Sunday, March 29, 2009

Urban Outfitters Strikes Back

... this time with 100% more misappropriation! It was bad enough with the keffiyeh, but it looks like U.O. decided they needed another piece of the Middle East to capitalize upon. Enter the Allah bracelet!

Thanks to KabobFest for bringing it to attention. Now, if you've read my keffiyeh post, y'all know how I feel about the misappropriation of culture. I won't repeat everything I've said there. But I will say that I am again totally amazed. Yes, there is Christian imagery everywhere, and used in popular culture everywhere from "Jesus is My Homeboy" apparel to Madonna's "Like a Prayer," etc. It's actually gotten pretty old now. But the difference is that Christianity in America is the majority and is not equated with the same level of politics and discrimination as Islam. At a time like this, do we really need to further exoticize and disrespect a culture by putting it on sale at a store whose goal is simply to make money, without any care towards sociopolitical context?

One one hand there's the argument that it is bringing an "exotic" culture into the mainstream, de-mystifying it, making it accessible to the common person (because, you know, Muslims/Middle Easterners/"others" can't be seen as just regular people). But I don't think the majority of U.O.'s commercial audience are going to even think that far. So the essential effect is tokenization of a culture, perhaps to seem "edgy." Again, if you do not know or willingly represent the context of this item, wearing it is quite disrespectful. (As someone commented on KabobFest, you wouldn't be able to go into a bathroom with this bracelet on.) It's not because I think everyone else should avoid anything to do with Islam, but I do think there are way more respectful ways to explore it. And it doesn't involve helping Urban Outfitters make money.