{"id":8702,"date":"2018-03-04T12:32:35","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T18:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=8702"},"modified":"2018-03-05T09:39:40","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T15:39:40","slug":"boy-scouts-no-win-ness-anti-cultural-appropriationism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/03\/boy-scouts-no-win-ness-anti-cultural-appropriationism.html","title":{"rendered":"The Boy Scouts and the no-win-ness of anti-cultural appropriationism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

The lawyers at the Boy Scouts of America are working over time.<\/p>\n

First, as a Cub\u00a0Scout committee chair, I got a set of posters in the mail, along with the instruction to display these at every meeting.\u00a0 They included a Code of Conduct, an anti-bullying message, and a poster telling parents that if they ever observed leaders failing to follow the two-deep leadership rules, there is a corporate helpline to call, instead of, oh, say, actually talking to the leaders themselves.\u00a0 Which seems to be nothing other than making sure that they had all their ducks in a row if they are sued as a national organization for failing to take all possible precautions against any molestation that might someday occur.<\/p>\n

Then my husband, in his role as Scoutmaster, was notified of the new Boy Scout policy<\/a> that, in the case of Scout events lasting for more than 72 hours, all adults on the event are required to have \u201cyouth protection training\u201d and background checks.\u00a0 Which is great in theory \u2014 it\u2019s a one-hour online class and some forms to fill out \u2014 but will make it harder for troops which are struggling to get enough volunteers, say, for summer camp, as it is, especially since those adults who do volunteer, are typically volunteers at multiple groups, and have to meet a different set of \u201cyouth protection\u201d requirements for each.<\/p>\n

Now, my son, as a member of the Order of the Arrow, which, among other things, conducts the crossover ceremonies for boys moving up from Webelos to Boy Scouts, just learned that they will no longer be able to dress in the Indian-styled costumes which were a part of the event, during which they recite a story of a young Indian brave who wants to achieve great things.\u00a0 To be sure, the information thus far was solely about the costuming for the ceremony, but the \u201canti-cultural appropriation\u201d principle behind it would suggest that they may ultimately also require jettisoning the ceremony itself, in which the boys, high school-aged Boy Scouts, play the roles of Indians.<\/p>\n

This is, of course, in keeping with the times.\u00a0 After all, the Indian Guides and Princesses<\/a> were obliged to jettison the \u201cIndian\u201d connections some time ago, though some local groups reconstituted themselves outside of the auspices of the YMCA, such as the Algonquin Longhouse<\/a> locally.<\/p>\n

But the crossover ceremony, the highlight of the Blue and Gold Dinner in February \u2014 at least at a pack such as our small pack which can\u2019t afford to pay for some sort of outside entertainment such as a magician that perhaps larger packs might do \u2014 won\u2019t be easily replaced.\u00a0 After all, without a narrative, without storytelling, you\u2019re not left with much else beyond handing over a plaque.\u00a0 Years that either the scheduling didn\u2019t work out and we had no Order of the Arrow scouts present, or in which they didn\u2019t have their costumes, led to boys and parents feeling that the dinner wasn\u2019t anything special.<\/p>\n

And narratives such as this work best when they\u2019re drawn from some sort of tradition.\u00a0 If Native American traditions are foreclosed to us, as \u201cappropriation,\u201d then what traditions can we draw from?\u00a0 Any such minority culture would produce the same claim.\u00a0 And drawing from a majority culture \u2014 say, some story of bravery and honor drawn from Greek mythology or the Vikings or, say, Beowulf, or invented but told in that style \u2014 would no doubt produce howls that minority children cannot possibly be expected to sit through such a recitation that has nothing to do with them, and wounds them because it comes from the oppressor\u2019s culture.\u00a0 Even a blandly nonspecific narrative of \u201cyoung boy does a brave deed\u201d would still be subject to criticism because any story requires being situated in some time and place.\u00a0 Even the name of the characters in the narrative would betray a cultural identity.\u00a0 Is the hero of the story \u201cJohn\u201d or \u201cJose\u201d?\u00a0 For that matter, given the girls coming into the program next year, would such a narrative require multiple brave children, to add in a \u201cKaitlyn\u201d and a \u201cMaria\u201d as well?<\/p>\n

Now, maybe this\u2019ll be the sort of thing that, a couple years from now, will long be forgotten.\u00a0 Perhaps there are equally great ways of constructing ceremonies, but if we abandon story-telling, then we will have lost a very useful way of giving meaning to these sorts of events, and will be abandoning something of what it means to have a culture.<\/p>\n

ADDED:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got it!\u00a0 The solution is this:\u00a0 a licensing agreement with Disney.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t use any folktales, real or invented, from any earthly culture, let\u2019s just use a story from another world.\u00a0 A tale of youngling Jedi-in-training, being tested and found ready, perhaps, or Asgardian children seeking to be heroes.\u00a0 Disney gets to market to its customer base, the BSA gets to stay \u201crelevant,\u201d and a whole new market for cosplay opens up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top image:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AOA_Arrow_of_Light.jpg; By GraceFamily [CC BY 2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.\u00a0 No, I don\u2019t know what the boy at the center bottom is doing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lawyers at the Boy Scouts of America are working over time. First, as a Cub\u00a0Scout committee chair, I got a set of posters in the mail, along with the instruction to display these at every meeting.\u00a0 They included a Code of Conduct, an anti-bullying message, and a poster telling parents that if they ever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[490,145],"class_list":["post-8702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boy-scouts","tag-cultural-appropriation"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Boy Scouts and the no-win-ness of anti-cultural appropriationism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The lawyers at the Boy Scouts of America are working over time. 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