trappings of my culture-such as literacy..." ?? Really?? Literacy is now a cultural trapping? Dude, unless your "culture" is Ancient Mesopatamia, please kindly shut the f**k up.

@Suzy, I was never one of the people arguing that it's only appropriate to wear a headdress if you're Native or "partly-Native". And I don't think the people on this poster are attempting to "dress up like Indians", pass themselves off as Natives, or parody Natives. I think they're just wearing headdresses because they think they're fun and cool-looking. Sure they look douchey, but don't most hipsters? This would never strike me as offensive.

Dan, what you're saying is stupid. I've been a fan of yours for years, but Jesus, take a look back and listen to what people are saying. You're not Native American, how the hell would you know what it feels like to have this ridiculous costuming everywhere? And you know should know better to run the "uh one Native American said it was OK, so there."

I never wanted to wear a headdress until I read these comments telling me I'm not supposed to. Knowing I haven't earned the right will make it so much sweeter.

@87: Wait, what? Sexism is ok if it's done by Indians? No, sexism is wrong and harmful, no matter who does it. Religion is wrong and harmful, no matter what religion we're talking about. If something is of little or no value, like sexist religious practices, why should we care about "appropriating" it or giving offense? Especially when there are no longer Indian tribes living in traditional ways and practicing their pure untouched cultural traditions; members of Indian tribes have been American citizens now for some time.

Coming in a little late in the game here:
"..Acts of appropriation are part of the process by which we make ourselves. Appropriating - taking something for one’s own use - need not be synonymous with exploitation. This is especially true of cultural appropriation. The ‘use’ one makes of what is appropriated is the crucial factor." —bell hooks

Do you all really believe that the poster designers made this out of malice? To poke fun at Native Americans? Seriously? They aren’t mocking a culture. If when you look at a headdress you see a ceremonial and sacred object, use it as one. She sees a party hat. And that is OK. In all of the moaning (and, *gasp*, handwringing) I have never once heard anyone mention the tobacco industry. For some people there is a very spiritual meaning to smoking tobacco. Other people are just having a fag on their smoke break, no sleight intended. Sure, there is a small dose of cultural insensitivity to completely write the whole thing off, and your culture should be celebrated and revered. But that’s not everyone’s job. That’s your job.
It’s funny, when I saw the poster I just thought “Dan’s having a party!” and the discussion would be focused on how shitty the poster looked. After reading through the comments all I can think is “Fuck it, let’s just force everyone to wear a state approved, nondescript, head to toe robe and shut the fuck up about this already”.
(Also @105: This)

okay did anyone bother to notice that one of the performers is African American and from New Orleans?
have any of you even heard of the Mardi Gras Indians? They are very respected by Native Americans!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_…

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to be fair a lot more discrimination is shown to people of the christian faith, everyone thinks it's the funniest thing every to see someone dressed as a nun... i feel as long as the garments are worn in the context of a costume party or such like i fail to see the issue, every culture has a form of dress worn by people from other cultures, types of dance that are gimicked (not accuratlely) which could be redeemed as offensive

*ever