As evidence of how mainstream and taken-for-granted dressing up like Native Americans for Halloween (not to mention as a general fashion trend) is, Kari sent in this photo of a costume store, where Native American is a sufficiently popular costume category that it deserves prominent signage:
Comments 28
Alison — October 30, 2012
Why would you use the word "Indian" when the store in question used the more culturally sensitive and appropriate "Native American"?
Are you just unaware of why that word is incorrect? I'm surprised I need to explain this to a sociologist, but Native Americans aren't from the country of India. Indians are from India.
Guest101 — October 30, 2012
Actually many "Native Americans" use the term "Indian." Many of of our cultural and civil organizations use that terminology ex: National Museum of the American Indian , Indian Law Resource Center, etc. We haven't settled on the proper term. "Native American" is equally as fraught because we preceded the "Americas."
Minetos — October 30, 2012
Preferred terminology changes depending where you are in the world and which nation you are speaking of i.e. people of the Mohawk nation in an around Montreal tend to prefer First Nations or Mohawk rather than any other term you two have mentioned, this of course can vary from individual to individual as well.
Sariel — October 30, 2012
I can't stand it when people dress up as Natives for Halloween. Inaccuracies of dress aside, we were never a homogeneous culture, women never would've worn headdresses (it's a sacred item reserved for revered and respected leaders, and apart from that it's considered really bad juju for women to have that many feathers on - even if they are cheap dyed chicken feathers), we're not dead, historical relics; we're not savages (used to justify our genocide), and our women face incredibly high violence rates (primarily by non-native men) meaning that the sexualized costumes and objectification is especially nasty.
It's a disgusting costume.
Jim — October 31, 2012
This makes me want to start fires.
Lou Frndak — October 31, 2012
So, how is this different from going blackface? I bet you wouldn't see a "gangsta" section in the store.
MJS — October 31, 2012
I this context "Native American" almost seems more offensive than "Indian." When I hear "Native American" I think of a race of real people who live in modern America. Whenever I hear "indian" I think of an almost mythological group of people who populate John Wayne movies and bear minimal resemblance to anyone living or dead. It's like calling someone from Massachusetts a "Pilgrim."
Tusconian — October 31, 2012
Interesting that "Native American" and "ninja" are lumped together. Not sure whether there's a separate section for "geisha" or not, but it is telling that they seem to be lumped together as "other" cultures that the US still feels it appropriate to openly appropriate and festishize in mass-produced costumes. Not that people won't dress up as blacks or Latinos in mockery or ignorance, or that Party City doesn't have a few accessories that would be insensitive to those groups, but mocking natives and Asians seems pretty stable in the "socially acceptable" category.
The_L1985 — October 22, 2013
That's so deeply weird and unsettling. Folkloric ninjas.....and a group of actual historical cultures. One of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn't belong...