(http://www.dollskill.com/fringed-feather-headpiece.html)

This advertisement conveys very dangerous and problematic imagery towards First Nations cultures. “Battle Feather Headdress” demonstrates a common and recurring theme in popular culture where cultural appropriation becomes a fashion trend, particularly prominent at musical festivals. These forms of cultural appropriation are especially problematic as it is a form of settler adoption fantasies that embodies a move to innocence. According to Tuck and Yang (2012), “Settler moves to innocence are those strategies or positioning’s that attempt to relieve the settler of feelings of guilt or responsibility without giving up land or power or privilege, without having to change much at all.” (Tuck & Yang, 10). These images portray the beneficiaries of Indigenous cultural genocide and mock those Indigenous peoples that have endured the violence of colonization. The headdress in this advertisement is a cheap portrayal of Indigenous culture and further perpetuates the oppression of Indigenous peoples. Frye explains in Oppression, that oppression is hard to recognize because of myopic vision through systematic forces at play entrenching beliefs around unquestioned norms, habits, and symbols, in the assumptions underlying institutional rules and societal policing of those rules (Frye, 42). The depiction in this advertisement, and others like it, are an example of how imagery like this is contributing to a larger problem of Indigenous oppression. Indigenous peoples in Canada were forced into institutions that were designed to strip away their cultural beliefs and understandings. Moreover, the imagery depicted in this advertisement perpetuates the sexualization of Native American women. These kinds of imagery feed into the larger problem of colonial knowledge production, which further conceals the violence of colonial forces.

The original advertisement was for a “Battle Feather Headdress” marked at $55.00. With the editions made to the original it now says, “Cultural Appropriation” now only for $55.00. The purpose of changing this was to emphasize how easy it is to cause harm towards so many groups and to perpetuate problematic stereotypes. For one, this advertisement further perpetuates racist imagery of Indigenous peoples. Moreover, it problematizes the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women through the its oversexualized imagery. Colonial knowledge production therefore is at the forefront of depoliticizing Indigenous nations and propelling a history that is fabricated with colonial misrepresentations. Not only are these colonial discourses disempowering towards Indigenous representations, they “allow for perception of difference to become institutionalized through law, policy, and other forms of state practice” (Simpson 132).

Moreover, these statements and imagery feed into the over-sexualization of native women, which is a huge disregard for our murdered and missing Indigenous women. According to Smith (2005a), colonial relations are gendered and sexualized, thereby placing sexual violence as a tool of racism and colonialism. Moreover, Kuokkanen (2008) argues that “the sexual exploitation of Indigenous women is also integrally linked to their economic inequality and lack of political power both in dominant and in their own societies.” (Kuokkanen, 220). So, with changing the small text to, “Buy this Headdress, why bother worrying about missing and murdered indigenous women or colonial violence when you can look this good!” the intention was to highlight the mentality that many people have regarding Indigenous peoples and the problems that colonization has created.

Works Cited

Kuokkanen, Rauna. “Globalization as Racialized, Sexualized Violence: THE CASE OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 10, Routledge, 2008..doi:10.1080/14616740801957554.
Marilyn Frye. “Oppression” in The politics of reality: essays in feminist theory.
Trumansburg, N.Y.: Crossing Press. 1983.
Smith, A. 2005a. Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide. Boston, MA: South End Press.
Simpson, Audra. Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States. Duke University Press: Durham ; London, 2014. Web.
Tuck, Eve, and K. W. Yang. “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” Decolonization : Indigeneity, vol. 1, Journal Publishing Services, 2012.