EDITORS' CORNER
ANALYSIS: Offensive costumes this year include ‘ninja attire.’ But drag is fine.
Several universities took special care to warn their students and employees against cultural appropriation this Halloween, including a “Culture not a Costume” event at the University of Arkansas.
A Minnesota State University event and a University of California Riverside costume contest gave similar warnings about culturally appropriate costumes ahead of the holiday.
At the University of Arkansas, its Unity House recently hosted a presentation called “Culture not a Costume,” about the “negative outcomes” of cultural appropriation, The Arkansas Traveler reports:
[Jose Torres, cultural programming coordinator at the university,] said many people see cultural appropriation as a misinterpretation of a specific culture, and it could lead a person to associate that misconception with said culture, creating harmful misrepresentations. …
The presentation showcased examples of how appropriation could look. Instances of appropriation include impersonating accents, brownfishing and Blackfishing — the practice of trying to give the impression that one is of Black ancestry when one is not — and individuals or businesses profiting from cultural holidays, such as Cinco de Mayo, without being a part of that culture’s descent.
Some of the costumes that the student newspaper described as “culturally offensive” were “ninja attire,” “Native American headdresses,” and “ponchos.”
A similar event at Minnesota State University at Mankato, “DEI Halloween Awareness,” aimed to help students “understand the impact on multicultural and diverse communities with the stereotypes promoted in Halloween costumes and with other cultural appropriation.”
“Spooky or stereotype? Our cultures are not costumes,” a Facebook graphic on the event page stated. The university’s Multicultural Center and American Indian Affairs offices co-hosted the event on Monday.
Meanwhile, at UC Riverside, administrators issued a warning about “cultural sensitivity” ahead of its staff Halloween contest.
“We ask that all costume choices reflect cultural sensitivity by recognizing that costuming based on simplistic ethnic, racial, gender, religious, disability, and other hurtful stereotypes disrespects cultural identities by reducing them to caricature,” according to the contest webpage.
Apparently, however, “appropriating” the opposite sex is perfectly fine, as evidenced by Halloween-themed drag shows at campuses from Massachusetts to Arizona, Montana to Nebraska.
One, the “Campus Drag Collective: Harvest Xtravaganza” at Loyola University Chicago, featured student performances.
“Join us for a night of ghoulies and glam student talent at our Harvest Xtravaganza showcase,” the event description states.
Widener University also hosted a “Queer History Mystery Drag Reveal” last weekend with “hostess Clitty Umbridge!” It was sponsored by the university’s Center for Social Work Education and College of Health and Human Services, and Office of Inclusion and Belonging.
And at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, its LGBTQIA+ group Spectrum offered a drag show “How to” workshop for students ahead of its Halloween “Night of the Living Drag Show,” according to its Instagram page.
Northeastern University’s SHARE, a student-run sexual health organization, decided to hold several Halloween-themed events this month, including “A very queer Halloween” for students to discover “the queer roots of our spookiest holiday,” according to the group’s Instagram page.
The club also had a “candy and condoms packaging” night and a “sexual health pop-up” with free condoms and Plan B birth control. Because “nothing scarier than a pregnancy scare this Halloween,” or so the students claim.
MORE: Now a CLOWN is considered an offensive Halloween costume … ?
