The Internet is a strange place. It's the origin of countless pop culture phenomena - GIFs, memes, mash-ups. Perhaps the strangest example as of late is the spawn of Harlem Shake videos, a series of dances to a heavy bass instrumental track produced by Baauer.
Catchy as it is, that Harlem Shake fad isn't actually the Harlem Shake. It has nothing to do with the rich tradition of dance and the arts in Harlem dating back to 1981. It bears no connection with the Ethiopian dance called the Eskita, from which the first Harlem Shake is derived. The emergence of the "new" Harlem Shake is a classic example of white cultural appropriation - the divorcing of certain cultural elements from their original history and meaning.
I recently read an editorial in Indiana University's student newspaper, The Indiana Daily Student. The article contested that "The Harlem Shake is not racist and should not be viewed as a misrepresentation of Harlem culture." I think that such a claim misses the larger picture.
As the editorial states, this is an issue of cultural appropriation, which means something that one particular race, creed or community identifies with being adopted and transformed in some way by another group. While I agree that cultural appropriation is the big issue here, I cannot agree that the Harlem Shake meme is not racist. The Harlem Shake meme misrepresents and undermines a culture by adopting the name of something well-established to a group while simultaneously denying that objects' identity and origin.
This phenomenon is frequently linked to white westerners, and rightly so. Rock and roll was originally a black art form that came out of the blues era. Bandmasters like Louis Jordan and Count Basie held wide-spread fame on both black and white pop charts. Then, a record producer put a white man on stage that produced the same sound and suddenly rock and roll was born (I'm talking to you, Elvis). This is obviously a distillation, but the point remains the same: cultural appropriation is not an archaic idea.
How does this affect our Harlem Shake? Well, the real Harlem Shake is a dance that originated in Harlem in the early 80's. The editorial says that "We must consider the Harlem Shake controversy as part of a larger trial against the white co-option of hip-hop, rock 'n' roll...Michael Jackson and other things that began as solely black." My biggest issue with this argument is that the Harlem Shake meme makes no mention of or homage to the original Harlem Shake - it merely shows a bunch of people dancing like idiots.
The editorial seems to take a classic Anglo response to claims of racism: "We can't do anything that isn't 'white' now?!" That also misses the point. Talk to anyone from Harlem. If you aren't from Harlem, then you can't know Harlem. By "humping air" (as one video puts it) and calling it the Harlem Shake, social clout and mainstream attention are given to an art that really isn't what it claims to be. Whether or not people view the meme and think "Wow, people from Harlem must be weird" is entirely unimportant. The fact is that by using the name "Harlem Shake" - a name that already has meaning - and substituting a new absurd dance, the real Harlem Shake is marred both in the act itself and through its historical context.
For a decent portion of Harlem citizens and other individuals, the Harlem Shake is another example of cultural appropriation by people blind to bigger issues. At its core, the Harlem Shake meme is cultural plagiarism. It is fine when a white writer draws inspiration from Maya Angelou. However, it is something entirely different for that writer to call their first book I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. The Harlem Shake meme shows ignorance, an ignorance that demeans an entire section of American cultural heritage and those who identify with it.
- Shapiro is a senior from Southport, Ind. majoring in English literature.