Make sure your costume isn’t culturally insensitive this Halloween
Posted Oct 28, 2018 10:26:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Before you finalize your costume for this Halloween, make sure it is not culturally insensitive.
Wilfrid Laurier University Professor of English and Media Studies, Eleanor Ty, says context matters, when you're out picking a costume.
“The Lederhosen and the drinking of beer is part of Oktoberfest tradition. It does also paint Germans in a stereotype, but it is maybe a different spirit from blackface, or from wearing a native headdress. I think it's the power-relations that are different.” Ty told Kitchener Today with Brian Bourke on 570 NEWS.
She says fear of cultural appropriation is not supposed to take away from your Halloween fun.
“It's really fun to dress up and be something else for just one evening. I guess what is becoming increasingly political these days is the way in which people are no longer conscious of the historical importance of these costumes.”
Ty says cultural history is also important to consider when portraying a character that may have deep religious or traditional connections.
