Not Just a Cap: Appropriation of Pakistan’s Mountain Cultures
This morning show clip on Facebook tested the patience of many from Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Chitral, as evident from the comments section, where netizens are critical of the misrepresentation of their culture, and rightfully so.
Morning shows in Pakistan are notorious for promoting obscure ideas around beauty standards and health. And now they are treading into the territory of cultural appropriation.
For many in Pakistan, the idea of cultural appropriation might be elusive. Appropriation of culture occurs when a dominant group of people takes a certain custom, practice, or attire of a culture — usually a minority one — and depicts it in an inappropriate, erroneous, and ill-informed manner.
In the said morning show episode, two female hosts had a model seated in a black garb with sprinkles of embroidery at the hem, a headgear that resembled the Kalasha Kupas, and hair fashioned in numerous braids.
The show’s concept was preparing a “cultural bride” of Gilgit-Baltistan. As someone who is from Gilgit and Chitral through maternal and paternal linkages, respectively, this scene presented itself as a mockery of my culture and heritage. Neither the attire nor the person representing the culture was from GB or Chitral.
Cultural appropriation was taking place at varying levels at the expense of entertainment. Not only was the “cultural bride” wearing a misinterpreted version of a Kalasha woman’s attire and being called a Gilgit-Baltistan bride — two distinct cultures from different geographic regions — the hosts of the show had also donned the pakol (also called kapol by some) on their heads in a clumsy way. Women of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral do not wear the pakol. It is a hat that men wear while the women wear an embroidered cap called khoi in Khowar and phartsin in Burushaski.
Growing up, I observed my grandparents diligently care for their caps and came to strongly admire them as a sign of respect. My maternal grandmother sewed her own phartsin with exquisite embroidery and had special ones to wear at home and outside. My grandfather dedicated significant hours to washing and rolling up his pakol to ensure the woolen texture and stiffness of the cap remained intact. These caps represent the heritage of our ancestors and are worn with great respect. The indifference of a television host to the historical and cultural significance of our symbols is nothing short of ignorance.
I have witnessed the appropriation of the pakol, Kalasha attire, and dance on multiple occasions. Cultural shows on our national television often show performers, who are not Kalasha, wearing wrongly interpreted Kalasha women’s dresses and performing their dances. It is evident from seeing the way the performers carry the dress and perform the dance that they are far removed from the people they were hired to represent.
As for the pakol, in a tweet from EU Pakistan, ambassador Riina Kionka was shown wearing the pakol and sipping karak chai at a dhaba before she made her way to the Dosti Truck. What is missed and entirely misunderstood in this message is that Pakistani women do not conquer truck dhabas in such a manner, nor do women wear the pakol.
The misinterpretation of cultural cues and attire is tied to the lack of knowledge about these customs. People in Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral are a minuscule group with a breadth of cross-cutting cultural heritage. Any publicly presented concepts tied to any culture should be thoroughly researched, understood, and then presented.
The lack of awareness and disregard to pay heed to a culture and its customs was evident in how the make-up artist on the morning show placed herself in this “cultural” segment.
She declared, “Mein tau khud Punjab se hoon lekin mein koshih karoon gi ke un ke culture of bohot ache se represent karoon,” [I am from Punjab, but I will try my best to represent their culture] acknowledging her sense of alienation and her intention of doing a ‘guesswork’ of representation of a culture.
This quote is a perfect manifestation of cultural appropriation and the unfortunate reality of cultural ignorance in our society.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), the government body that regulates private electronic media, needs to take notice of cultural misrepresentation in Pakistani media and should include its regulation in its mandate.
I’m hoping that there will be a greater awareness of minority cultures because weakening their representations through incorrect interpretation can only widen the gap of cultural ignorance. As a country, we take pride in our diverse cultures and that calls for respecting the authenticity and true representation of these cultures.
