Friday, Sep 19, 2014
Student performances to highlight issues of cultural appropriation
by Aimee LaBrie
UPDATE:
During last night's performances in honor of Unity Day, several students went home with cash prizes as a reward for showcasing their talents.
In the category of spoken word, students Christian Royster and Bethany-May Howard won for their category. In dance, the first place prize went to the Tashan Bollywood Dance Team (comprised of several Rider students) and second place was awarded to Angela Del Collo and LeAnn Hall. Congratulations goes out to all of our participants for their interest in respecting the importance of looking more closely at the impact of cultural appropriation.
Several other students went home with raffle prizes for their attendance at all of the day's events.
To review the focus of this year's Unity Day, we only have to look toward Miley Cyrus twerking at the VMA’s last year, The Rolling Stones singing the Delta Blues, Madonna voguing a la the Latin culture — all of these examples illustrate white performers “trying on” and exploiting artistic forms that have long been established by minority populations. This year, students at Rider were asked to examine, explore and, ultimately, perform their own interpretations of what cultural appropriation means and how we might move toward respectfully paying homage to a underrepresented community without taking it as one’s own.
On Thursday, October 16, Unity Day offered two opportunities for students to come together in a contest under the theme of “Respect”and win $500.
Global studies major Ashley Reeves, who came up with this thematic lens for Unity Day, explains the importance of facing these issues head on. “This sort of ‘borrowing’ robs minority groups of the credit they deserve. Art forms, music forms, etc., that originated with minority groups come to be associated with members of the dominant group. As a result, the dominant group is deemed innovative and edgy, while the disadvantaged groups they “borrow” from continue to face negative stereotypes that imply they’re lacking in intelligence, creativity and more.”
Rider students of different cultures, whether as individuals, teams, houses or halls, were invited to collaborate or intermingle to represent unity in their performances on respect regarding cultural appropriation or cultural exploitation in any one of the four categories: spoken word (e.g., poem, short story, essay, etc.) dance, music or acting. Only Rider students were eligible to participate.
Instructions to participate
All participants must first submit their entries. Entries include performances in either a MP3 file or video link format and must be submitted to [email protected].
When sending in your email, please include the category you are entering and the names of the participants in the subject line. Performances cannot be longer than three (3) minutes maximum. From these submissions, faculty, students and Multicultural Affairs staff will choose two performers in each category to perform on Thursday, Oct. 16. The winner in each category will receive $500.
Submissions are due by Thursday, October 9 and finalists will be chosen on Oct. 13 and expected to attend the dress rehearsal on October 15, one day prior to the show.
Students and the Rider community are invited to attend both the lecture and the performance on Thursday, October 16. The lecture will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Sweigart Auditorium, and the student performances will occur from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Yvonne Theater. Audience members can vote for their favorite acts via text messaging or ballot during the live show. As an added incentive, attendees to one event can enter to win a $50 prize through a raffle. Those who show their support for both the lecture and the show are eligible for a $100 prize. Only one prize per student.
Pam Pruitt, director of multicultural affairs, hopes that there will be a large turnout of support among students, faculty and staff. “As an institution of higher learning dedicated to honoring all cultures and voices, events like this allow us to extend the academic conversation from the classroom to the stage and, hopefully, it will inspire more in-depth conversations about race and respect.”
Unity Day, held every year in October, brings Rider students, faculty and staff together to celebrate all the diverse elements that make up the community. For more information about how to attend or participate, contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (609) 895-5781 or [email protected].
