cultural appreciation
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Auntie Unfiltered: Can White Women Be Aunties, Too?
This week on Auntie Unfiltered, I go into the mailbag and answer a question from a white woman who wants to know whether white women can be “aunties” as well. The short answer? Sure. If you are an actual aunt to nieces and nephews and your nieces and nephews actually call you “Auntie”-whatever, then you…
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Is It Fine When It's a Fave? Adele's Bantu Knots Reveal the Subjectivity of the Appropriation vs. Appreciation Debate
Adele is a multi-Grammy award-winning singer whose soulful song stylings have made her a fairly universal fave (we still think that the 2017 Best Album of the Year Grammy belonged to Lemonade, though—and seemingly, so did she. She’s a Beyoncé stan, too!). She also seems to be an affable, humble and entirely relatable superstar, rising…
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Meshell Ndegeocello Is Right About Bruno Mars Being Karaoke, but I’m Bopping Anyway
Meshell Ndegeocello did not mince words when asked about my beloved Puerto Rican Frankie Lymon, better known as Bruno Mars to the rest of y’all. In an interview with Billboard to promote Ventriloquism, an album of covers, the singer-songwriter and musician made clear that she wasn’t impressed with Mars’ performance of the “Finesse” remix featuring…
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Lena Waithe Asks Twitter to Weigh In on Netflix’s Step Sisters … and They Tell Her
We here at The Root have already weighed in on Step Sisters, the Netflix movie in which a black woman teaches white coeds how to step, the African-American cultural tradition where one’s body is used as an instrument. Frankly, many were looking at the flick with the side eye because … more cultural appropriation. But…
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Ankara, Ankhs and the Ongoing Appropriation-vs.-Appreciation Argument: Is There a Right Way to Rock African Style?
We’ve been celebrating Kwanzaa Week here at The Root, which, for The Glow Up, also meant thinking up new outfits to wear for each night of the festivities celebrating the seven principles of what many lovingly call “Black Hanukkah.” Fun fact: I love African fashion, iconography and decor; always have. I love wax prints (yes,…