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Well yes indeed where do the boundaries sit. Some say dreadlocks are now cultural appropriation (hello?) and on the local feminism forum there was a discussion on Day of the Dead parties in the UK, some thought it was not OK, others thought it was.
I think it's the element of commercialisation with 0 understanding/pretending to be part of a group you are not (Hindu dots) and being done by the group in power that can tick people off. But again not everyone may be offended perse... in your case maybe Voodoo adherents are unhappy, maybe not.
Tough call. I'm ok with you dressing up as a Dutch milkmaid if it helps :P
JWestland
@hugo7
Would this be different if it was in the UK?
The logic being here pilgrims and Native Americans aren't part of our own internal history of oppression?
Is there actually any "dressing up" which doesn't fall into cultural appropriation?
To what extent are Trustafarian dreds or a social workers' ethnic clothes/jewelry cultural appropriation?
I find the whole thing really interesting trying to see where the boundaries sit on this.
Just thinking about things I've dressed up as for Halloween or fancy dress... one year I went to Halloween as Baron Samedi - which involves the slightly odd process of blacking-up followed by putting on skull makeup. I did it because I love James Bond films, and thought it would be a bit different. I didn't give a huge amount of thought to Hatian Voodoo.