Real Housewives Of Dubai Star Sara Al Madani Accused Of Appropriating Jamaican Culture
Real Housewives of Dubai star Sara Al Madani has jumped to her own defense following allegations of cultural appropriation after she wore an Afro wig to Jamaican-born Lesa Milan’s Dancehall-themed party.
The episode, which aired on Wednesday, sees the stars dressing up in their best interpretation of Dancehall fashion to attend their Jamaican co-star’s soirée.
Al Madani donned a yellow, green and striped mesh dress—reminiscent of the Rastafarian cultures and paired it with gold accessories and the wig. However, she has been labeled as a culture vulture.
According to Page Six, the reality TV star has sought to explain that she only set out to pay homage to the Jamaican culture. She further said Afros are a common fixture in her Emirati culture.
“I was worried about the look because some people might not accept it because of culture. But the thing is, the Afro exists in my culture,” she told the magazine.
“There are black people in my culture, there are Emiratis that have Afros and we have people of color. So for us, in the United Arab Emirates, it is very normal. But I was worried about other people around the world looking at it in a different way.”
She further noted that she is well traveled and is a fan of amalgamating her different experiences to have a diversified life. “I feel like every time I travel and experience a new culture, I find a piece of my soul. So … I loved it. I just loved the look, going for that,” she says. “I had so much fun. I love to dance,” she said.
Lesa Milan, who is a former Miss Jamaica World contestant, shared some photos from the party. In her caption, she thanked Ding Dong, Safaree and others for clearing their music for the episode and noted that she was excited for the premiere “because it pays tribute to my Caribbean culture and to dancehall music.”
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During a confessional on the episode, Milan endorsed Al Madani’s fit, and warned others against accusing her of cultural appropriation.
“I’m actually really impressed. Everybody looks insanely good,” she said. “Sara, with her big Afro, and try nobody come with the cultural appropriation, OK?”
This, however, didn’t sit well with one columnist at Vulture, who slammed the wearing of an Afro wig by someone who isn’t, in the slightest, of African descent. The columnist, Shamira Ibrahim, also scolded Milan for her ‘unacceptable’ defense of the outfit.
“Yes, it is true that the Jamaican motto adopted after independence is “out of many, one people”; it is also correct that there are Arabs with afro-textured hair, particularly Afro-Arabs and Black Arabs, who can exist anywhere from Palestine to southern tip of the Swahili coast, where my people live. But Sara is neither Afro-Arabian nor does she have Afro-textured hair, nor was her wig meant to impersonate anyone other than a Black Jamaican,” she wrote.
“ As Lesa pointed out, there are many ethnicities in Jamaica, including a significant population of those of Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Arab descent. There was no need for her to wear a wig; she could have been a Jamaican looking just like herself. Her justification falls apart even further when she praises her father-in-law’s Party City dreadlock-cap headpiece; I think anyone with a basic understand of colonial history (or who saw that photo of Adele at Notting Hill carnival) should know that there are plenty of white people in Jamaica who actively interact with the Jamaican diaspora,” Ibrahim added.
As the eleventh city in the franchise, the Real Housewives of Dubai highlights a group of women navigating their relationships, careers, and supremely lavish and ultra-wealthy lifestyles in the United Arab Emirates.