By Austin Woolman
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Hofstra will host the first Africa Meets Japan fashion show on Wednesday, April 27. The show, as the name suggests, will feature an array of outfits that are inspired by African and Japanese culture.
The show was put together solely by senior Janashia Booker, who was greatly influenced by her culture growing up.
“My black culture has influenced me with everything that I do. It’s how I think, it’s how I interact, everything,” Booker said.
Despite her deep cultural influences, it’s hard for Booker to pick a particular role model because she is still learning about her background to this day.
“I’m still trying to understand black culture because there really isn’t one,” she said. “Being black isn’t really monolithic; it’s actually very vast. It encompasses a lot. You could be Caribbean, Creole, African, American, etc., and still be black.”
The Syracuse native also explained that her background, along with her infatuation with Japanese culture, inspired her to mesh the two cultures for a night of fun and fashion.
“This fashion show is going to show us how we are all artists,” Booker said. “It’s going to show how we use the way we dress as a way of communicating a story.”
However, the show will also serve as an education tool for those who attend. One of the primary goals of the Africa Meets Japan Fashion Show is to spread awareness of culture appropriation.
“In a nutshell, culture appropriation is taking aspects of different cultures and exploiting it. People from other countries will strip the meaning of certain clothing and use it as a trend, which disrespects the culture it came from. One who does this does not pay proper homage to its culture,” Booker said.
Booker went on to explain that culture appropriation also requires economic and political privilege. Usually, people or companies with that kind of power are the ones who take ideas or materials from less privileged cultures, claim it for themselves and decide if it’s trendy. Booker also believes this problem is why people don’t give Africa enough credit in regards to influence.
“A lot of people do not like to pay homage to Africa. Africa has influenced places in a plethora of ways, but people refuse to recognize that,” she said.
Booker hopes that her fashion show will do just that. The free show will begin at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room.