This history contradicts the colonial, Disney representation of Pocahontas as the hyper-sexualized, adult Native woman who aided the English colonizers from the “savagery” of her own people. She was also a translator and ambassador for her tribe, the Pamunkey Nation of Virginia, prior to her capture. The real Pocahontas - whose real name was Amonute or Matoaka, as Pocahontas was her nickname - was 17 years old when she was kidnapped by English colonizers and forced to assimilate into English culture and Christianity. Columbus stated “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls those from nine to ten are now in demand.” There are other narratives in these colonial journals of the conquistadors brutally raping Taíno and Kalinago women in the Caribbean, which “Sexy Indian Princess” costumes directly stem from and are emblematic of. As proven by letters Columbus wrote in 1500 to Doña Juana de la Torre, a nurse in the royal court of Queen Isabella of Spain and the sister of one of Columbus’ leading conquistador crew members on his second voyage to the Americas, Columbus and the Spanish conquistadors sexually trafficked Taíno girls as young as 9 years old from the Caribbean to ship to Spain for sexual slavery. These costumes perpetuate the hyper-sexualization and exotification of Native women and girls. And they're projecting the idea that indigenous attire is comical and out of the ordinary, when it is actually sacred and just as normal as Western clothing is.Īppropriation is just a different, modern form of Native cultural erasure: it sustains the Western idea that Native attire is only acceptable when worn by a white person and when viewed under a colonial gaze.Īppropriation also aids anti-Native misogyny, which I term misogindigena, through Western tropes such as the Pocahontas and “Sexy Indian Princess” costumes. They're playing into the imperial narrative of Native extinction, reducing us to being a fantasy of the past that's fit for a costume. By wearing Native costumes, people are contributing to the mindset behind Native oppression: the idea that we're alien, subhuman, and somehow less deserving of the respect they give their own culture. Being Native means to be in constant danger: consider Native women being murdered and going missing in Canada and the United States Indigenous peoples of Central America being imprisoned at the U.S.-Mexico border as a result of the Trump administrations "zero tolerance" policy Natives persecuted in the migrant caravan coming from Central America, or the Mapuche people being brutally repressed by the Piñera administration of Chile in South America. These appropriators are also - intentionally or unwittingly - contributing to the oppression Native people face daily throughout the Americas. Appropriation affords people the privilege to wear someone else’s culture, without having to face the discrimination that members of the culture endure for doing the same. Why wear a culturally appropriative costume when there are so many ways to celebrate Native cultures without disrespecting Native people?Ĭultural appropriation is when someone, usually of a privileged socioeconomic background, borrows elements from oppressed groups who have been historically marginalized. Though appropriators often justify their costumes by saying that it’s meant to be lighthearted, they must realize intention isn't impact - and the impact is the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes about Native people that are rooted in colonial and western tropes. Native peoples have suffered through centuries of colonialism, capitalist exploitation, erasure, and condemnation - to then be romanticized and whitewashed in mainstream Western culture adds insult to enduring injury. I’m of the Taíno nation from the Dominican Republic and every time I see a Native costume, it makes me feel disrespected and devalued. Halloween is the time of year when people dress as something other than what they are, with these costumes sometimes being a satire of oppressed people’s cultures including my culture: Native American. In this op-ed, writer Valerie Reynoso breaks down the social and emotional impact of Native Halloween costumes on the Native community, and argues that shoppers should support Native designers instead.