Henna Tattoos or Ritualistic Adornments?

While reading the article “Con-Fusing” Exotica” I realized how much of Indian culture is actually present in American society. Many aspects of Indian culture have been dissociated from their race and have been sold as “American” products. One idea that has been Americanized is henna tattoos. These tattoos were originally seen in Indian culture and they were actually viewed as ritualistic adornments called bindis and mehndi. By marketing these designs as something else, and not informing the consumer, one is taking away any form of identity or presence Indian culture has in America. “It is a kind of an apolitical exoticism and uniformed ethnic chic that is both calculated and successful-after all, what better way of stripping people of their histories and their art …transforming them into a First World consumer good.” (278). I find it interesting that on many occasions American society has been incorrectly informed of the influence India has on our world, creating an unrealistic picture of their race as a whole. They are not represented or acknowledged for much of their work that is eventually marketed as an “American” product. Is it so hard to get a henna tattoo and call it by its actual name instead of marketing it as something new and unheard of? I’m not quite sure what America would lose by giving the Indian culture the respect of claiming their products as their own, rather than covering it up as an American product.

Stereotypes in Media

I fully agree with Sanjukta Ghosh’s “Con-Fusing” Exotica Producing India in U.S. Advertising” article. Like Michelle, I also believe that Ghosh was very biased in many of her arguments. Ghosh argues that there is lack of Asian Indians in the media, but there is a lot of “robbed” culture that companies use to advertise their products because it is something that is usually beautiful and not normally seen in the media. One of my favorite points made by Ghosh is when she argued that “absence makes it possible for media empires to achieve a racially cleaned visual environment that reinforces the notion of who is ‘us’ and who is ‘them,’ who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’” News and media agencies are able to form these stereotypes shown in the video above by keeping these races and cultures out of American media. I believe this is plausible because when someone does not know anything about a culture or race they will believe the first thing they read or hear, and as we have already seen in previous studies, the media is very good at persuading what they want their viewers to believe.

Exotica

In the article by Sanjukta Ghosh, “Con-Fusing Exotica”, Ghosh expresses the frustrations about the presence (or lack there of) of Indians in the US media. I was slightly confused by the article and had to read it more then once. I found Ghosh’s argument about the media’s portrayal of Indians to be slightly contradicting. At first he states that there is an “absence” of Indians and Indian culture in US media. Later he states that there is a large presence of Indian culture in the media, but it is “robbed”. There were some interesting points and examples in this piece, but I found myself a little turned off by the obvious bias present in the writing. That’s not to say I don’t believe what the author is saying isn’t true. I just think I might get a clearer idea of the situation from a more objective article. Other then that I found the points about the US incorporating Indian fashion as their own quite interesting. I was able to find a Vogue fashion spread that seemed to praise Indian culture and Fashion in a way. It displayed fashion trends reflecting Indian culture, yet it gave credit to that culture.

Vans.. skate shoes?.

In realtion to the "Nike, social responsibility and the hidden abode", there is a similar case with the brand Vans. With it's promotion toward African American's and Caucasian skaters.
"Nike has been diversifying it's product line for some time"(199). While Vans is a relatively newer company in relation to Nike, there is still this forming of ideology in who wears the brand that has been evident. This is through the fact that the typical consumer and original targeted consumer of the Vans brand is the indie kid who wears skinny jeans (a few more stereotypes of this person) long sweeping hair and skateboard possibly in hand.. you get the picture.

Recently rappers like Lil Wayne, (who is a huge figure in today's hip hop culture) has projected his love for the shoes in a number of his songs, a popular phrase being "Skinny pants and some Vans". Hip hops artists of today are showing that the skater look is the new hip hop look and presenting a previously predominantly Caucasian style of shoes and clothing to the African American culture. I find this extremely ironic as there had been previous criticism in America that many Caucasian teens where "stealing" the African American bangy style of clothing in the 90's. The two pictures shown above emphasis the similarities between the two examples and the effects of popular culture.