More than a whitewashed trend – Trinitonian

Aesthetics have selectively separated culture from pop trends

Growing up as a person of color in a predominantly white environment, especially when you are not practicing Christianity, is to grow up doubting yourself. As early as elementary school, I remember being told that my religion, Hinduism, was wrong, that my food was weird and, on one occasion, that I would go to hell because I didn’t believe to Christianity. I didn’t want to go to the temple, I didn’t want to take my mother’s Indian food to school, and I didn’t want to be associated in any way with this culture that made me “other”.

It’s something I had to grow from, learning to surround myself with people who wouldn’t criticize me or make me doubt things that were fundamentally me. It took me years to see Hinduism for what it is, rather than this thing that I’m ashamed of, that’s why it’s so strange to see these same people who rejected my religion and spirituality like nonsense to invest so much in astrology.

Astrology is just the last in the list of South Asian traditions that have recently become popular in America. With chai milk tea, golden milk, and other Ayurvedic medicines, astrology has shifted from an element strongly associated with South Asian identity and culture to a trend with white women in the lead. White women can claim to be spiritual without much reaction, while people of color in white backgrounds continue to feel estranged from their religion. People want aesthetics without actually understanding the culture around astrology or the issues rooted in it. They want to talk about sun signs and astronomical signs and judge people based on their chart without thinking about the spiritual significance that it all has in so many non-Abrahamic religions.

Then when people say “astrology is stupid” or “can’t believe anyone thinks it’s real” it disguises an attack on the cultures and religions that have been rejected in America since the colonizers set foot on the land as a personal preference over popular culture. People can dismiss astrology by claiming that it is unscientific and unreasonable, and they simply cannot believe it when it is “harmful pseudoscience” without understanding that these beliefs are the same as those used to reject Hindu and indigenous spiritual traditions. The same beliefs that made me grow up doubting my religion and my culture.

This leads the white women who popularized astrology to take the criticism and claim that it simply stems from misogyny and therefore practicing astrology is feminist. Viewing criticism of astrology as simply anti-feminist is a prime example of white feminism, where the aspect of the problem affecting communities of color is ignored in favor of an easy approach that raises only a small penny. -section of white and wealthy women. Criticism of astrology is not only misogynistic, it also comes from a sense of white / Christian supremacy that never seems to go away in the United States. Stripping astrology of South Asian identity also allows statements that describe Hinduism and other non-Abrahamic religions as “primitive” to go almost unnoticed.

The same can be said for things like turmeric milk (popularized as golden milk) and yoga. These methods that have been used for thousands of years are now part of the mental health gentrification wave, and because they are so popular, they are also the subject of much criticism. Valid criticisms of ignoring scientific medicine for the benefit of a billion dollar industry are compounded by the racist ridicule of a religion and culture that has existed for centuries. It is possible to criticize the way Ayurvedic medicine and astrology are capitalized without claiming that Hinduism is bogus, and yet so few seem to do so.

Of course, none of this is to say that everyone should stop engaging in astrology. It’s something interesting and fun to explore, and it’s always nice to see aspects of South Asian culture take hold in America. As they become popular, things like yoga, astrology, and other spiritual practices are expected to become more accessible across the country. This could make not only different groups of people to learn about the benefits of yoga and golden milk, but also Hindu children growing up in America to feel more comfortable in their culture, but they seem to only spread in elite circles. Yoga in particular has become a panacea for your problems (but only if you have the money to give up the classes and the equipment).

In the end, kids feel even more disconnected from their culture as the most attractive aspects have been taken away from them and turned into something white girls can turn into an aesthetic. Acknowledging the origin of these practices would be very helpful: it would help to understand why claiming only the aesthetic aspects of a culture can be so damaging, and why criticizing astrology so ruthlessly is not necessarily a personal preference. A little more appreciation and a little less gentrification would go a long way in combating the damage caused by Hinduism whitewashing.