“That blackness on your face it will come off, won’t it? You wipe that blackness off, and they’ll treat you like a man. We black, in a white man’s country, it ain’t nothing we can do about it. If you don’t understand that you don’t understand nothing.” John Marriott in Black like me (1964)* …
Tag: cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation of Saami in Northern Europe: “Make as much noise as you can”
The most recent case of cultural appropriation in Finland was seen in October when a Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) host put on a Native American feathered hairpiece. To add insult to injury, the YLE TV host aired on the same programme a clip of a Finnish 1960 “comedy” with blackfaced actors.
Exposing* white Finnish privilege #39: The Hollywood ending of racism that will never happen in Finland
There is one characteristic when watching for some years Finnish journalists, public officials, politicians and the public debate about racism: Everything will end like in a Hollywood movie, and we’ll live happily forever.
Defining white Finnish privilege #38: Cultural appropriation and racism are quaint discussion topics between white Finns
Sanna Ukkola is a YLE journalist who has stuck her foot in her mouth a number of times. Hosting Pressiklubi on Friday was a clear example when she put on an Amerindian feather hairpiece and showed a clip of Pekka and Pätkä black faces to the audience.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Rejoice 100 years of Finland’s treatment of migrants and minorities
Should we boycott Finland’s centenary celebrations? One hundred years of building a white Finnish-speaking Lutheran society has not only whitewashed my roots and who my family was but on top of that continues to exclude me from being treated as an equal member of society. Do you have the courage to not only see but change how…
Defining white Finnish privilege #34: Building a political career on privilege and nativist nationalism
Social Democrat MP Satu Taavitsainen found herself in a lot of hot water this week after she published a picture of herself in Instagram wearing a fake Sámi dress. While this is a no-no because minorities like the Sámi may see it as cultural appropriation, an MP like Taavitsainen should know better.
Finnish skier rudely shows her ethnic privilege over the Saami
When I saw last week Finnish alpine skier Tanja Poutiainen put on a Saami costume to crown her career, I knew she was heading for trouble unless she was a member of that ethnic group. In countries like the United States, dressing up as a member of another culture is considered racist and a rude…