The day before Halloween, the Sociology Students’ Association held an event with the Anthropology Students’ Association to facilitate a discussion on cultural appropriation on Halloween costumes. The panel involved professors from different disciplines to give a holistic view, including Renisa Mawani (Sociology), Charles Menzies (Anthropology) and Leonora Angeles (Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice).  The event was hosted in the Anthropology and Sociology Building at UBC during a lunchtime break. Because I didn’t have class at that time and because I enjoy listening to these types of conversations, I readily participated and attended the discussion.

 

The ideas brought up by the audience and panel was extremely interesting and yet unsurprising. The first topic that was discussed was Halloween’s traditional historic roots. It derived from a Celtic harvest festival tradition where it celebrated the eve of All Saints Day to celebrate those who have passed away. It was a day of reversal, an inversion from good to bad that opened up a way to abrupt society and allow acts of rebellion. The true spirit of Halloween is unleashing this “chaos.” Presently, and particularly in North American Western culture, Halloween has turned into a capitalist invention of consumption. In other words, it’s a holiday that encourages us to buy, buy and buy treats, decorations and (of course) costumes.

 

Costumes that people wear on Halloween are becoming more controversial in regards with cultural appropriation and sexualization. However, for this blog, the former will be mostly addressed rather than the latter.  The question arises as to which cultures are being appropriated? What are costumes that are made to be costumes (i.e. black face)? How do humans create and produce these ideas in the first place? But before answering these questions let’s define the term Orientalism. Orientalism is a term coined by Edward Said and explained that it is a process of cultural representation of “others” or “Orientals” (those who are not European, white or from the West geographically, morally and culturally) (Said 31).  The images that we see of Mexican costumes with a sombrero, poncho and mustache or the Native American costume with the feather headdress are all images produced by white Western eyes, not their true cultural meaning.  So the big question that we’re all asking now (and what was asked in the event) is: Where’s the line in what is appropriate in terms of non-racist costumes?

 

To answer that question lies with another question: What is the fundamental problem that we must first address? As hinted by Orientalism, these images are made by Western ideals. We must re-imagine the power play that is at large. The ones who have power, control this production of images and costumes as acceptable. As Razack states, we live in a “white settler society [that] is established by Europeans on non-European soil” (1). Ultimately, there is a racial hierarchy in our system, which is reinforced and created through patriarchy and capitalism.  It is this system of social institutions that obscures the problem and it is through addressing the structural division of power that we can fix any other issues.

 

An analogy that Charles Menzies brought was that this situation is like a sickness. In addressing only racist cultural appropriations we are only fixing the symptoms of a sickness. We must diagnose the sickness first to eradicate these symptoms of racism and appropriation. In this case, the sickness is the way in which there is a structural division of power in our society that controls these images.

 

Overall, I enjoyed listening to the discussion made.  I went to this event because I love learning about issues like this that revolve around race. It was extremely interesting to me because I thought about Halloween in a deeper extent that I would’ve done if I discussed this with a friend. It was unsurprising because it was logical and understandable in how these racist costumes are from a bigger problem of power relations. It makes me wonder how one (especially those who are not white) negotiates their identity in Canada, in a culture that tells other cultures what they are “supposed” to be and look like. I agree, it is a larger problem than it being racist, it is about the ways our society and culture has been created by white settlers on non-European lands and the implications it has.

 

Works Cited: 

 Razack, Sherene H. “When Place Becomes Race.” Race, Space, and the Law: Unmapping a White Settler Society. Toronto: Between the Lines, 2002. Print.

Said, Edward. “Knowing the Oriental.” Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979. 31-49. Print.