Art
feature: art hoe collective shares favorite piece on cultural appropriation by trans and queer artists
People of Color are diverse and have a rich variations between each culture. Each culture is different from one another with similarities overlapping a few. Despite our differences we all suffer from a similar plight. We all have dealt with the effects of White Supremacy and how it manifests in our culture. It’s an insidious construct that has laid its oppressive hand across nations. Some effects have been more explicit such as genocide, systematic racism, etc. But there are more insidious effects that are widely misunderstood.
Too often we oversimplify cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation expands further than just white liberal publications using the word “bae” or girls at Coachella wearing headdress, cultural appropriation is when those with power siphon marginalized groups culture and commodify it for mass consumption. It is a capitalist and white supremacist act that has serious detrimental effects on marginalized people of color.
Companies, who deem what is profitable, take and repackage cultural property therefore destroying the significance in which that item holds. This in turn leaves marginalized groups with gaping holes in their culture, affecting their identity and sense of self. For people of color, we are our identity. This is how we navigate the world and how we socialize with others. What may seem trivial to the naked eye is something that holds significance, sometimes in very subtle ways. Whiteness prays on that subtlety and uses it as leverage to steal and rename.
By Sandra and Gabby of Art Hoe Collective*, AFROPUNK contributors
Art
Whiteness is a power that can only take, it does not know the ways in which a culture works. Where a culture has aspects that are not readily available to outside influences, whiteness does not adhere to those rules, only spreading its effects to as much of the world as possible. It’s about creating a world in which whiteness is the only power, the only “culture”. Where we are visible (sometimes hypervisible), whiteness is not which is how it is able to accrue such power. And this power has done damage almost beyond repair, cultural appropriation being one of them. This damaging act is cultural genocide.
White people are the continual benefactors of appropriation because cultural appropriation is not only social and cultural it is political. It is a shift in power and rhetoric. The biggest example of cultural appropriation is the appropriation of the swastika. What used have a huge cultural and religious significance to Hinduism and Buddhism, has become a moniker of white supremacy. It has accrue such negativity that the original meaning is almost lost.
But the more insidious aspect of cultural appropriation is those without that systemic power perpetuating that appropriation which further depletes the purpose of that cultural norm. This manifest as non-desi people of color wearing the bindi, non-black people misusing aave. Those these groups may not have the power to enact said appropriation, they do have the ability to further cause the damage that’s already been dealt. This perpetuation is like a game of telephone where down the line that appropriated norm starts to lose its meaning through watered down depictions of that cultural norm. What once used to mean a marker of coming of age could get muddled into meaning something one dimensional. This creates a barrier in which that culture can no longer practice/reclaim that norm without ridicule.
This is why movements like reclaim the bindi have been produced, but the more we perpetuate the more difficult their efforts will become. We must do our part if we want a better future.
Too often this aspect is brushed under the rug because of the fact that people of color do not have that power, but it is imperative that we talk about this as we push for solidarity. We must tackle the ways in which we perpetuate white supremacists ideals and learn to unlearn them so we can move foreword.
We have to take responsibility of the role we play in appropriation and how that erasing manifests and depletes the importance of an aspect of someone’s culture. We must examine and unlearn the ideals white supremacy has beaten into us so we can strive for a decolonized future.
Not too long ago was Trans day of visibility, a day where we celebrate Trans people and bring awareness to their issues. But not only should we bring awareness to their issues we should also bring awareness to their successes and their work. Too often to do we tend to focus on Trans people when they’re no longer with us and not when they’re here and thriving. We would like to take the time out to highlight our favorite Trans artists.
Thuy
Thúy is a Vietnamese demigirl who uses poetry as a means of self expression. Her poetry explores her current bouts of depression and the impermanence of emotion.
Ashley Doggett
Ashley Doggett is a transfeminine person of color who uses historical narratives as means to explore race, religion, and mental illness. She uses these narratives to express current issues.
Markell Wade
Markell Wade is a non-binary black person from the Bronx. Their poetry expresses what it’s like to be a queer person of color living on the streets in New York.
This post is in partnership with the Art Hoe Collective.
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