Appropriations of Native Culture

If you haven't already bookmarked the blog Native Appropriations, you should. It offers smart and often funny commentary on the many ways in which Native American culture gets appropriated by various corporations, communities, and individuals. As a sample, take a look at their post "Your Daily Pueblo Pirate Clown on a Bicycle":

What do you get when you combine a ken doll, some sharpies, maybe a little tempra paint, a small dancing mud kachina that looks like a bear, and an intricately carved to scale wooden three wheeled motorcycle?

This, apparently.


Questions I have in viewing this piece:
- Is he wearing an eyepatch?
- Does he have sharpie 5'oclock shadow?
- Is he wearing a chocolate old-fashioned donut on his head?
- Is he scratching his behind?
- Why doesn't his friend sit down in the comfortable-looking back seat? Isn't dancing on a moving vehicle dangerous?

All joking and WTF-ing aside, this guy is making "art" pieces that include sacred pueblo kachinas, and is making a mess of them. Talk about appropriation and mis-representation. Not cool.

I'd suggest bookmarking the blog now, and making sure to check in especially as Halloween gets closer...