Cultural Timeline

1800s - 1900s

1900

Early settlers in Canada and around the world began to take spiritual artifacts and different items belonging to the indigenous peoples of Canada and bring them home, thus leading them to end up in museums around the world, which could be considered a form of cultural appropriation. The Mi'kmaq first nations of Miawpukek have been trying to get the ancient remains of their people back from the Scottish museum but with no luck.

1950s

1950

During the 1950s, the original Peter Pan was released with depictions of Native Americans. In this movie, Native Americans are seen as red-skinned savages on the island of Neverland their English is taken as a joke by many of the characters and people watching, and the whole subplot of the movie discredits everything that indigenous people had to fight to rebuild. As well this is when the popularization of Native American garb as costumes started.

1960s

1960

In many western movies directing castors would have white men play what were known as savages or would have indigenous people play these parts but discredit everything they stood for. For example, the Lone Ranger series made it so the actor, who was a Mohawk, Jay Silverheels was the naive, brave friend of the white lead throughout the series. Also, in the early sixties, there was an influx of white actors and actresses playing indigenous roles in films, known as “playing Indian.”

1970s

1973

In the 1970s, there was a peak of cultural acceptance with the hippie movement sweeping across North America, diving into many costumes, and the indigenous peoples were no exception.

1970s Pt 2

1978

One of the prime examples of this was in 1973 when famous singer Cher wore a traditional chief's headdress when performing. Up until this point, sexing up other cultures was not something new, but to tell the story of a Cherokee woman in society while downplaying the significance of her culture is not something to be taken lightly and, even then, caused quite the uproar.

2000s

1999

During the late 2000s, it became popular to be inclusive with all cultures, but for many white people meant to appropriate cultures. It became popular to wear war headdresses and Navajo-inspired dresses and jewelry. This can be seen in many fashion shows and designs, predominantly Native Mexican designs.

2010s

2010

During the 2010s, the use of native cultures and garbs around the world exploded. Many high brands and top fashion creators use Maori, Native American, Mexican culture and gab as fast fashion and a money grab for naive people and those who want to be inclusive.

2010 Pt2

2015

During this time, many peoples in said cultures became offended and outraged because they had to fight for the freedom to express themselves through their own preferences and way of life for hundreds of years. The prime example of this is when the fast fashion brand Forever 21 tweeted, “It’s official: we’re going native this spring. We can’t get enough Navajo-inspired jewelry and tribal print knits!” (Forever 21 Twitter account)