as small as a world and as large as alone, You did v well with the Indian "cultural...

5:21am October 1, 2014

internscout asked: You did v well with the Indian "cultural appropriation" question, so here's a similar one. I'm a few generations down from full blooded New Zealand Maori, am white passing, but am a member of a Iwi (tribe) and fully accepted by them despite having a lot of Pakeha(white/European) blood too. I'm worried about embracing this part of my heritage and culture in case white people decide I'm appropriating Maori culture. Bear in mind my iwi fully accepts me. What can I do/say if I'm accused?

ko-muriwai-ahau:

stirringwind:

Hello! I am posting this publicly as I am afraid it gets eaten by tumblr (which has happened before) Also, I do believe this is pretty relevant to mixed-race people in general.

Please do not feel you have to deny your identity. Identity is so fluid, not something that fits a neat set of boxes, and mixed race people like you actually illustrate how simplistic it is if we insist cultures are rigidly defined boundaries. It is WRONG if you are not allowed to practise your own culture just because you don’t conform to stereotypes of how people of that culture should look. The first thing you should say is:

1. I do have Maori ancestry. I cannot appropriate my own culture, just as I cannot steal my own money. Even if I don’t fit how you think people with Maori heritage look, appearance is NOT the sum of my identity or heritage to begin with, because the way genes are passed down don’t always reveal ancestry. (I’ve been to NZ myself, and from people I’ve seen, the skin tone of Maoris isn’t always a lot darker than people of European origin, so a lot of people with mixed ancestry can appear to be quite fair too, even though mixed race people tend to get an “intermediate” skin tone between that of their parents.)

To others btw, this is Priyani Puketapu- 2011 Miss New Zealand. She has both Maori and European ancestry.

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes- born to a Maori mother and Anglo-Australian father.

2. I belong to a tribe, and I am accepted by the actual Maori in my tribe as one of them. Although I am mixed-race, Maori culture is very much a part of my identity I wish to acknowledge. The people who have a right to decide whether or not you are “culturally appropriatng” are people from that culture, not outsiders. Why should an outsider who doesn’t know Maori history’s words hold more weight than an actual Maori who is intimately familiar with the workings of their culture? Do we allow doctors who aren’t oncologists to diagnose and treat cancer patients? No! Same thing, the acceptance by Maori far outweighs what any social justice blogger’s opinion is. And in your case, it’s even stronger- they are not just “sharing” their culture with you- they have accepted you as ONE OF THEM even though you are mixed race. There is no other person’s word who could carry more weight.

3. Saying I cannot participate in it because my skin tone is too light is perpetuating racism and colonialism. Because it is racism that sought to judge people just by their skin tone, to oversimplify and assume people could be dichotomised and sorted into neat little boxes. Because it’s racism that just judges a person’s background by their skin colour. Because it’s racism that bandied around stereotypes that homogenised what people of an ethnicity should look like. Because it’s racism that stole the histories of black people in the US, which didn’t care that Africa is not just “Africa” but a diverse continent with thousands of ethnic groups. Colonialism and racism made mixed-race people feel they couldn’t belong anywhere. If you are going to say I cannot be part of Maori culture just because I look too white, you are subscribing to this damaging institution that judged people solely by skin tone and didn’t care about the actual history, cultural upbringing and stories of the person wearing that skin. My skin colour alone DOESN’T tell you ANYTHING about my ties with my tribe and the influence Maori culture has had on my upbringing.

4. I do not have to pass your test to prove I can participate in a culture I know is part of my own heritage to begin with.

It is just WRONG if your own identity has to conform to an OUTSIDER’s opinion of what your ancestry is. I mean, let’s look at Hispanics. My sister’s Mexican friend has blonde hair and blue eyes because she has some German ancestry. But she was born in Mexico, lived there all her life, and celebrates the Day of the Dead and identifies very much with Mexican culture. Her sister has darker hair, is a bit more tanned and looks more conventionally “Mexican”. So what now? Do they have to behave differently even though they had the same upbringing to appease people who think she doesn’t look “Mexican-enough”- whereas her sister is free to embrace all aspects of Mexican culture? I would be in a fix myself- I’ve been thought to be Korean, Japanese, Chinese-American,- my sister has been mistaken for Eastern European or Japanese. Both of us actually have Chinese ancestry and we’re not Americans.

5. If you, an outsider, are saying I have to conform to YOUR external perceptions of what my ancestry is, you are robbing me of the right to define myself and imposing your racist stereotypes that rob me of my identity. To begin with, if you are not from my culture, you do not have any right to define whether I belong to it or not, or its boundaries. That right rests with Maori people in my case- and they fully accept me.

These are some things you can say, and please don’t let tumblr white knighting stop you from embracing your own culture. To be forced to disown your identity because you don’t “look like it” is EXACTLY what colonialism and racism did, and it’s TERRIBLE if mixed-race people like you have to deny one part of your bloodline because of that. If “social justice bloggers” do that, they are being hypocrites and perpetuating the erasure of non-white heritage amongst mixed-race people.
Thank you to the OP this is so incredibly validating right now :)