What are your feelings on white Celebrity individuals wearing their hair like black people?
Hairstyles: Cornrows, Locks, Braids, and/or Afros. Examples: Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Kailyn Lowry (Teen Mom), etc.
I think hair design and fashion are interesting no matter what country or culture they originate from. There are many black people who straighten their hair, curl it and color it and, since it's their hair, I think they can wear it any way they want to wear it.
When I visited Jamaica several years ago, I had my hair put into corn rows just because it was fun to wear my hair in a different fashion.. with beads hanging off the ends!! :-)
You make a good point, black people do wear straight hair that some white people are famous for having. But wouldn't you be concerned if you were mistaken for being a light-skinned black woman, due to a hairstyle that black people are famous for ?
It's fine your not concerned, it seems that ethnic hairstyles are a trend to others also.
I think is stupid that there's even an issue with that. Hairstyles are hairstyles.
Who said it's an issue? It's a question to see individuals point of views.
Well, that make it an issue. Plus, I know you're not the only one.
Cornrows - Started by Africans
Dreadlocks - Started by Egyptians
Braids - Started by, slightly unknown since it goes back to 30,000BC but speculated well to be Austria
Afros- Started by both African and Jews, along with all cultures who naturally had the type of hair that stands up.
It is hair. I don't see a problem when anyone wears their hair in whatever way they want. Hairstyles do not belong to one race. And quite honestly it is a bit hypocritical for any African American to have an issue with it if they have ever permed (straightened) their hair or dyed it blond or other non natural colors.
In my teen years I was raised only around African Americans, with many sets of parents who were African American. They often put my hair in cornrows or braids.
Hairstyles do not belong to a race nor should they.
As an Italian woman, I take offense when anyone says corn rows and braids are an appropriated part of black culture. My Roman and Sicilian ancestors wore these styles, and they're depicted in the art and sculpture they left behind.
As for afros, well, anyone with coarse, kinky hair knows their hair is going to fro if it gets beyond an inch long. If your hair does that, how can it be considered appropriating someone else's culture? It's just hair, doing its thing.
Mostly, I think people should just do whatever they want with their hair. If a black girl wants to straighten her hair, or dye it blonde, should she be told she's appropriating white culture? That's silly.
You can't appropriate from a dominant culture though. You assimilate to survive and not be oppressed.
I think the outrage that exists in some circles over this "cultural appropriation" is based on the false premise that only black cultures have ever worn these hairstyles throughout history and also on the false premise that a single culture or group can lay claim to a type of food, clothing, invention, language or hairstyle.
English speaking countries are "appropriating" the English language which itself "appropriates" the Latin alphabet. If we take this concept of appropriation seriously literally everything we do, every word we speak, every item of clothing we wear, every invention we use, would be a form of cultural appropriation. What's that, you're a white guy eating peanut butter - that's cultural appropriation. What's that, you're an African American eating pizza, you know that was invented by Italian Americans right - cultural appropriation.
It's stupid and makes NO sense.
Cultural diffusion and sharing is inevitable especially in an increasingly interconnected and multicultural world. I think those who cry foul at "cultural or racial appropriation" are at best ill-informed about the way history and culture function in the real world and at worst may themselves harbor prejudice and simply want to divide the world.
We should all be willing to share and celebrate the positive aspects of our cultures and of other people's cultures, we should not be driven into division because someone thinks one culture owns dreadlocks or cornrows or tacos or whatever it is.
We're all human, we all have that in common, we are all very similar and ultimately our species originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Cultural appropriation is nonsense.
My feelings on this would be the very same as when black people have their hair straightened/relaxed and/or bleached blonde like white people:
Anyway someone wants to style their hair is perfectly acceptable and A-OK! Regardless of color, ethnicity or culture.
This is simply no big deal at all nor do I understand why it might be!
But black women often HAVE to wear their hair like the dominant group to face less oppression for being themselves in a white corporate world. It's not the same at all.
Michaela....The Question calls for OUR feelings. I don't believe we need to get "philosophical" & make a major, complex issue out of this simple topic. This is surely not a human right's problem across the world!!
Seriously Michaela? Everyone can choose their own path in America - it's attitude and personal responsibility that get you ahead,not blending in with the white world.
That actually doesn't bother me. I saw that video of that stupid b*tch accosting a young man for having dreadlocks. The Social Justice Warrior pulled him back toward her when he tried to get away, and yelled at him "don't put your hands on me." Obviously she had a chip on her soldier and was looking for a fight. The point is I don't care how people wear their hair.
Alright, I'm coming from the perspective of a whiter-than-white girl here who has a fascination with anthropology, sociology, and actually talks to the people (PoC, of course) who take issue with this to see exactly WHY it can be problematic.
Cornrows and dreadlocks are hair styles that originate in various parts of Africa and have strong ties to certain cultural and tribal identities. These things have very strong personal meaning and can be a source of pride in one's identity. But lets also consider just how white supremacy and colonialism/imperialism play a role here.
When Europe/America brought slaves over from Africa (and other places), these people were literally stripped of their cultural identity, their heritages, and their personhood. And what did white Europe/America do while it was enslaving people all over the world? Well it took aspects of all these cultures it was brutalizing and then watered them down for the white palate to enjoy, completely removed from context and national origin. Then, it forced white culture on all these enslaved peoples - just look at what happened to the Native Americans....
The average white kid sporting dreads or cornrows has NO idea about the implications behind what adopting a traditionally ethnic hairstyle means. They typically don't know the history of the style, the peoples who were disenfranchised and oppressed in order for that white kid to even know about that hairstyle, and how people of color TODAY still get shit for wearing their hair in these styles. And the white kid gets applauded for being edgy and fashion-forward.
So many black women have to chemically straighten their hair just to get a job, because a lot of business professionals consider a NATURAL HAIR TYPE to be "unprofessional" or "not right for the workplace". Black men sporting dreads either have to face the stereotype of being stoned Marley fans or outright criminals. I've actually come across situations were black girls were being harassed for having an afro, being called ugly, etc.
So until that nasty concept of white people adopting another culture's aspects while mocking that actual culture for doing it goes away, I think it IS a bit problematic when white kids wear dreads or cornrows.
+1, I agree some companies are not comfortable with black people wearing their natural hair to work, but their are a few companies changing with the times for the better.
Boko Haram and ISIS have slaves today. Let's focus on real problems, not a narrative that all whites are bad for a few having slaves 200 years ago when white Christians were the first people in the world to systematically end slavery worldwide.
Why do feel so much white guilt Michaela? Did you enslave anyone? Did you steal anyone's culture? It makes no sense to take a position on something you can't possibly understand.
If you look at the Woman of Willendorf and Venus of Willendorf figures that are over 25,000 years old, at least one has multiple braids around her head that look like this. And both were found in Europe, though the hair styles probably predate that. There's even at least one Indian bringing up how braids like this go back thousands of years in their society.
So no, it isn't cultural appropriation - braids like this probably go back to Africa before humans left the continent, but it is part of human history and not something blacks can say whites can't do today.
it is just the trend, not racist or copy cat issues, people love to follow the trend just for fun and to be hip hop
I guess Hip Hop culture has a lot to do with it. Kim Kardashian wore Cornrows and tried to rename them Boxer Braids, when she know a few of her friends been wearing Cornrows all their lives, (her friends Beyonce, Ciara, etc).
The entire Kardashian Clan of brainless females from MOM down 2 the youngest, got wealth & fame on: a Name, self "EXPOSURE". nudity, publicity & sex.Nothing they say or do is relevant to DECENT women. Their men R pigs. Their opinions are CRAP
@ Paula, tell us how you really feel about the Kardashians, wow. The Kardashians women aren't modest at all, seems they want to attract the Hip Hop culture. Bad influence for America. I have respect for Robert Kardashian Sr. & Jr.
I certainly agree with Paula on this! I have no idea how the Kardashians got to be famous...or infamous! Nothing they have done is noteworthy in the least and they represent nothing beyond a glamourized female and an idiotic media frenzy!!
I love those hairstyles. Ancient Eygyptians also wore locks. We Turks like braids very much.
Really? It's just a hairstyle. Are we so far gone as a society that we need to divide up all inventions, clothing styles, hair, and anything else into a culture? I'm sorry, but there are more pressing issues like unemployment, homelessness, malnourishment, and violence to focus on instead of hair. Celebrities have been doing things for decades to bring attention to themselves, it won't change.
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