APPROACHES FOR DECOLONIZING

Thanks to everyone who joined PICD last night! Musician-activist-historians Kafari and Jake Hoffman joined us to discuss cultural appropriation, and how it shows up in America’s folkways. They talked abut their personal experiences, what distinguishes cultural appropriation and how each of us can take action to decolonize the folkways we practice.

As a majority white community, facilitating candid, constructive reflection on the position and privilege of white people and how whiteness functions is a core anti-racist action Portland Intown Contra Dance is committed to continually engage in together. Constantly dismantling racist structures and replacing them with healthy, anti-racist counter-narratives is critical to changing systems and racist behaviors, most of which have been habitually hidden from white view.

Institutionalized racism and structural inequity pervade and shape American folkways and all American systems. Understanding the living tradition we participate in more deeply requires holding and sitting with multiple, complex stories of oppression, broadening our view to include the carefully omitted violence that shaped, and continues to shape, the world. As we inquire into the tradition, we uncover the Black authorship of fundamental and emblematic modern music and dance practices. We uncover that our roots are in the structures of slavery, minstrelsy and other oppressive systems -- and acknowledge that this history shapes our present.

In contra dance and other American folkways, we uphold white supremacy when we continue to consume Black culture while remaining complicit in the story of its erasure in our tradition's history. We uphold white supremacy when we only engage at the surface, from a white-centered, exploitative perspective.

The work of inquiring, uncovering, and including our history allows us to genuinely engage. We must follow the lead of Black musicians, artists, practitioners, scholars, and other leaders who have contributed to, and continue to contribute to, these living folkways and to anti-racism work.

Recorded audio from the conversation is available here:

Debrief

Kafari laid groundwork by distinguishing the process of colonization in which cultural appropriation is a key white supremacist tactic used to extract cultural resources and labor from Indigenous peoples for the benefit of colonizers. This process was outlined by Poka Laenui in the essay “Process of Decolonization,” which builds on the work of Virgilio Enriquez.

Image by Kafari | Content fom Poka Laenui's 2006 essay 'Processes of Decolonization,' which expounded upon the teachings of Virgilio Enriquez.

In their work, Laenui offers a process for Indigenous-led decolonization. Kafari and Jake offered strategies for decolonization that could be core approaches in the practice of folkways.

“We should be constantly interrogating race… We are all called to deepen, as anti-racist accomplices who don’t simply say ‘Black lives matter’ and then call it done, but prove through you actions that Black lives matter. Create game-plans to show that.” - Kafari

Kafari started by sharing the inquiry, “How do you know that an old-time space is anti-racist? When a Black person enters a space… what are the signs that would allow that Black person to feel they are safe, that they won’t experience harm?” From that open ended question, he and Jake distinguished some approaches for practicing decolonization in folkways.

Start by investigating whiteness. “Simply having people of different skin colors in a room can’t necessarily be the answer… [if] they continue to feel like outsiders in that space,” said Kafari. “Be aware that the norm is whiteness and debunking that whiteness is the norm is crucial.” What impact does whiteness have in your community? What have Black activists in the old-time space shared about the impact of whiteness on their experience? How does white fragility show up in you? How does the need to be a “white savior” show up in you? Notice your own bias. Notice the barriers that whiteness has created that get in the way of genuine participation by Black people.
See yourself in the system and in the history. Understand that our contemporary folkways rely on cultural appropriation and erasure. You you are perpetuating these systems. This will only change if we change.
Cultivate humbleness. Acknowledge what you don’t know about the practice. Acknowledge where it comes from. Acknowledge the aspects you’re sharing and what might not be being shared. We don’t have to know everything, but we can be humble about what we do and don’t know. This creates a collective curiosity.
Value the labor of Black people. Don’t force Black people in your life to educate you about racism. Do your own labor of identifying Black scholars, activists, authors, practitioners and others who offer their work to the public and pay them for the resources they’ve created. There are so many resources easily available.
Research the history of your art. Instead of simply playing music, performing dance or calling without knowledge of the history of the work you’re using, get on the internet and do the research. Start thinking of yourself not just as dancer or musician, but as dancer-historian-activist or musician-historian-activist. Make this inquiry part of everything you do, not simply something to engage in once in a while.
Share the history. Especially if you are playing music, calling or in another position of power as a practitioner, use opportunities to share the history of instruments, music and choreography, styles and other cultural elements when you perform or have conversations with others. Do the research and provide credit. Express the power imbalance if one exists. Actively debunk the myth that contra, old-time music, bluegrass, and other American folkways are culturally monolithic or Euro-centric.
Be critical of what you present. Context is everything. If you are presenting music or other content that is culturally appropriative or racist, always present the history (for instance, playing something from the minstrel catalogue in order to facilitate a conversation about white supremacy) or don’t present them at all.
Consider how your community looks and feels, starting at the surface. “How would your community look to a Black person who stands outside it, trying to decide whether to enter or not?” asked Kafari. “Interventions from the norm” at the surface level can help to indicate what kind of space you’re cultivating. For instance, are people wearing “Black Lives Matter” shirts? Are there other signals that tell Black people this is a welcoming space?
Book Black artists and pay them. Provide the means for Black artists to continue to make art. If you are unaware of Black artists, do the research on the internet. Book people you enjoy and develop genuine relationships.
If you are presenting or booking Black artists, give up your power. Be a part of creating spaces in which Black performers feel safe to be themselves, as fully human and fully self-expressed. Black performers should guide content and lead in the presentation. Take the role of supporter, doing the labor in the background that enables their art.
Consider who is building the platform for presenting folk music or folk art. Jake asked, “Do Black people need to alter their appearance, sound or actions to fit within the standards set by the white audience?”
Consider where you’re investing. Which artists are you supporting? What organizations or platforms? How can you invest your money, time and labor to support decolonization efforts? Buy Black art. Donate to projects and organizations working on decolonization and reclamation in folkways. Have a conversation with an organizer or musician who is profiting from the exploitation of Black creative resources. Invest in dance and other folkways communities that are led by Black practitioners or who are actively practicing anti-racism.
Realize that “it’s not up to Black people to get white people to respect Black music and art.” It’s too common for Black people to have the burden of the emotional labor of coping with and dismantling structural racism. White people need to show up.
Practice consent in your conversations with Black people about racism. “If you are curious about the perspective of a Black person with respect to cultural appropriation [or race], try to be sensitive to the fact that it can be a hard conversation for Black folks to have,” said Kafari. It can be draining and contentious. Kafari shared that he’s “left conversations where the other person felt like they learned a lot and [he] felt like something was taken from [him] in the process.” A question like, “do you have the space and energy to talk about this?” can be a respectful place to start. Respect the answer they give.
Practice new traditions. Folk practitioners who know the healing power of folk arts need to reshape and develop new folkways that will fight for Black liberation and our collective liberation.

Kafari and Jake have facilitated this conversation in many community settings and make decolonization practices a core part of their concert presentations. They are seen in the video below at TEDx Dirigo in a talk titled “Bones and Banjo: Confronting Cultural Appropriation.”

Kafari is a pianist, beatmaker, and bluegrass percussionist, specializing in the rhythm bones – an ancient instrument played by holding two in one hand, flicking the wrist forward and backward to create sound. He first became inspired to play the bones three and a half years ago after seeing a concert that debunked his assumptions about bluegrass and exposed him to the African-American roots of traditional bluegrass and old-time music. A resident of Portland since 2011, Kafari enjoys teaching bones to passersby on the city streets and in classrooms across the state.

Multi-instrumentalist and singer, Jake Hoffman was raised on jazz and rock n roll and spent his adulthood studying American folk musics. He has toured in 20 states and 11 countries — performing and teaching ballads, gospel and dance music from Appalachia and the American South. A community arts and cultural exchange advocate, Jake lived in the Portland area from 2009-2019 and was most recently a teaching artist and program manager with 317 Main Community Music Center. He now lives in San Francisco, CA and is a teacher and outreach director at Blue Bear School of Music.

FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION

WATCHING:

“Bones & Banjo: Confronting Cultural Appropriation” at TEDx Dirigo featuring Kafari and Jake Hoffman

“You Are Here: Exploring Yoga and the Impact of Cultural Appropriation” featuring Nisha Ahuja, who gives context to cultural appropriation through the lens of yoga, sharing Tannis Nielsen’s five stages of colonization as a framework for thinking about appropriation

READING:

‘Process of Decolonization’ by Poka Laenui, consulting the work of Virgilio Enriquez

Orientalism by Edward Said

The Banjo by Laurent Dubois

Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epstein

African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia by Cecelia Conway

Article featuring Rhiannon Giddens, part of which is about Frank Johnson (one of the most popular Americans and fiddlers we've never heard of)

Romancing the Folk: Public Memory & American Roots Music by Benjamin Filene

LISTENING:

Kafari's music here and here

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Uncivil podcast "The Song", which explores appropriation and structural racism through the history of the song "Dixie"