Growing up, I was told I could be anything or anyone on Halloween. I was lucky to have my creativity encouraged, from dressing up as a chess piece when I was in elementary school to a star-covered “Kevin Space-y” get-up when I studied abroad. I could be anything or anyone I wanted.
Except for the people I couldn’t.
Some costumes are off-limits because they are racist caricatures of real, living cultures that have been — and continue to be — oppressed.
Maybe, when I was younger, I was temporarily saddened by the fact that I could never be Mulan or Lilo, but it’s pretty easy to accept as an adult.
The realities of our world mean that there are some costumes that are off-limits since they would be cultural appropriation.
It’s a phrase that doesn’t quite hit at the reality of the situation. It sounds so innocuous, as if it isn’t rooted in complex and often traumatic histories.
Cultural appropriation involves using aspects of a minority culture, including certain hairstyles, jewelry, clothes, language and ritual objects, without understanding or respecting their meaning.
It is natural for cultures to learn about each other in the modern world, where information is available at our fingertips. In many cases, aspects of cultures diffuse without many people recognizing it. But true cultural appreciation goes beyond this and requires understanding the histories of different peoples and respecting — even celebrating them.
When cultural appropriation happens, it is distinct from appreciation because it lacks the respect. On Halloween, celebrating a culture often involves a lack of knowledge that leads to the reinforcement of harmful stereotypes.
It’s a holiday that has been used as an excuse for cultural appropriation with the justification that it’s just Halloween.
It means that people are dressing up as Pocahontas while they are unaware that history was nothing like the Disney movie, and that native peoples are still fighting for the survival of their sacred places.
It means that white men who tweet #AllLivesMatter are wearing afro wigs, chains and sometimes blackface — and don’t even get me started on that — while black men and women are being shot by police.
It means that women dressing in skirts and scarves and calling themselves gypsies — despite that word being a slur — have little to no knowledge of the Romani people’s history of persecution, including being targeted in the Holocaust.
Sometimes, I hear the argument that these cultures should be flattered that we find them attractive enough to want to emulate. But how flattering is it when cheap, caricaturesque knock-offs of their rich cultures are getting beer spilled on them at parties? How flattering is it when the same clothes are ridiculed when they are worn by the people who created them? How flattering is it when the costumes perpetuate damaging stereotypes?
If you want to show a culture that you appreciate it, there are better ways than dressing up as it for Halloween.
The easiest way you can do this is by learning about the cultures themselves. There are so many ways to do this. If you want more than what’s available online or in the library, take advantage of the resources available to you at Elon University.
Go to speakers who will be talking about their cultural or spiritual backgrounds. Attend the holiday celebrations put on by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and actually pay attention. Ask questions and listen instead of just eating the free food. Take part in the diversity-themed events over Winter Term. Try taking a history, religion or philosophy class on something that you know nothing about if you still need a civilization or society course.
Halloween costumes can be a lazy and counterproductive attempt at cultural appreciation that Elon students should know better than to try. I hope that this year, I won’t see as many of these offensive costumes.
Halloween is a chance to dress up as almost anything. Don’t settle for being a racist.