For artists like Miley Cyrus, blackness is an outfit. She made money from treating black women and femmes like props, and used hip-hop to appeal to the white kids her age. There comes a time during a celebrity’s career when they shed one persona for another. This isn’t uncommon; artists need to evolve and grow...
Tag: appropriation
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Decolonizing Yoga: 5 Things to Remember Before Hitting the Mat
“Metal yoga?” Really? Is this what it’s come to? Indian Sramanas would be more than a little horrified by “metal yoga” and “beer yoga.” When I was a little girl, I began copying my mother when she did her sun salutations (Surya Namaskar) every morning; I’d stand beside her mat and do what she did. Eventually...
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The History of Dia de los Muertos and Why You Shouldn’t Appropriate it
To most Americans, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is the “Mexican Halloween.” While this isn’t the case, the vast majority of folks don’t know the actual origins and meanings of the holiday. The spiritual ritual dates back 3,000 years, and it has outlasted more than 500 years of colonization. During the old...
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4 Things You Didn’t Know About Cholx Culture
It was the early to mid ’90s, in Corpus Christi, Texas. The second hometown for La Reina herself: Selena Quintanilla. I remember watching my mother line her lips with black eyeliner and filling them in with cherry-red lipstick to make a beautiful ombre lip. She’d draw her eyebrows on with brown eyebrow pencil and blush her cheeks...
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11 of the Most Culturally Appropriated South Asian Accessories, and What they Really Mean
Let’s go through a list ten of the most widely appropriated South Asian accessories, and what they really mean. Countries across Asia and beyond are mired in a history of oppression. For many of us, the oppression is far from over, and we still exist within marginalised communities. Over the years, the racial micro-aggressions that...