Neo-Hoodoo - The New Cultural Appropriation
It happened in the 80s and 90s with Native American culture and the 90s and early years of this decade saw the explosion of so-called Celtic Spirituality, not to mention Northern European traditions. Now it's happening with a tradition unique to America, that of hoodoo. I'm speaking of cultural theft. I came across a post at the Demoniacal blog in which the author, a traditional hoodoo practitioner, discusses a run-in with a Wiccan who wants to create Neo-Hoodoo. Essentially this Wiccan believes hoodoo is a dying tradition and Wiccans should be able to appropriate it and do what they want with it. This isn't a new attitude and certainly not one that is limited to Wiccans. I remember in the 90s when sweat lodges were all the rage. I took part in many but not any put on in a traditional sense that I know of. Eventually, I saw more of racist attitudes by whites as in "natives don't know their own ceremonial history, so why should we listen to those who tell