There’s been a lot of news lately about racist sports mascots and team names that disrespect Aboriginal culture. This pattern of taking a name (or fabric, or word, or food, or mode of transportation, or celebration) with important cultural or spiritual value, and merging it with a sports empire and a fuzzy mascot (or some other aspect of the entertainment industry) is apparently not going anywhere soon. Of course, this type of cultural appropriation is accompanied by a similar process in other industries too. If it’s not a sports team, it’s a clothing retailer or pop culture star.

 

This site chronicles these types of examples of cultural appropriation towards Native culture and traditions. It’s important to have a discussion about cultural appropriation, and not to lose the battle against this type of problematic discrimination, stereotyping, and cultural theft. Do you have friends who lack an understanding of cultural appropriation? Have you caught yourself using an offensive phrase or perpetuating a stereotype?

 

Here are some recent (and of course, horrendously common) examples of Native appropriation discussed on the site:

 

-Hallowe’en costumes

-the word “Redsk*n”

-“Tribal” fashion

-fashion, hair and makeup for Native characters in movies and television

-the role of racist corporations and their responsibility