The annual celebration often includes dressing up as something you’re not – but could your ensemble go as far as to offend others
The origins of Halloween have long been forgotten as the holiday has turned into a celebration that includes dressing up in a guise – a seasonal point of controversy for those who choose a costume that appropriates another culture.
While the adoption of cultural elements by another cultural group occurs on a daily basis, the appropriation that occurs every Halloween can often be insensitive, even if done unknowingly. Many choose to adopt the dress, adornment, and sometimes even the social behaviour of a cultural group that is not their own, making dressing up for Halloween a tradition that nurtures stereotypes.
Most commonly, we see people dressing up as a “Native American.” In the blog “Angry Navajo/Indian Girl,” the author stated: “Why is it socially acceptable to dress like the stereotypical Indian: ‘Brave,’ ‘Chief,’ ‘Princess,’ ‘Squaw,’ ‘Maiden’? …When did the Native American enter the realm of Wizards, Fairies, Super-heroes, Goblins or Ghouls? When did it become OK to reduce the diversity, language, and culture of nearly 500 different Indigenous tribes into a tacky ‘costume’…?”
Cultural appropriation through costumes seem to occur most in the inaccurate portrayal of Native Americans, but it also extends to other cultural groups. Costumes such as “Dia De Los Muertos Darling,” a sugar-skull outfit that references the Mexican Holiday; “Mexican Style,” which equips the costume-wearer with a colorful sarape, traditional sombrero, and giant mustache; and “Bollywood Beauty,” supplied with a bindi, traditional jewelry and a head and body veil; are just a few of many. Each of these examples often displays a hyperbolic representation that propagates the typecasting of a culture, especially of those who have been oppressed throughout history.
In the article “Cultural Appropriation and Costumes,” Kjerstin Johnson explains a situation where “someone who does not experience that oppression is able to ‘play,’ temporarily, an ‘exotic’ other, without experience any of the daily discriminations faced by other cultures.” Therefore, appropriation could be harmful and offensive when the culture being clumsily replicated is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited, or when the object of appropriation (such as sacred objects) becomes mass-produced and loses meaning.
So, what about those who do it for fun or irony? “I think it’s almost impossible to be ironic while being racist, so irony is lost,” said Jelani Cobb, a professor of Africana studies at Rutgers University. “To treat a character like Batman or Superman as a Halloween costume is one thing, but to treat an entire ethnicity as a costume is something else. It suggests that people conflate the actual broad diversity of a culture with caricatures and characters.”
Unfortunately, the companies who reproduce these looks do not accurately represent the long-established traditions, and as a result these companies are left propagating negative stereotypes for profit. The costumes present elements of a culture removed from their original contexts, and thus can often take on different meanings that could offend those who wish to preserve their traditions.
It is doubtful that anyone’s goal when dressing up for Halloween is to be disrespectful towards another culture, but it is important to reflect on what your costume may portray. The line between what may be offensive or what is not is often tricky, and the best solution is to try and discuss the idea with those from other cultural groups – or if in doubt, choose another costume idea.
With endless options for Halloween costumes, one must ask if the fun of dressing up has to come at the expense of others. If it simply means choosing another costume to create a positive experience for all, what is the harm?