"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other peoples fantasies for me and eaten alive"- Audre Lorde
It is difficult to love
yourself when you are constantly bombarded with images of “beauty” that look
nothing like you. It is difficult to have pride in your identity when you are
constantly told that you are too ghetto, when what they really mean is that you
are too Black. It is difficult for me, to reconcile my American identity, one
that ridicules, demonizes, and humiliates my ancestry, with my Black
identity. Womyn of color are constantly
told that their hair, lips, skin, bodies and clothing are unprofessional,
tacky, ethnic, “rachet” and ghetto. We are ridiculed for embracing our cultural
heritage through fashion, music, customs and dance. We are ostracized for our
otherness, treated as fetishes for sexual fantasies, and exotified. Our “otherness” is only recognized and deemed
beautiful when it is co-opted by white women and it is seldom that we receive
recognition. We are defined and confined by our racial stereotypes and are not
afforded the privilege of self-definition, dynamism, and multidimensionalism. While cultural
appropriation is often simplified to appropriating language, fashion, art and
other “trivial” aspects of identity, this appropriation is a by-product of the
American white supremacist capitalistic heteropatriarchy. This project was not created to promote divisiveness,
but rather to have an open conversation about race and gender. It is my hope
that by discussing these issues we become more united by our differences rather than
pretending that they do not exist. This website is a labor of love for my Advanced Seminar in Women's and Gender Studies course.
–Jolisa Brooks December 2014
–Jolisa Brooks December 2014
Sources
Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Trumansburg, NY: Crossing Press, 1984. Print.
Header Photo: Designed by Jolisa Brooks: compilation of artwork- http://thesheaf.com/2014/01/23/more-than-a-night-of-harmless-fun-hawaiian-cultural-appropriation/- http://sistacurl11.wordpress.com/
Header Photo: Designed by Jolisa Brooks: compilation of artwork- http://thesheaf.com/2014/01/23/more-than-a-night-of-harmless-fun-hawaiian-cultural-appropriation/- http://sistacurl11.wordpress.com/