Cornrows, Ali Khan, and Culture A couple of months ago we took a cruise on the Disney Cruise Line from Florida. It was the first cruise for any of us so we looked forward to it with great anticipation. The ship set sail from Port Canaveral with stops in the Caribbean islands of St. Maarten and St. Thomas. Our two children, who are only three and two years old, were mesmerized by the sights and sounds of the ship. Unfortunately, my wife was mildly seasick most of the time, even though these cruise liners roll just gently with the ocean swells.
The trip was overall quite interesting, and a good way to travel if you are taking small children on a vacation. At least they are physically confined to a ship. My wife was disappointed that we had to spend so much time shipboard, as the port calls were rather limited. We did go scuba diving twice, which if you have never done before I would highly recommend, especially in the Caribbean.
The islands that we stopped at are now mostly tourist spots with sandy beaches, lots of sun, and a relaxed atmosphere. In previous centuries, they served as sugar plantations for their European owners, with the labor made up of imported black slaves. Their descendents make up the vast majority of the island populations, with the original native inhabitants long since wiped out. On the first island we stopped at, St. Maarten, we took a stroll along the shopping district, and every few feet a woman would ask if my daughter wanted her hair braided. We always passed on the offer, but when we got back on the ship, it was obvious that many other young girls had gotten their parents to indulge them. The ship was full of blond or brown-haired White girls sporting the tight braids known as “cornrows”.
Cornrows were first popularized among CaribbeanBlacks in the 1970’s, and many reggae singers wore them. It was a hairstyle that was suited to the tight curls of African hair. Cornrows then caught on with American Blacks, and became quite popular. And now, middle class white girls, completely removed from the cultural origins of cornrows, were having this done and would be showing off their hair to their classmates when they got home. Twenty years ago, a white girl with cornrows would seem as odd as her mother wearing a sari.
This small incident demonstrated vividly to me how quickly culture changes and absorbs outside influences. One of America’s great strengths is its self-confident willingness to absorb anything it finds useful or valuable or even interesting. Europeans often note that Americans who are White appear to act “Black”, indicating how much of Black culture has been absorbed by White Americans.
This easy absorption of the best of the outside world extends beyond popular culture or style. In the 1980’s the Japanese had developed a set of business practices that gave them a sharp advantage in manufacturing industries. The United States lagged behind, and many predicted that Japan was racing ahead into a permanent advantage. But quite rapidly, Americans went to Japan and learned those techniques (quality circles, just in time inventory management, allying with suppliers, etc.) and brought them into American industry while ignoring Japan’s faults and weaknesses. America spent the 1990’s as an economic juggernaut, while Japan has been flat on its back.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had been a beneficiary of this American, and in fact global, willingness to look beyond one’s own culture. If he had been born 50 years earlier, Ali Khan would have died in obscurity, with his fame restricted to South Asia at best. But with modern recording technology, and his wholehearted embrace by music aficionados in the West, his death made all the world’s newspapers. Singing in an unfamiliar musical style, in a language understood by few in America, and about a subject matter that is foreign to the secular sensibilities of the United States, he still touched a wide audience in this country. Nusrat Fateh was regarded by many music lovers in the West as the greatest singer in the world.
Even Disney is the consummate borrower from abroad. Few of Disney’s major moneymakers do not derive from the fairy tales of Europe and Asia. Think of Snow White or Hercules or Aladdin or Mulan. Mickey Mouse and jazz music are probably the only truly homegrown pieces of American culture.
In a world in which everything seems to be getting mixed-up and melted down, we all have a desire to preserve our culture. But culture is not a trophy that sits on the mantle, unchanging and everlasting. Culture is rather like an old oak tree. It has a complex shape with many branches. New branches are constantly forming as old ones wither and die. The tree itself can withstand the most violent storm, but no single branch is guaranteed to last untouched.
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