In fashion, it's a designer's job to create a world from the ground up season after season. Sometimes that means seeking inspiration from pre-existing ones, but all too often this hunt for a new muse leads to appropriating from other cultures. This past fashion month, Dsquared2's twin designers Dean and Dan Caten caught flack for [...]
Facebook requires its users to use a profile name that’s the same as the name they use in real life, but some indigenous people say the social network is rejecting their real names because they don’t conform to its standards. Earlier this month, Dana Lone Hill, a member of the Lakota people living [...]
The genetic sequencing company 23andMe recently tapped into its vast bank of data to release a study on genetic origins, producing the biggest genetic profile of the United States ever conducted—big, but nowhere near complete. Out of more than 160,000 genomes, only 3 percent of 23andMe customers who authorized their data for the study were [...]
The clothing company Ralph Lauren released an online advertisement for its RRL line last month that drew scathing criticism from Native Americans. The ad’s imagery harked back to the Old West, with henley jerseys and rustic jeans displayed in faded sepia tones. And while one page touted bandanas and “Western-style” shirts, the opposite page showed [...]