The Navajo Debate

Before you get too excited about the products above, let me warn you that this post isn’t all sunshine and butterflies.  While my love of western culture draws me to these so-called “Navajo” pieces, I have found a darker side to the craze.  My attraction to this trend was purely innocent, drawn from a nostalgic love of Pendleton blankets and my time spent living in Colorado. My interest in these items led me to a post about blanket mills on Chelsea Fuss’s blog, {frolic!}, which opened my eyes to another side of the trend.

Ignorantly, it had never even occurred to me that this new “Navajo” fad could be considered controversial. However,  the articles Chelsea links to at the end of her post discuss the appropriation of Native art for the profit of companies like Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie.  They mention that these so-called Navajo pieces don’t even represent the art that is specific to the Navajo Nation and only exacerbate the problem of caucasian Americans viewing all Indians as one country-western movie culture.   If you would like to read more about this, I have linked to some articles below.

And herein lies the debate:  Do you continue buying a product that you love, that you think is beautiful? Do you think it’s disrespectful to purchase Pendleton blankets without knowing their history with the Navajo Nation? Would you still wear this trend after reading these articles?  Where do you draw the line?

More articles on Pendleton/the Navajo trend:

The Strange History of the Indian Trade Blanket, by Julia Felsenthal

An Open Letter to Urban Outfitters on Columbus Day, by Sasha Houston Brown

Linkage: The Feather in your “Native” Cap, by Mimi Thi Nguyen

But Why Can’t I Wear a Hipster Headdress? by Adrienne K.

p.s. At least one of the items pictured above is, in fact, authentically Navajo.  Can you guess which one without clicking the links?