No one told us, but apparently American tiki bars are making a comeback, and The Atlantic is on it. Just one problem, though: are tiki bars a form of cultural appropriation?
Tiki bars burst onto the American scene at the end of Prohibition, then nearly vanished in the ’70s and ’80s. Now they’re back with a vengeance, but are they just one more instance of cultural appropriation? @Gastropodcast reports: https://t.co/hCa08eSGWE
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) October 26, 2019
Sarah Miller-Davenport, the author of Gateway State: Hawaii and the Cultural Transformation of American Empire, describes how Polynesian-style bars and restaurants allowed mid-century, middle-class white Americans to feel cosmopolitan and adventurous, in part by playing on racist stereotypes of Polynesian sexuality. These stereotypes are part of the reason Kalewa Correa, the Hawaii and Pacific America curator at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, says tiki bars make him, a native Hawaiian, uncomfortable …
Follow up question: who gives a shit?
— Person The Guy (@Colonel95) October 26, 2019
Just sthu. ?
— catie lord (@tudsgrl) October 26, 2019
Now do Irish pubs, scolds.
— NancyBellicec (@Nancy_Bellicec) October 26, 2019
Mexican restaurants
— Lulu Lapin (@Lulu_Lapin) October 26, 2019
Now do Benihana's.
— Ben (@AndStrats) October 26, 2019
Get bent you joyless fucks
— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) October 26, 2019
It’s a bar. Get out more. Have a cocktail and loosen the fuck up.
— Lulu Lapin (@Lulu_Lapin) October 26, 2019
Wait until you hear what @ewarren did!
— Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) October 26, 2019
Give it a rest.
— Peasant H (@c_gt1982) October 26, 2019
Recommended
Tiki is a culture now? pic.twitter.com/f3sTyW5HhT
— Andy Martin (@Dollarlogic) October 26, 2019
This whine-by-numbers is easy to dispose of: Tiki bars 'appropriate' port and shipping culture, which is intrinsically transcultural and syncretic. The cultures were pre-appropriated and blended long before the Mai Tai. You can't unmix the cocktail.
— St. Rev ☯️?? (@St_Rev) October 26, 2019
Not only are tiki bars cool, this kind of thinking ensures they’ll be SJW-free environments too. Win-win!
— Dudley Morris (@Dudley_Morris) October 26, 2019
"just one more instance"
They know they are on a mission to sour all human existence. They think if they can get people to feel badly enough they can harness those people.
— Caesar Pounce ?️ (@caeser_pounce) October 26, 2019
Fun is problematic
— jonathan robert ⏳ (@the_jon_a_thon) October 26, 2019
"Cultural Appropriation" is not a thing. I hope we all adopt the beautiful parts of each others cultures, that is how society advances and ideas get shared. There are no rules when it comes to learning and embracing parts of global culture other than not to be exploitative
— Joshua Collins (@InvisiblesMuros) October 26, 2019
No one owns a culture.
— InTheRightColumn (@TheRightColumn) October 26, 2019
You're a hollowed coconut filled with White Claw.
— Anthony Bialy (@AnthonyBialy) October 26, 2019
America is so great that you have to report on this crap… amazing.
— ?Charles Mulligan? (@CharlesMullig15) October 26, 2019
The left ruins everything.
— American (Russian Asset) Idiot (@Jray6209) October 26, 2019
Being against cultural sharing/mixing/appreciation is just a form of segregation. It’s regressive, and it only seems to be an issue when white people do it.
— Tsukkomi (@ljenkins314) October 26, 2019
I'm just here for the ratio. pic.twitter.com/fyYxtDQHkU
— Just L (aka Belaglik the Biddy) (@JustLittleOldL) October 26, 2019
And this is where we are. Good lord
— ((Jen Quist)) (@QuistJennifer) October 26, 2019
This is a parody account right?
— Bill Aquilante (@WAquilante) October 26, 2019
Saying "cultural appropriation" is the best way to make sure nobody takes you seriously and annoy them at the same time.
— Longjon859 (@Longjon859) October 26, 2019
Guys, guys, guys….you really had a cool opportunity for a neat little backstory on the Tiki Bar, but then you went ……there. pic.twitter.com/y4LInF6l02
— Big Enos Burdette (@therealbaber) October 26, 2019
Related:
University professor publishes paper in academic journal examining racism and cultural appropriation in… SpongeBob Squarepants cartoons https://t.co/tSW5OnLSJY
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 12, 2019
Join the conversation as a VIP Member