Published October 1, 2024
BY TULLAH MCCOLL
“Is dressing up as Pocahontas bad?”
“Would being an Egyptian for Halloween be insensitive?”
“Is wearing a hula dancer costume a form of cultural appropriation?”
Halloween is a day to dress up as a vampire, zombie, ghost or one’s favorite movie character. It is not a day to appropriate someone’s heritage. Dressing up as a Native American, ancient Egyptian or Hawaiian dancer are only a few examples of costumes that are stereotypical.
Since the 1980s, the term cultural appropriation has been used in discussions around Western expansion and cultural colonialism. In a 2022 The New York Times article, it was said that most people think of cultural appropriation as “a member of the dominant culture — an insider — taking from a culture that has historically been and is still treated as subordinate and profiting from it at that culture’s expense.”
This conversation has led to debate on whether ignorance is an excuse to dress up in an offensive way. It’s not like people are going out and buying “sexy” Native American costumes to be intentionally hurtful, but the absence of sensitivity around it is what can be seen as uncaring. Dressing up as a persona with any cultural connotation leads back to one of our country’s earliest forms of racism: the belief that people who are part of a marginalized group or culture are somehow less human than others. Putting on a culturally motivated costume for a night of fun shows a lack of compassion to the hardships minorities have faced in our country’s history.
Imagine a situation where a third grader wears a Native American costume after their study of native cultures in the area. In this hypothetical, it is important to consider aspects like age and knowledge, rather than simply blaming a child for their innocence. However, a high school student doing the same thing is not so innocent.
Some may argue that freedom of speech protects Halloween costumes, but freedom of speech can only be used to a certain extent. The amendment limits what students wear to school every day. Just how a student can’t wear an item that promotes drugs or alcohol, or culture insensivity, it too should limit how one can dress for Halloween.
The Carmel High School handbook gives no mention of culturally motivated outfits in the dress code policy, but does mention the consequences of verbal, emotional harassment around culturally motivated acts. The two situations should be treated with similarity, and consequences should be enforced for both.
In a story Teen Vogue published in 2017, a Black interviewee was asked how it feels to experience cultural appropriation. She explained, “Our hair is stigmatized as being untidy and this costume is incredibly insensitive to the real struggles African-Americans have wearing their natural hair.”
The more our society can educate others about the impact culturally inappropriate costumes can have, the more people can learn to be sensitive with their choices and actions.
Assuming that people aren’t dressing up with an intent to harm others’ culture, it is still important to know that every act plays a role in our society’s view of varying cultural backgrounds. If one has to question if their costume is insensitive, they should do their research before going out in it.
