http://www.sfu.ca/ipinch/outputs/blog/
The Appropriation of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage: Examining the Uses and Pitfalls of the Canadian Intellectual Property Regime
Vanessa Udy explores the ways in which aboriginal peoples in Canada and the United States have used intellectual property laws to promote their cultural heritage and to protect it from negative stereotypes and cultural appropriation.
This was an internal presentation made for Robic, LLP, on April 16, 2015, and recorded for IPinCH. Vanessa Udy is a Lawyer at ROBIC and an IPinCH Associate.
"Whether or not one accepts that cultural appropriation is a form of neocolonialism, its negative impacts on the health, wellbeing and capacity for economic self-sustenance of Aboriginal peoples cannot be ignored.
Cultural appropriation is linked to mental health issues. The inappropriate use of sacred traditional knowledge has destroyed its sacredness and twisted its meaning, weakening it in the eyes of all.[27]
Aboriginal youth suffer from low self-esteem due to a negative view of their own culture, supported by a belief in negative stereotypes.[28]
Culture stress is a major factor driving Aboriginal youth to self-destructive behaviour and suicide.[29]"
http://www.sfu.ca/ipinch/outputs/blog/canadian-intellectual-property-regime/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of another culture.[1] Cultural appropriation is seen by some[2] as controversial, notably when elements of a minority culture are used by members of the cultural majority; this is seen as wrongfully oppressing the minority culture or stripping it of its group identity and intellectual property rights.[3][4][5][6] This view of cultural appropriation is sometimes termed "cultural misappropriation".[3][6] According to critics of the practice, cultural (mis)appropriation differs from acculturation or assimilation in that the "appropriation" or "misappropriation" refers to the adoption of these cultural elements in a colonial manner: elements are copied from a minority culture by members of the dominant culture, and these elements are used outside of their original cultural context—sometimes even against the expressed, stated wishes of representatives of the originating culture.
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In 2003, Prince Harry was heavily criticised by some Australian Aborigines for using Indigenous Australian art motifs in a painting for a school project. One Aboriginal group labelled it "misappropriation of our culture", arguing that, to Aborigines, the motifs have symbolic meanings "indicative of our spiritualism", whereas when non-Aborigines use the motifs they are simply "painting a pretty picture".[83]
In the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012, former Victoria's Secret model Karlie Kloss donned a Native American-style feathered headdress with leather bra and panties and high-heeled moccasins.[84] This was an example of cultural appropriation because the fashion show is showcasing the company's lingerie and image as a global fashion giant. The outfit was supposed to represent November, and thus "Thanksgiving", in the "Calendar Girls" segment. The outfit met with backlash and criticism as an appropriation of Native American culture and tradition. Victoria's Secret pulled it from the broadcast and apologized for its usage. Kloss also commented on the decision by tweeting "I am deeply sorry if what I wore during the VS Show offended anyone. I support VS's decision to remove the outfit from the broadcast."[85]
Avril Lavigne with Hello Kitty outfit
When Selena Gomez wore the Bindi during a performance, there was debate on her reasoning behind wearing the culture specific piece. Some viewed this as "casting her vote for Team India" but it was also viewed as misuse of the symbol as Selena was seen as not supporting or relating the Bindi to its origin of Hinduism, but furthering her own self-expression.[89] In 2014, Pharrell Williams posed in a Native American war bonnet on the cover of Elle UK magazine, after much controversy and media surrounding the photo Williams apologized.[90]
Actress Amandla Stenberg made a school-related video called "Don't Cash Crop on My Cornrows" about the use of black hairstyles and black culture by non-black people, questioning celebrities like Katy Perry and Iggy Azalea for using "black culture as a way of being edgy and gaining attention."[91] Stenberg later critiqued Kylie Jenner for embracing African-American aesthetic values without addressing the issues that affect the community.[92]
In Beyoncé and Coldplay's 2016 video "Hymn for the Weekend", Beyoncé is seen wearing a sari, henna tattoos on her hands, and traditional Indian jewelry. The video caused a widespread cultural appropriation controversy from online speculators to faithful Beyoncé fans. Although some argue that the video was intended to celebrate Indian culture, many feel that the video could have featured a real Bollywood actress.
The Trail of Tears (referenced in video above)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html
In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.
This picture, The Trail of Tears, was painted by Robert Lindneux in 1942. It commemorates the suffering of the Cherokee people under forced removal. If any depictions of the "Trail of Tears" were created at the time of the march, they have not survived.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMdLGCN1xnI&feature=youtu.be |
Fair use- Copied from video for educational purposes.
What’s Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/
1. It Trivializes Violent Historical Oppression
2. It Lets People Show Love for the Culture, But Remain Prejudiced Against Its People
3. It Makes Things ‘Cool’ for White People – But ‘Too Ethnic’ for People of Color
4. It Lets Privileged People Profit from Oppressed People’s Labor
5. It Lets Some People Get Rewarded for Things the Creators Never Got Credit For
6. It Spreads Mass Lies About Marginalized Cultures
7. It Perpetuates Racist Stereotypes
8. White People Can Freely Do What People of Color Were Actively Punished for Doing
9. It Prioritizes the Feelings of Privileged People Over Justice for Marginalized People
Cowichan Knitting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowichan_knitting
History
Pre-contact Cowichan weaving
Main article: Salish Weaving
Before European contact the Coast Salish peoples, including the Cowichan, wove blankets, leggings, and tumplines out of mountain goat wool, dog hair, and other fibres.[2] The wool was spun with a spindle and whorl, and the blankets were woven on a two-bar loom. There is little information on pre-contact production and use of these weavings, although examples remain in museum collections. No archaeological or ethnographic evidence of knitting or knitting needles exists.
Introduction to European knitting techniques
Sheep were introduced to Vancouver Island in the 1850s,[2] providing a more plentiful source of wool. Around the same time, the first European settlers arrived in the Cowichan Valley. Knitting by native women probably began in a number of ways shortly thereafter. The most organized instruction in knitting was provided by the Sisters of St. Ann, missionaries who came from Victoria to the Cowichan Valley in 1864 to start a school for the Indians.[2] They taught the Cowichan women to knit such items as socks and mitts. The mission has records of students' knitting and other domestic skills being displayed at local fairs and at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.[3]
After learning how to make socks and mitts, Cowichan women began to knit knee-length underwear and sweaters. Like the other garments, sweaters were and are today knit in the round with no seams, using multiple needles in the European style of the period. The earliest Cowichan sweaters were all of one colour, knitted with a turtle-neck. Some knitters used a raised stitch similar to that of a gansey, possibly inspired by the clothing of the many British fishermen who had settled in the area.[3]
Development of the Cowichan sweater
In time, Cowichan knitters began to embellish sweaters using the Fair Isle technique. The teaching of patterned sweater knitting is generally attributed to a settler from the Shetland Islands, Jerimina Colvin.[3] Mrs. Colvin settled in Cowichan Station in 1885, raised sheep, and hand-spun and dyed her own wool. She probably began to teach knitting by the 1890s, and added patterns as she learned them from other Scottish settlers.[3]
Another origin theory is that the Sisters of St. Ann, a Roman Catholic institution founded in Quebec to promote the education of rural children, brought knitting to the West Coast. In 1858, four Sisters of St. Ann traveled from Montreal to Victoria to open a schoolhouse for the local children of all different races.[4] Knitting became part of the instruction of Indigenous girls during the 1860s, both at St. Ann’s Academy in Victoria and St. Ann’s School for Indian Girls in Duncan.[5]
Unlike Fair Isle or Shetland garments, however, Cowichan sweaters are always hand knit of thick, handspun, one-ply natural-coloured yarn in two or three colours (generally cream, black and grey), producing a warm bulky outer garment that is heavier than the multi-coloured Scottish garments made from lightweight two-ply dyed yarn.
Author: Margaret Miekle. Subject: Mabel Modeste, 1985. Uploaded on behalf of author. Originally published in Cowichan Indian Knitting. University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology Museum Note 21.
Related Links:
http://www.sfu.ca/ipinch/project-components/community-based-initiatives/
https://theskinnyjeanrant.com/2014/04/12/determining-the-effects-of-the-cultural-appropriation-of-aboriginal-traditions-in-fashion/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/first-nation-alleges-olympic-ripoff-1.829857
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/native-knitters-left-out-in-the-cold/article1207371
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/cowichan-tribes-take-on-ralph-lauren-for-selling-knockoff-sweaters-1.2225614
