Halloween is an exciting time that many people use to get to dress up as someone (or something) else. According to Yahoo, some of the most popular Halloween costumes of 2024 included Sabrina Carpenter and Disgust from Inside Out, as well as more timeless choices like a ghost, a princess and a witch.
However, when dressing up, be careful not to dress up in a way that can potentially be offensive. Here are some tips to avoid making Halloween awkward or problematic.
1. Never dress up as another culture.
It is in poor taste to don cultural attire as a costume, such as a headdress with feathers from an Indigenous culture or a layered skirt and a headscarf to emulate a Romani woman. Stick to characters, celebrities or something scary.
2. When dressing up, it is never OK to use blackface.
If you are dressing up as someone with a darker skin tone, refrain from changing your own shade. Painting your face with a darker shade to emulate someone who is black is not acceptable in any context. Blackface has a harmful and racist history, and that should never be a part of any costume.
At the root of this conversation is the sociological concept of cultural appropriation, which was first coined by Professor Arthur E. Christy in 1945.
Cultural appropriation is defined by Oxford Dictionary as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society of members of another and typically more dominant people or society.”
Since culture is always changing and belongs to a big group of people, it is crucial to learn how to navigate the difference between participating and appropriating.
“There are ways that culture can be appropriated or misused when culture is divorced from its original context,” said Danielle Bainbridge, a cultural historian and African American Studies professor at Northwestern.
When a Halloween costume uses aspects from another culture, that is divorcing those cultural aspects from its original context, which can then be misconstrued and misrepresented. This is especially the case when dressing up as someone from a marginalized group, which then their culture is used for entertainment value without considering the original context, Bainbridge says.
This Halloween, be mindful and use your best judgment. If you are questioning it, go with something safe and classic. Have fun.