I remember the first time I saw a white person wearing cowry
shells. This mindless appropriation stunned the hell out of me. Then Wet Seal started selling cowry shell jewelry, then the “Asian dresses” (as we called it back in Brooklyn) came out and became all the rage (by all the rage I mean 5 girls at senior prom wore them), then Madonna was cool and did yoga, and Richard Gere is the image of Buddhism that the US media usually chooses to present.
There is a serious problem with the ways “ethnic cultures” are consumed in this country and I totally believe that it begins with the very erroneous concept of multiculturalism maintained in the US.
Multiculturalism, as it has come to be defined by pop culture and in academic/corporate settings, is the use of symbols to misrepresent cultures and maintain their image as traditional static entities that don’t have the capacity to cope with the “modern,” “western” world. Symbols that are accepted within the US framework of multiculturalism are those non-threatening symbols such as yoga, chopsticks, cornrows or even cultural symbols appropriated symbols for body art. These are symbols that don’t challenge the foundations of this society, but fit in with the status quo. My biggest problem with the consumerist approach to multiculturalism is that it specifically polices what are in fact the acceptable parts of other cultures, and demonizes the rest. This also creates a distance that allows the process of othering to proceed unquestioned. Through the representation of people of color using “traditional symbols” it promotes the consumption of our otherness in classrooms, the media and makes them available for purchase. Our flawed concept of multiculturalism seeks to make every culture accessible for consumption, like an all-you-can-eat-buffet.
Had I understood this at age 14, I don’t think that I would have been so stunned when I saw the white woman wearing cowry shell jewelry. I would have understood that there isn’t anything in her society that makes appropriating
symbols of other cultures or consumption of them problematic. She doesn’t recognize that Santeras use those very shells to give, what I will term, spiritual guidance to Lucumí practitioners. That during the African Diaspora openly having things likes cowry shells and djembes was very dangerous. Does she understand that my mother can’t wear earrings with cowry shells to work because it is too Afrocentric and not seen as professional? Or why in my high school, where the majority of the students are of Asian descent or Black, headwraps weren’t allowed? But here at Wesleyan, where there are no bounds, because the world is the white mans oyster (in this instance I don’t mean specifically white men, but I am more so referencing the process of our higher education being a process whose intention is to produce white men in our thinking, acting and being), cultures are accessible to everyone equally. So it is ok for someone who went abroad for a semester or even a year to be an expert on the ways of life or worldview of the nation or village that they lived in with their US college student privilege etc. To wear clothing representative of that culture, to speak on behalf of members of that culture, because the abroad experience is meant to do that. It is tailored for the consumption of the other, to create experts who can then come back to the US and create imperialist policies that intend to “help” but in effect do more bad than good because they are premised on misguided multicultural concepts. A US-based example of this is Teach For America, but that is another column.
And look at what is acceptable for mass consumption. What is being sold as a commodity in this market economy? Food, jewelry, clothing, postcards et al. but no one is selling how the global market economy has forced many countries to comodify parts of their cultures in order to barely feed their citizens. Who controls which images and symbols become representative of whole cultures, peoples, and lifestyles? And why do so many people mimic these images without actually looking to understand the actual experiences of those who have been made available to be consumed? I mean, it is very chic to listen to hip hop and bhangra, it is very cool to take karate classes or make pad thai, it is ok for Taco Bell to use a Chihuahua in its advertising, for Wesleyan students to have Hawaiian or Mexican themed parties, to use members of marginalized communities as educational resources. Right?
NO! It is not ok because this is mimicking elements that are supposedly representative, but in fact ignore the true reality of who and what is behind that consumption. This ignores the rounding up of thousands of residents who are of South Asian or Arab descent because they are seen as the terrorists within this country’s borders, it ignores what it means to constantly prove that in fact you can speak English because you have lived in this country all of your life, that you live in a house and not in a hut etc. Multiculturalism allows me to be consumed as that other, because multiculturalism isn’t a true telling of the experiences of people of color here or abroad. Multiculturalism is imperialist at heart. Multiculturalism supports everyone sharing their culture while simultaneously controlling what can be shared, and less is allowed to be shared depending on who you are. This creates a mystery that leaves many looking to discover more, but oftentimes that discovery is undertaken for danger and excitement. Don’t befriend me because it is dangerous or exciting for you! I don’t need any more danger in my life, I am already highly visible to the wrong elements and it is exciting enough for me to escape their radar in order to take a deep breath. I am tired of consuming and I am tired of being consumed. So I will promise to decolonize my mind and work on refraining from consuming if people stop sucking my blackness, womanness, working-classness, radicalness up like I am the last bit of their milkshake.
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