Another Slap to
Indigenous Culture
There are so many things wrong with the costume that Disney created as part of the merchandise for their upcoming movie Moana.
First, Maui - the character the costume depicts - is Indigenous. So with the history and legacy of colonization, plus genocide and racism (past and present) that’s already an eyebrow raising choice.
Next, this character is a revered figure in Polynesian Indigenous culture and history; someone that many people consider an ancestor. See above.
Then, not only did the costume include clothing (bad enough), someone decided it was appropriate to include brown tattooed skin for arms and legs that kids could just slip on.
Yes.
Brown material meant to be skin.
With tattoos that are sacred to Polynesian culture.
For kids to wear so they can look like a revered ancestral figure in Polynesian Indigenous culture!!!!
I’m so mad, I’m speechless.
Thankfully there was backlash, and the costume has been pulled.
But someone thought it was ok to put it out there in the first place.
Your Inclusion Challenge for the week is to pay attention to the ways mainstream culture takes the symbols and content from other cultures (usually the non-dominant ones, often Indigenous) and uses them in ways that are not only out of context, but often disrespectful of their meaning and purpose.
See more.
Annemarie
http://www.annemarieshrouder.com/
Diversity. Difference. Respect.
To read more, check out my blogpost here.
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