I am confused as to why it is good or bad or neither. Genuinely confused. Please and thank you.
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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Cultural appropriation is an imaginary issue made up by people with nothing better to do than create divisive issues when there aren’t any.
It’s one of those concepts that’s equally the action it’s describing, but also the way it’s perceived by the view.
It’s it’s core it’s when a person affects a culture that isn’t their own, for example a white person wearing a Japanese Kimono or throws a party to celebrate Diwali. Now there are tons of reasons that we should be celebrating and encouraging our various cultures and traditions that are great and wholesome things.
BUT from a very specific angle, you could look it as people of White European heritage, who have “taken everything else” from the various peoples of the world *taking the last thing left -* their cultural identity. And if you view it from this angle, you can see why this would be a very offensive and rage-inducing.
So yeah, I think it’s one of those things that’s not describing the act itself, but how it’s interpreted by the view.
It’s when a “member” of one culture uses things that are considered “signature” characteristics of another culture.
It seems to me that the idea that there are signature characteristics of certain cultures is inherently racist and that those characteristics being shared in a more blended culture should be good but some cultures don’t like it. Seems like kind of a “have your cake and eat it too” kind of thing but it happens.
Disclaimer: different people mean different things by cultural appropriation, and like all big terms it encompasses many meanings. (See, for example, any -ism.)
That said, the gist is that there are features of certain human cultures (another vague word) that are identified with such cultures and are, in some sense, “theirs,” like a patent or copyright. Think of a food item: maybe tacos, or sushi, or haggis. Most people (in the US anyway) associate tacos with Mexican culture, sushi with Japan (or east Asia – not all cultural groups agree on what’s “theirs,” either), and haggis with Scotland.
Appropriation is a legal term that generally means “taking for yourself.” Cultural appopriation, then, under this theory, happens when members who are not from that culture engage in that cultural practice. So, if white ladies try to make tacos in Portland (real case), people who believe that the idea of tacos “belongs” to Mexicans, would get upset that someone not from the culture is trying to benefit or profit from the products of that culture. If you think of people primarily as members of groups, this makes sense: Mexicans, as a group, created this cultural good; its profits should accrue to Mexicans as a group; the rest of us should settle for getting to eat delicious tacos.
This applies to music, where one might object to a white musician becoming a celebrity making music that originated in the black American community, etc.
It gets more complicated, and you can fairly accuse people of being inconsistent in their application (as in, more people would get upset at a white person making tacos than a black person making haggis), but I don’t want the conversation on this thread to become even stupider than it’s bound to be.
And now I’m off for tacos.
Engaging with and learning about different cultures is good. Taking elements of culture with a rich history (which often includes a history of oppression, sadly) and making like…. Like learning about Native American history, and spreading awareness we live on stolen land is good, but like, wearing a traditional navajo dress just for the sake of it is bad if you ar enot Navajo.
It’s like… imagine if years later, someone took the likeness of YOU, all your experience, stories, struggles, hopes, and dreams… and essentially reduced it to a halloween costume with NO significance.
The words ‘cultural appropriation’ are generally used to criticize people who borrow parts of other cultures, like haircuts, holidays, outfits, etc.
The idea behind those criticisms is that people borrow from cultures they don’t care about or respect, making the act insensitive or stereotypical.
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My personal opinion: cultural appropriation is not a serious problem, and very few people treat it as such. There are some valid complaints: for example US citizens wearing Native American headdresses. It’s a bit insensitive, since the US was built on land stolen from the Natives and I can see how a Native American could be offended by it.
That being said, most accusations of cultural appropriation seem to come from people looking to be upset over nothing. The vast majority of the time people borrow the parts of others’ cultures that they really like and respect, like white people wearing dreadlocks or painting their faces Día de Muertos style.
Everyone is confused about it. *Cultural appropriation* is the idea that people shouldn’t use things of different cultures as entertainment or profit. I’m guessing it started with Americans who discovered they were some low percentage of a culture and decided they would identify solely as that culture. I.e. me saying I’m Native American because I have 1% Native American blood. Then using whatever tribe’s it came from fashion and such for attention.
There’s lots of different thoughts regarding this, like “white person with dredlocks is cultural appropriation” which I’m not in the camp of.
To me, cultural appropriation is when someone of one race or culture uses parts of another culture in order to further themselves. Think Elvis stealing rock music from black people or Miley Cyrus adopting hip hop aesthetic in order to shift her career from Disney girl to her own thing. Nobody is actually getting upset about a white person wearing a kimono or having dreds and if they are, they’re being silly. Instead, keep an eye out for things like politicians wearing cultural garb from other cultures in order to appeal to voters instead of in actual appreciation of another culture, for that is far more sinister.
Typically it becomes problematic when someone takes important/serious cultural symbols, traits, practices etc and then adopted a veneer of them without understanding or having an actual connection to the underlying cultural significance of the culture they’re dressing up in.
If someone is playing dress up with a symbol/dress/etc that’s important to another group but can’t explain the significance behind the thing they’re adopting or why it’s relevant to them (which is a frequent occurrence) then they’re reducing these things to being mere logos, or “cool” images, that are then used devoid of any context.
The process also frequently ends up turning the original imagery, etc into a cartoonish fetishized version of the original stripped of any real meaning.
Some people aren’t thrilled about this being done to their important cultural symbols.
OTOH, some people and cultures generally DGAF, especially depending on exactly what is being copied.
Imagine if you were part of a group of people who used special symbols/tatoos for your dead relatives, and some random on the internet saw it on you and decides to use it as a logo for their prank channel or as a fashion statement because it looked cool. That’s culture appropriation.
It’s hard to understand this from the perspective of a Westerner especially Americans, since they’re really open about anything. They even use their flags as beach towels or bikinis, when their laws specifically prohibits such usage.
I actually think this shouldn’t exist given how interconnected we’ve become and how it’s an opportunity to actually spread your culture for free, but I also realize many tend to wear or do things for fun, not knowing what that activity or cloth symbolized.
It’s all fun and games and no one would really mind like 9.5/10 times, but it’s when the people start disrespecting your national or cultural threads/symbols is where the water gets murky.
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