Fun Summer Cultural Appropriation
I like my cultural appropriation big, loud, and obvious. If it's a Cinco de Mayo celebration, I want tacos and mariachi music. If it's St. Patrick's Day--which celebrates the culture of my own ancestors--green beer and the Pogues on the stereo are essential. Canada Day? Bring on the dude with the big moose head.
And even though the hot summer beach season is winding down, there are still a few days left to enjoy Tiki culture. Tiki culture refers to the celebration of Polynesian art, music, food and clothing. You know: grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts, umbrella drinks, tiki dolls. It's kitschy and harmless, and at its best it reveals a common human love for things that are beautiful and touch our souls. Indeed, what critics of cultural appropriation miss is often the most obvious thing: oftentimes people adopt from other cultures because they think those cultures have produced wonderful things.
This is evident in the new coffee table book Tiki Pop: America Imagines its Own Polynesian Paradise, by Sven A Kirsten. This is a huge and gloriously illustrated volume--you can see images from the book here--that traces the rise and fall of Western love for, and curiosity about, Polynesian culture. It started in the 18th century, when explorers like Captain James Cook landed in Hawaii. Due to their superior firepower and impressive ships, European whites were often mistaken for gods. And as author Kirsten notes, to the Western mind, raised on the story of man fallen from paradise, the first sighting of then lush terrain and beautiful women of the Pacific Islands indicated that paradise had been regained.
Soon Western writers and artists like Herman Melville and Paul Gaugin were coming to islands like Tahiti and celebrating the natural beauty of the geography and appeal of the natives. Then, with the advent of air travel and Allied fighting in the South Pacific in World War II, Americans became enamored with all things Tiki. There were musicals like "South Pacific," bestselling novels (The Kon-Tiki Expedition), goofy records (How to Hula at Home), suburban luaus, Hawaiian shirts, tiki cocktails, tiki theaters, even tiki homes.
Yes there was heavy tackiness, and some racism and colonialism, but by and large it was all in good fun--and with appreciation for the beauty of South Pacific culture. Tiki Pop author Sven Kirsten covers this ground well, and is a humble enough historian to be open to different interpretation of what he calls "American Tiki Pop." Was this just racist cultural appropriation, or something more: "did this curious outgrowth of popular taste represent a universal impulse of mankind: the search for the betterment of oneself, and the hope that beyond the ills of modern society created by man's shortcomings, there are still people and places pure and innocent?"
An interesting and complex question, and one that is explored with great intelligence and richness.
