Cultural Appropriation

In Canada right now there is a huge explosion in media around cultural appropriation. This relates to major media outlets having had important employees speak about things about which they are ignorant, and that is the hardest thing of all.

I will admit, when I moved to a city near a Native reserve, my knowledge of Native culture and the role Europeans had in trying to destroy it utterly. I was unfamiliar with systemic racism having come from a rather cosmopolitan city. I knew nothing about the Native Residential School System, and had no idea what Cultural Appropriation is all about.

I find the subject particularly concerning because one of my major fields of study, and passions, is anthropology. I love cultures. I love getting inside of them, seeing the world through their eyes, exploring their spirituality and relationship to the universe. Unlike some anthropologists of the past, I'm not interested out of a kind of sterile curiosity as were the colonial researchers of the past, but out of a desire to learn and discover.

Our Western Mysteries, and other traditions, teach us that we are all ONE, and that we are permutations of a single Limitless Light that refracts infinitely as we manifest in the universe. If we only ever look at that universe from a single point of view then it's like looking at a sculpture with a single light, through a hole in the wall. It might as well be a painting. Exploring and celebrating other cultures allows us to take that sculpture and rotate it around, shine different lights on it, and discover completely new wonders and joys.

So how does appropriation work then? We'll take a moment to cover this.

To the casual observer I'm sure my home, and my closet, look like a massive shrine to appropriation. I think what we have to ask ourselves is, what is the intent?

When I was young I'd go to the big Canadian tourist places with my Grandparents. It's one of the things you do. I remember a particular image that would pop up all of the time: an Indian man in profile, facing to the viewer's right, wearing a huge feathered headdress. This image was on nearly everything. I particularly remember wooden nickles and a drum I was given. A drum with a cardboard barrel (printed up like birch bark) and a kind of rubbery head with this guy's face on it. The drum was made in Taiwan or China, or somewhere, and it came with a beater, complete with fake feathers attached.

Appropriation Drum.

So here are products, sold by white people, made by Asian people, and sold on the power of the likeness of the Canadian Indian. In that exchange, the only people who didn't get a cut of the money were... yes the Native Canadian. That drum was made to look as Native as possible. It looked a lot like the one on the right, but with that "Indian Chief" image emblazoned across the "skin." Yes... to use this toy I had to figuratively beat a Native Canadian in the face... with a stick. How insane is that?

On the other hand, when I buy something now, I look into the source. I own some lovely Dashiki shirts, made in Africa, and sold at a booth by a self-employed African-Canadian woman. All of the money I spent on that piece is going to members of the culture from whence it came. Similarly if you buy Native Indian crafts on reserve, and not from Hot Topic or American Apparel, your money is going to the people of origin, as opposed to white millionaires who profit on the backs of other people.

The difference of intent is important to the Occultist. Are you truly supporting and celebrating a culture by purchasing a T-Shirt with a Cultural Design from a big company? Do you know if they had the legal rights to publish that design? Where is the money going? Knowing and planning are important. As Priests and Priestesses of the Universe we must strive to leave the world of Assiah somewhat better than it was when we entered.

Now the current debate comes down to Native Appropriation in Art. Here the lines get even less rigid. Toronto painter Amanda PL had her gallery show pulled when they they had a backlash because her paintings, inspired by the Woodlands Style, were not painted by a Native Canadian. Suddenly we come up against freedom of speech and expression, but also political history and social perception.

On one hand, we have a woman who has honed her craft to create beautiful paintings. On the other we have one more white person taking something away from Native Canadians and presenting it as her own. Yes, the paintings are her own, but the style is not.

In Canada during the 20th Century White People took Native Canadians, stole them away from their families, locked them in residential schools to "Civilize and Christianize" the savage barbarians. Children were beaten for speaking "the devil's tongue" and severely punished for trying to wear their own clothing from home. Many children never made it out alive, their parents waiting at airplanes for children who would never come home. I've known Res School survivors and they are all psychologically damaged in some way, by MY people, in MY lifetime.

Since the 1990's when the schools were finally shut down, Native Canadians have been striving to rebuild their culture and identity. It's been a hard road for them, and they've had to fight a lot of ignorance and racism along the way. It's only in 2017 that schools in Ontario are getting history curriculum units covering the Native Residential Schools, the '60s Scoop, and other atrocities Canada has inflicted upon its Native population. Ignorance in this area is so bad, many teachers ask why they have to learn and teach these units. They don't see the point.

So that's the political climate in which a white woman planned to have a huge gallery show, filled with Native inspired art, which—if sold—would not benefit a single Native Canadian.

What's the intent here? Most gallery shows are designed to make money. The gallery and the artists are in a position to benefit financially and socially from a culturally appropriated style in a political environment where many Native artists, doing the exact same work, cannot get even a single wall, let alone an entire gallery, on which to showcase their work. I've seen beautiful stuff rolled up in the hands of poor "Indians" who were going door to door trying to sell their work for a few bucks. In that situation, how can it be OK for a non-Native to show comparable work in a high-end art gallery?

The problem, I feel, with the current debate is that it seems to be scaring off the allies of indigenous peoples. If I write a book, does it mean everyone has to be White, or Whitish conforming to a singular culture? Am I allowed, as a White Author to include other cultures and peoples in my writing? That's not reductio ad absurdum, it happens all of the time right now where a white author writing a non-white character catches hell from the media. The problem is that you cannot represent an entire culture in a few characters.

For example, if I sit with my Native friends and build a Native character for a book or story, that character is only going to be representative of the experience of those people. Millions of other people will have a different experience of that culture, and they might, reasonably, feel that I was misrepresenting them in my writing.

Again, I come to intent. Does someone include non-White characters trying to capitalize on a culture? Does one put Black or African characters in a book hoping to tap into the "Black Market?" Or is the intent to be inclusive, to recognize that not everyone has the same backgrounds and the same skin colour? Different cultures include different motivations, different focuses in their education, and different ideologies. It took me forever to realize that a friend of mine was showing AFFECTION by poking fun at me. I was genuinely hurt because I didn't understand that, amongst the Anishnaabe, this was normal, affectionate behaviour one used towards good friends. I've learned to understand their humour, and often, prefer their company to those of my own culture with its hardened edges.

Coming to a clear point, as Occultists of the Western Tradition we are given one clear rule "we profess only to heal, and that freely." Healing means understanding the illness, and approaching it armed with knowledge, understanding, and empathy. We need to bring together all of the attributes of the six middle sephiroth and apply them to the world in Malkuth.

Remember, the first step to wisdom is admitting ignorance. If you're ever unsure about whether or not something is appropriation, find people of that ethnicity (it's not hard on the Internet) and approach them humbly and ask them for help.

"Hi, I'm writing/painting/doing this project, and I'm trying to be inclusive/celebratory/whatever of your culture, but do not know at what point I cross into appropriation and would like your help and input in making sure that the work I'm doing remains respectful."

Or something like that. You'll always run into some people who are too angry to be really helpful because you resemble an oppressor and a combination of projection and PTSD will make it impossible for them to help. Bless them in your heart and hope for their healing, and move on until you find someone who will help. I've known many people who would be happy to be asked, and help, if it meant seeing a familiar face in a book, or a familiar heart in art.