Our Museum

Kulsoom & Sharah

South Asian Beauty and Accessories 

The 3 decade transition of beauty and accessories within this area and how anthropology is connected.

Beauty

What was beauty in South Asia like before colonialism? 
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Cultural Appreciation vs Appropriation

To put it simply, cultural appreciation is honouring a culture respectfully & giving credit. Cultural appropriation is demeaning or using someone else's culture for your own benefit (eg. profit) .
A main part of cultural appreciation is being educated. Here's the cultural significance of some South Asian accessories

The center part of your hair is known as the Maang and is an important feature for married Indian women. The Tikka is the ornately jeweled part of the accessory that is placed onto the forehead. It is styled differently, depending on what part of India you're from – the Rajasthanis wear a Maang Tikka, otherwise known as the Bor, that has a simple round tikka at the forehead, while in a Muslim wedding, the Jhumar Tikka that is placed on the side of the head. There is a special significance for each variation. A bride-to-be typically wears an intricately embellished Maang Tikka.

The Bindi, is typically placed on the center of the forehead between the eyebrows, often called the third eye, referring to the point of higher consciousness. A black bindi is worn in parts of South India by unmarried girls, while married women wear a red bindi. Although not all Indian women follow these rules of color for bindis today, it holds a special significance. 
Here are 2 mainstream examples of cultural appropriation:

At the 2017 MTV Movie Video Awards, Selena Gomez wore a red bindi during her live performance. She is seen wearing the bindi as a fashion statement as it goes well with her red suit and red lipstick. She is clearly not aware of the significance of the bindi, and so she is misusing the bindi for exotic purposes. This shows her lack of knowledge on South Asian culture. 

This is a photo of Beyoncé  in a Coldplay video, ‘Hymn For The Weekend.’ She is seen wearing a dupatta, headdress and henna. Her role was to play a bollywood actress, however considering she isn't apart of this culture it was considered wrong for her to do this. 
Here's what cultural appreciation looks like:

During Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal’s wedding in 2018, Beyoncé performed at the ceremony. She wore an Asian inspired outfit with a thigh-high split and a golden maang tikka. On this occasion traditional dress was expected, thus, it was acceptable of Beyoncé to show up dressed like this out of respect for Anand..