A Different Type of Minstrelsy: What is Appropriation and what is Appreciation?
By: Adia Aidoo
A before and after picture of Emma Hallburg posted on twitter by user @2csNiccole
Blackface has taken a new form. White social media influencers are darkening their skin and wearing their hair in black hairstyles to gain likes and followers. This popular form of cultural appropriation is called blackfishing.
The issue of blackfishing became a hot topic in late 2018 when it was revealed that Swedish model and make up artist, Emma Hallberg, is white. In her pictures on social media, Hallberg appears to look like a light-skinned black woman. Controversy sparked when a follower of Hallberg’s posted an older picture of Hallberg where she appears to have white skin and straight hair. Hallberg defended herself in a direct message over instagram to a fan saying:
“Yes I’m white and I’ve never claimed to be anything else… I’ve never tried to be or look black, I was born with naturally curly hair and my skin gets easily tanned in the sun”
Hallberg alleges that her darker skin is a result from summer sun, and that she tans easily. She also alleges that she doesn’t go to tanning salons or uses tanner.
In her makeup tutorials she also uses darker foundation. When she was questioned about her use in foundation, her response was:
“I have some acne and scar issues in my face and use a lot of face scrubs and peeling products which scrubs away my facial tan. Therefore I use foundation that matches my neck and the rest of my body.”
During the controversy with Hallberg, a popular twitter thread was started by twitter user Wanna Thompson to expose social media influencers who are blackfishes. The tweet thread currently consists of 1,197 replies, 22.2 thousand retweets, and 44.6 thousand likes.
Blackfishing is upsetting to many because it perpetuates a colonialistic practice of benefiting off of black and brown bodies without any form of reimbursement or attribution. It shows that being fully black is undesirable by showing that only certain aspects of black beauty are acceptable. Charles A. Gallagher, a sociology professor from La Salle University, describes the issue of cultural appropriation like this:
“ [Cultural appropriation] acknowledges race while disregarding racial hierarchies by taking racially coded styles and products and reducing these symbols to commodities or experiences that whites and racial minorities can purchase and share”
Regardless of Hallberg’s intentions, her controversy brings up a conversation that can be painful for many black women. The appropriation of styles and aesthetics that originated from black women by non-black women brings up a double standard that many black women face. When a new style that’s popular with black women reviewed by the public eye, sometimes the style is considered “ratchet” or “ghetto,” but when a non-black person sports that same style it is considered “vogue” or “trendy”
A way that influencers can avoid cultural appropriation, is through appreciation. When Vietamnese- Mexican beauty guru Nikita Dragun posted a picture of her supporting box braids on her instagram, she wrote about the black women who inspire her style and the double standard many black women face when wearing styles such as box braids:
“Too often there’s a double standard when another person takes inspiration from black culture. suddenly it’s a new trend or it’s renamed to be something else. hearing stories of black women being sent home from school or work because of their braids is beyond disheartening.”
While many still consider this post to still be appropriation, it can be considered a step in the right direction to properly attributing black women for their influence on popular culture today.
It’s important to keep in mind the difference between appropriation and appreciation. Appreciation is more than just giving credit to the culture the aesthetic is borrowed from. Appreciation goes as far as understanding the history and cultural importance of a style. Black Americans have a long and painful struggle and a lot of their aesthetics stem from that struggle. In a world that’s becoming increasingly globalized, cultures will mix but it is important for the originators to get credit for their fashion.
Sources:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/blackfish-niggerfish-white-influencers-using-makeup-to-appear-black
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/non-black-minorities-appropriation_l_5d974be7e4b0f5bf797372ba