Hash It Out

This week’s episode of Hash it Out, “Culture is Not a Costume,” will help you navigate some of the tricky issues associated with the upcoming Halloween holiday (and all of the Pocahottie and sombrero costumes that come along with it.) Cultural appropriation is usually treated as a 101-level topic and the conversation ends there. There’s plenty of reading you can do on what defines appropriation and who can and can’t wear certain items or partake in certain rituals. But Judith and Courtney tackle the topic from a different angle, taking it beyond the 101 course and into a more nuanced discussion. Can you appropriate cultures by eating certain foods? Are fashion and art exempt from cultural appropriation? What’s even that harmful about wearing a keffiyeh, posing in a wheelchair, or tacking a bindi to your forehead for a photoshoot? Can non-White people appropriate from other races? We confront all of these issues and more. As usual, we prepared a list of resources we consulted, plus some background reading a