Brownwashing in Representation and Reputation

Photo Credit: Gil Hochberg

What is Brownwashing?

I will be discussing two main types of brownwashing:

1. Actors of color being cast in traditionally White character roles in films or shows

2. Rebranding, covering up, or diverting attention from illicit or immoral activities by establishing partnerships or connections with minority groups and value-based organizations

Sometimes the first definition is also referred to as “blackwashing” (but I think brownwashing is more inclusive) or “colorblind casting”—and I’m not touching that with a ten-foot pole. Basically, there’s no standard term (yet) and I have chosen brownwashing to encompass all these meanings. There is a third definition that involves the environment, but I’ll be pairing that with my greenwashing post later in the year.

Brownwashing and Representation

Various shows and movies like Hamilton, Bridgerton, and Anne Boleyn have cast people of color as traditionally White characters or as people who were White in real life. There’s debate about why this is good or bad.

Some believe this practice increases representation and visibility for minorities who have been marginalized and misrepresented for decades and inspires young people of color. Others believe brownwashing is just as bad as whitewashing and makes the film/show less accurate than the historical event or fictional work it was based on. Ahmad Rashad Arafa argues that brownwashing erases history; for example, Bridgerton’s noble characters of color attempt to distract us from chattel slavery and discrimination.

Personally, I like reimaginings of all kinds. I don’t expect movies or shows based on real events to be 100% accurate anyways, so I don’t see any harm in castings like Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn. If I want to watch something “accurate,” I’ll watch a documentary, and even those are biased. Also, seeing the very fine Regé-Jean Page as a duke would not make me forget the horrific things done to people of color over the past centuries. (Okay fine, I had look him up. I haven’t watched Bridgerton: my streaming is more on a nerdy level.)

Brownwashing in Hasbara

Hasbara roughly translates to “explaining” and is aimed at international audiences: the Israeli government labels it as “public diplomacy,” pro-Israel civil society groups call it “advocacy,” and pro-Palestinian activists and organizations call it “propaganda.” While some of the examples I use may not fall in this category, I classify them as such since they’re trying to portray Israel in a way that isn’t exactly accurate.

One case was when Tufts Friends of Israel placed a prominent Palestinian writer at the forefront of their Israeli Independence Day event without the writer’s knowledge or consent. Needless to say, that did not go down well: Palestinians commemorate this day as the Nakba (lit. “the catastrophe”). Gil Hochberg’s encounter with a university’s Hebrew Liberation Week showcases multiple different types of brownwashing in hasbara.

Photo Credit: Gil Hochberg

There were banners depicting indigenous peoples, like Native Americans, in solidarity with Israel, which is problematic in many ways. I’m not going to get into the debate over whether or not Jewish people are indigenous from 2,000 years ago; though I will say that there are people whose families had been there for centuries were displaced and disallowed to return (read: Palestinians). My research shows that while many have written on the subject of whether or not Jews are indigenous to Israel, many indigenous peoples consider Bedouins and Palestinians the indigenous population. So contrary to the banner Hochberg saw, indigenous peoples tend to partner and show solidarity with pro-Palestinian organizations.

Photo Credit: Gil Hochberg

Hochberg also saw banners showcasing and touting Israel’s diversity in its military ranks and migrant population. This specific banner shows Ethiopians proudly serving in the IDF, yet Ethiopian Jews are faced with discrimination, mistreatment, and police brutality. A Knesset member called African migrants “a cancer” and then apologized but only addressed it to Holocaust survivors, cancer patients, and “anyone who may have been offended.” There was even a case where white police officers threw an Ethiopian soldier to the ground and beat him. The reality on the ground doesn’t match the banners and posts displayed by the IDF and pro-Israel groups.

These misleading depictions remind me of the shift in NFL advertising: from commercials starring almost only White actors to commercials starring mostly characters of color. The NFL has also stepped up advertisement of its philanthropy work, especially for people of color. Don’t get me wrong, these are good things. It just that this reversal in representation comes after the crackdown on players protesting for Black Lives Matter and the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick. It just seems like pandering now.

Final Thoughts

Brownwashing can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the context. As translators, we don’t create the content and its representational issues, but we can advise on problematic elements as we see fit.

Resources

• Whitewashing v. Blackwashing: Structural Racism and Anti-Racist Praxis in Hollywood Cinema

• Blackwashing is a Myth

• Netflix Shows Have a Brownwashing Problem (Guest Blog)

• Forget Pinkwashing, its Brownwashing Time: Self-Orientalizing on the US Campus

• Barefaced Hasbara: Tufts “Friends of Israel” exploit name of Palestinian writer to brownwash the Nakba

• On Yom Ha’atzmaut: A progressive Zionist’s dilemma

• Israeli MK: I Didn't Mean to Shame Holocaust by Calling African Migrants a 'Cancer'

• Offered little hope, African migrants despair of Israel as a refuge

• 'I'm Jewish and black - where do I fit in?'

• The plight of Ethiopian Jews in Israel