Are trendy hoop earrings
culturally appropriative?
STYLE
“A style that links so heavily
with
identity
is
not
taken
seriously until it is seen on a
white woman,” Ruby Pivet wrote
in a piece for Vice.
Recently, hoop earrings have
become a staple in the wardrobes
of an increasing number of young
people of non-Latinx origin.
If you’re like me, you decided
to make the purchase because
you heard hoops were making a
comeback in 2017. If you’re like
me, you never gave a thought to
the significance of hoop earrings
to others, and more specifically,
to the culture of others. If you’re
like me, you would have been
completely unaware that hoops
could be considered cultural
appropriation.
Before I begin, I would like
to state that I am not picking
a side in this article. I am not
determining whether or not
hoop
earrings
are
cultural
appropriation because I believe,
as a white woman, it is not my
place to decide what is offensive
to someone else’s culture. I am
merely bringing up both ends
of a discussion that I believe is
important.
It was not until I decided to
write a piece on how hoops were
making a return that I discovered
Ruby Pivet and her piece for
Vice. A Latinx writer, Pivet
recently brought about talks
that hoop earrings should be
weighed equally among bindis,
Native American headdresses
and braids in terms of cultural
appropriation.
“Hoops exist across many
minority groups as symbols
of
resistance,
strength
and
identity,” Pivet wrote. Pivet
discusses her frustration as
hoop
earrings
have
always
played a central role in her life,
and yet members of society are
claiming that hoops are making
a comeback. Though Pivet and
other Latinx women have been
sporting oversized hoops ever
since they could remember, it
is now being labelled as a new,
cutting-edge
trend
because
renowned and stylish — in the
eyes of the U.S. media — white
women are wearing them.
Besides Pivet, other Latinx
women
have
spoken
out
regarding this subject. Three
Latinx students painted a mural
at Pitzer College in which they
asked their white classmates
to stop wearing hoops. One of
the students, Algeria Martinez,
brings up an important point
regarding how society seems
to embrace hoops when they
are worn by white women but
peddles in stereotypes when
Latinx women wear them. On
her Instagram account, Algeria
Martinez wrote: “Because it’s
cute and aesthetic when they
wear hoop earrings, but it’s
ghetto and hard for us to be
taken seriously when Black and
Brown bodies wear them.”
The students’ demonstration
highlights clear discrimination
within our society. The fact
that American pop culture is so
open to adopting the trend when
Vogue suddenly declares it the
look of the summer and depicts
various white women modeling
it, while phrases such as “the
bigger the hoop the bigger the
hoe” are still spoken regarding
Latinx
and
Black
women,
is
obvious
discrimination.
Though
many
women
that
are primarily exposed to this
discrimination
from
Latinx
and Black communities have
learned to embrace their hoops
despite others seeking to tear
them down, there is an obvious
problem that mainstream white
society must look to reverse
itself.
However, on the other end
of this argument is the fact
that hoops did not necessarily
originate in Latinx culture or
the “Cholas” neighborhoods of
Southern California. In fact,
they were being used in 1500
BC in Egypt, being worn by
Julius Caesar to represent his
power throughout his reign and
golden hoops were being widely
exchanged
between
pirates
between 1650-1730. In this way, it
can be argued that hoop earrings
do not necessarily belong to any
one culture as there have been so
many instances throughout time
in which another country has
adopted the hoops as their own.
These are some of the cries that
are being made in the comments
section of these articles.
With these two sides of the
argument on the table, it’s time
to consider: Are hoop earrings
cultural appropriation?
SOPHIA HUGHES
Daily Arts Writer
I
recently
witnessed
a
conversation
between
a
student and a professor about
the definition of poetry. A
student was asked the name
of one of his favorite poets. He
replied that while he was not
very familiar with classical
poetry, he was a huge fan of
Kendrick Lamar. The teacher
then asked whether Kendrick
Lamar could be considered a
poet. “Kendrick,” he said, “can
never be the next Keats.”
The
response
to
this
statement was amazing. The
student responded that more
people were familiar with
Lamar than Keats; that Lamar
currently had a much bigger
influence on popular culture
than Keats. And when the
professor
asked,
everyone
in class agreed that they
were familiar with Kendrick
Lamar’s work; a couple of
students claimed that they
were
familiar
with
John
Keats’s poetry. Everyone could
name Lamar’s recent work;
few could name anything that
Keats had produced.
I am admittedly not very
well versed in rap, hip hop or
pop music. As you may have
noticed from my previous
columns, I am much more
familiar with classical music
than I am with popular forms
of music. But even I had heard
of Kendrick Lamar: My dad
became a huge fan of Lamar
this past year after reading
about To Pimp A Butterfly and
witnessing his performance at
the Grammy’s.
On the other hand, I am
not
terribly
familiar
with
Keats’s poetry. I read some of
his sonnets in A.P. Literature
when I was in high school.
Besides this, I know little to
nothing about his career or
his oeuvre. Historically, I
can characterize him as an
English Romantic poet from
the
second
generation
of
Romantic poets. I know that
his poetry is usually grouped
with
Shelley
and
Byron.
Besides that, I know very little
about Keats.
Though our academic and
cultural
institutions
may
tell us that Keats is a more
influential
or
important
cultural figure than Lamar,
the
experiences
of
most
college students would seem
to dispute this claim. Though
I could understand why the
professor
might
suggest
that Keats’s poetry was of
a higher artistic merit than
that of Lamar, doesn’t our
generation’s affinity for the
words of Lamar challenge this
assumption?
One common assumption
about popular artists is that
they represent a fad, that the
work that they are creating is
of less intrinsic artistic worth
and that it will be forgotten by
later generations. But Lamar
seems to have overcome the
generational boundaries that
one would ascribe on a fad.
My dad, after all, is a 49-year-
old
Google
employee
who
usually listens to the popular
music
of
his
generation.
His appreciation of Lamar’s
music is a testament to the
cross-generational appeal of
Lamar’s music.
The
inclusion
of
hip-
hop music in our popular
culture
represents
the
gradual
disintegration
of
racial, social and economic
barriers
between
different
subcultures.
As
Lamar
illustrates,
artists
growing
up in Compton are able to
integrate themselves as never
before into the larger cultural
lexicon, moving past the strict
subcultures to which they
were previously confined.
These
artists
also
face
significantly
less
pressure
to censure their art to meet
the
demands
of
popular
culture. Twenty or 30 years
ago, it would have been hard
to imagine an artist such as
Lamar being able to address
issues of race in such a head-
on manner. Yet modern artists
can
address
these
issues
without fears of blacklisting
and outright persecution, just
those of conservative outcry
and negative reviews. Though
not yet complete, our popular
culture is constantly becoming
more inclusive toward artists
of all walks of life.
For another example of this
I am reminded of MUSKET’s
recent production of “In The
Heights.” As I interviewed the
cast about this production,
they kept returning to this idea
of depicting the real Latinx
experience on stage. They
spoke about the failures of
musical theatre to accurately
depict
Latinx
individuals.
They spoke of the casting of
a white actress in “West Side
Story”
and
the
depictions
of the Latinx community as
in this play as violent and
incapable of adapting. And
they spoke of the joy they felt
in positively depicting the
Latinx community on stage;
the honor the felt to welcome
midwestern
audiences
to
the wonders of Washington
Heights.
Some may view our lack
of familiarity with classical
artists like Keats as a sign
of cultural or educational
decline. But what good is the
study of these classical artists
if they perpetually alienate
so many members of our
society? Why should the work
of hip-hop artists be treated
as anything less than poetry
if they represent the spoken
words of those that were
historically
excluded
from
poetry?
When it comes to questions
of John Keats and Kendrick
Lamar, it is time to challenge
the idolization of Keats in
favor
of
the
inclusion
of
Lamar. It is time to tear down
the
exclusive
definitions
we hold of high art in favor
of
including
those
who
have been historically and
systematically prevented from
being considered as high art.
Genre-defining boundaries
are
evaporating,
in
some
instances far faster than we
can fully understand. We are
moving toward a world in
which it is the quality of one’s
art and not the nature of one’s
background that determines
artistic
merit.
While
we
maintain the exclusive ranks
of
great
artists
that
we
inherited from academics of
long past, it is time for us to
widen the lense of what we
believe to be a great artist. Let
history take Keats, I want to
tell the professor, and let us
take Kendrick.
On John Keats and
Kendrick Lamar
COMMUNITY CULTURE COLUMN
SAMMY
SUSSMAN
Sadhana Ramaseshadri
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘DISTRICT 9’
Anyone who has spent a
little time perusing K-pop
music videos knows that
some of them feel like com-
plete (and oftentimes action)
movies, condensed into three
or four minute-long sequenc-
es. This is not a bad thing; in
fact, it could not be a better
thing. It’s what makes it so
easy to spend hours on You-
Tube watching video after
video of EXO and BTS.
This tradition has a new-
comer: nine-member boy
band Stray Kids. Yesterday,
they released their debut
music video, “District 9,” and
it’s already clear that waiting
until the next one is going to
be a struggle.
The video spends most
of its time between a creep-
ily sterile facility of some
sort and a broken-down bus.
Visually, it’s fantastic; the
initial shot of all nine mem-
bers lined up perfectly still
in a room full of green light
makes the video impossible
to look away from and, from
a glittering rose garden to
the white-walled rooms of
the building’s interior, the
images from there on out do
not disappoint.
All of it seems to speak to
a desire to not be contained,
which takes off when the
group escapes the facility
and rides away on the bus.
The masterfully rapped lyr-
ics are wholesome yet hard-
core at the same time: “They
just look at us as a bunch of
troublemakers / It won’t be
an easy one to change their
views / But we won’t get
down on misconceptions
and bias / It’s our mission
to prove who we are.” The
choreography is also creative
and exciting, whether the
group is dancing in the park-
ing lot or on the moving bus
itself.
As a debut, “District 9”
does everything it should
do. It demands the viewer’s
attention from start to finish,
and also asserts the question
of the budding group’s iden-
tity with lines like, “Knock
it off with your negative
vibes, back off,” and, “Why
are you talking like you
know me though I don’t even
know myself?” One can only
hope that the band releases
new music (and new action-
packed music videos) in
the near future. Until then,
there’s nothing to do but
stick to watching this one
over and over again.
- Laura Dzubay,
Daily Arts Writer
JYP ENTERTAINENT
“District 9”
Stray Kids
JYP Entertainment
If you’re like me,
you would have
been completely
unaware that
hoops could
be considered
cultural
appropriation
Society seems
to embrace
hoops when
they are worn
by white women
but peddles in
stereotypes when
Latinx women
wear them
Everyone
could name
Lamar’s recent
work; few could
name anything
that Keats had
produced
Genre-defining
boundaries are
evaporating, in
some instances
far faster than
we can fully
understand
5 — Thursday, March 29, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com