{"id":239,"date":"2010-03-03T23:06:54","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T03:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/?p=239"},"modified":"2010-03-03T23:06:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T03:06:54","slug":"white-people-shouldnt-wear-dreadlocks-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/2010\/03\/03\/white-people-shouldnt-wear-dreadlocks-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"White People Shouldn’t Wear Dreadlocks, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

David’s got a characteristically brilliant follow-up<\/a> on the theme I discussed below about western appropriation of non-western cultural artifacts and authenticity (a theme I originally “appropriated<\/a>” from him–see how that works?).\u00a0 Ever since I wrote that post, I’ve been meaning to revise\/clarify in the comments, but now that he’s called me out, I figured I might as well do a whole new post, not least because there’s other stuff he raises that’s also got me thinking.<\/p>\n

Anyway, first things first: I’m regretting my sloppy characterization of white\/asian kids who wear dreadlocks.\u00a0 I thought my post sufficiently made clear that my initial reaction was a gut reaction–I hadn’t really interrogated it.\u00a0 I also think, in the context of our conversation in the Berkman kitchen, that we were talking more about superficial fashion trends more than getting into the depths of cultural meaning so in my own defense, I sound like more of an asshole out of context than I did at the time (at least I hope).<\/p>\n

The ensuing conversation (including some behind-the-firewall chats on Facebook with Georgia<\/a>) forced me to come to a more sophisticated explanation for my gut reaction; what I\u2019ve come up with is that it\u2019s all about motives.\u00a0 Though I\u2019m wholly unequipped to judge individual motives (and is one of the things that made me uncomfortable with my original post), I do think there\u2019s some number of people who are driven by “I want to look cool” when they grow dreads<\/a> or get an asian tattoo <\/a>or wear assless chaps<\/a>.\u00a0 That bothers me because there’s a respect for the original culture that gets lost, but more than that there’s an intrinsic rejection of your own identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

David asks what being authentic really means.\u00a0 For me it\u2019s about embodying your lived experiences.\u00a0 That\u2019s why where you come from is so important in this equation\u2014whether we like it or not, it\u2019s part of our experience; we bring it to the table along with all the other experiences we encounter as we chart our lives.\u00a0 (Related tangent: Does anyone really believe Beyonce is being authentic when she sings You Oughta Know<\/a>?\u00a0 I mean, she was good, but let\u2019s be honest\u2014she\u2019s never had her heart broken.\u00a0 Alannis on the other hand\u2026)<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I think I\u2019m really advocating for people actively seeking out new experiences, while making sure the place they come from is based in what they already know.\u00a0 If there\u2019s anything I hate more than white dreadlocks, it\u2019s people who revel in lack of experience (aka: ignorance).\u00a0 There\u2019s a certain amount we can\u2019t help\u2014our family, our home town, etc.\u2014but there\u2019s so much we can.\u00a0 I just think along the way we shouldn\u2019t throw away everything that led up to us being able to choose our lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple other random thoughts that I\u2019m too lazy to incorporate into coherent paragraphs:<\/p>\n

*I loved the post David linked to<\/a> about the commodification of authenticity (and I must plead guilty to the \u201cauthentic travel experience\u201d thing).\u00a0 What does it mean when cultural artifacts start getting marketed?\u00a0 What\u2019s the difference between exporting Baywatch and importing anime?\u00a0 And with respect to travel, what does it mean to really have an authentic experience in a foreign culture?\u00a0 Can it be done in a week?\u00a0 If so, how?\u00a0<\/p>\n

*I\u2019ve got some personal discomfort around this issue because sometimes I feel like, because I\u2019m brown, I get a free pass that I shouldn\u2019t necessarily get.\u00a0 I had a conversation with Mario<\/a> and his cousins last week about the difference between assimilation and acculturation among Hispanic immigrants; as minorities become the majority in the US, what does that mean for \u201cwestern\u201d culture, which we often think of as white?<\/p>\n

*Something Georgia said is really sticking with me: what does it mean when a cultural artifact is sufficiently incorporated to another culture that it is, in fact, authentic for that second culture to claim it?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, if you\u2019ll excuse me, I have to get back to American Idol for my weekly dose of American authenticity.\u00a0 For the record, one of the final contestants is a white girl with dreadlocks<\/a> and she can fucking sing.\u00a0 She showed me I guess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David’s got a characteristically brilliant follow-up on the theme I discussed below about western appropriation of non-western cultural artifacts and authenticity (a theme I originally “appropriated” from him–see how that works?).\u00a0 Ever since I wrote that post, I’ve been meaning to revise\/clarify in the comments, but now that he’s called me out, I figured I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2061,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2061"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cbracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}