The Privilege of the Yay Life Tribe

 (screenshot from the Yay Life documentary trailer...not exploiting Native cultures at all, right?)

Someone posted a link to the "Yay Life Tribe" on the Native Appropriations Facebook page a couple of days ago. The "Yay Life Tribe" is the brainchild of a 20-something named Tucker, who got a spirit hood, it changed his life, and then he quit his job to devote all his time to spreading the message of loving life and positivity. The way he plans to do this is through selling Spirit Hoods, having a blog, twitter, and facebook page, and traveling around to music festivals this year where he will spread the gospel (and make a documentary while he's at it).

I spent a fair amount of time that night looking at the facebook page, clicking through fan photos, and watched the trailer to the documentary. When I was done, I shrugged, and thought "I'm all for positivity and loving life. If this is how they want to do it, whatever." I was perturbed at the use of the "tribe" idea--but I'm clearly not going to claim that American Indians are the only people who can use the word. There was also something else that really bothered me about the whole thing, but I couldn't put my finger on it until yesterday.

Words of Inspiration: Native High Schoolers' College Essays

I've mentioned a few times my involvement with an awesome organization called College Horizons-a summer program for college bound Native students. I've been a part of the College Horizons family for 9 years now, starting in 2002 when I was a student in the program, then I attended the Graduate Horizons program as a college student, served as a faculty member when I worked in Admissions, and have since been and essay specialist and volunteer counselor. This summer was special for me because I served as a small group leader for the first time, and I also was conducting my research for my qualifying paper in my doctoral program. I felt like I had truly come full circle. It's an incredible feeling to be in a position where I am now able to give back to the organization that I credit will so much of my success. My goal in coming to graduate school was to give voice to high school Native students navigating the college application process, showcasing the strength, resiliency, and promise in our communities, and I always knew that the story of College Horizons was the story I wanted to tell through my research.


This summer I had the absolute privilege to work with nearly 200 students, but worked closely with 22 in my small groups (Group 6 CSU and Group 6 UR forever!!). My second week I was the essay specialist for an amazing group of students, working on draft after draft of their personal statements. As part of the program's closing ceremony, small group leaders read excerpts from the student essays--creating almost found poems of their powerful words. I wanted to share the words of my students with you, because we always need reminders of power and strength in the face of all the misrepresentations I feature on this blog. These students came from 9 different tribes, 10 different states, some very connected to their heritage, others still learning, but all passionate about their Native identities and going to college. As you read, realize these are the words of our future tribal leaders, doctors, lawyers, artists, teachers, engineers, writers, and musicians. I'd say the future of Indian Country is in good hands. Without further ado, Group 6:

Oh Spirit Hoods.

Oh Spirit Hoods. One of those fashion trends that makes me pause, cock my head, and say "really??" If you're unfamiliar (meaning you're not one of the 15,000+ people who "like" the brand on facebook), Spirit Hoods are furry animal hat/scarf combos that are all the rage with tweens, celebs, and hipsters alike. I've gotten a few tips recently about the company, particularly their use of the tag-line "join the tribe":

The Today Show thinks "Tribal Jewelry" is a "Summer Outfit Maker!"

 Right on the heels of our great discussion on Al Jazeera's The Stream, the Today Show decided to feature "tribal jewelry" as one of its go-to summer "outfit makers." I'll embed the video clip below, but I don't know how long it'll be up on the site, so I took some screen shots and made a quick transcript as well:

 Text of their conversation (more or less...they should learn to listen while someone else is speaking!) is below:

Don't Trend On My Culture, aka that time I was on Al Jazeera.

In case you missed it, I was a guest on Al Jazeera English's social media news show The Stream yesterday. I was super nervous going into it, but ended up having a lot of fun and feeling like my voice was actually heard for once.

The host asked some tough questions, like "In a multi-cultural society, isn't a certain level of cultural appropriation to be expected?" and the dreaded headdress-blackface connection, but I'm fairly happy with the way the whole interview went.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

The article is here:
Al Jazeera The Stream: Don't Trend On My Culture