My big idea project will focus on the appropriation of Indigenous cultural heritage (particularly attire) in Western fashion, art and music in Western pop culture and niche subcultures. This choice was inspired by recent online media attention on youth at music festivals (predominantly white) wearing Native headdress, as well as on American college students dressing up in similarly racist costumes on Halloween or at themed parties.
I’m learning that not only is this issue being discussed broadly in blogs, textbooks and articles from an Indigenous studies perspective, but there is a range of literature that covers cultural appropriation from a legal angle, by criticising current intellectual property laws for their incompatibility with and insensitivity of endangered cultural heritage. By consolidating these two different directions, my final paper will formulate a robust ethical argument that will hopefully impose moral obligations upon the perpetrators of appropriative behaviours.