What is cultural appropriation and is it important to pay attention to it?

Photo by Andre Bentz on Unsplash

Everybody talks about cultural appropriation. And it is everywhere and in everything - braids, dreadlocks, fashion, language, even food... Cultural appropriation is when you adopt certain elements from one culture without the consent of the people belonging to it. Many celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and more have been accused of cultural appropriation. The braids Kim has or the way Taylor and Katy dress up sometimes for theirs videos, Bruno's undefined music style are all for some people examples of cultural appropriation.

What else could be defined as cultural appropriation? When you see a European girl dressed up like a Geisha this might be considered as cultural appropriation. When you go to a Halloween party and you see an American gringo with a sombrero this might also be considered as cultural appropriation. When you eat tandoori chicken in France this could be again cultural appropriation. Or is it actually? This is a very controversial topic and it is quite difficult sometimes to give a correct answer to it. For some people something could be cultural appropriation, for others not.

If some of the examples above look quite accurate and could be really related to “cultural appropriation”, others are, honestly, pretty ridiculous. Do your dreadlocks or braids mean that you stole something form another culture? If I want to eat Chinese food in France is this a bad thing? If I am a white girl, but I love singing jazz, is this wrong? Is wearing a sari by a European girl an insult for the Indian culture?

What is actually cultural appropriation and where is the line between appropriation and appreciation? Aren't we supposed to learn new things from different cultures and people and enrich our visions of life and the world by incorporating some of them in our own lifestyles? Isn't it why traveling is so important? What is the point in knowing a new culture if we are not allowed to take anything from it for ourselves and share it with the others?

According to the Oxford dictionary, cultural appropriation is “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society”. The Cambridge dictionary gives us a slightly different definition. This is “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture”.

So, from the Oxford definition we can easily see that we could talk about cultural appropriation when a person form a dominant culture takes something from a culture which, in most of the cases, is or was suppressed by the first one. So, here we have the concept of colonization and exploitation. Does this mean that if a person from an oppressed culture takes something from another oppressed culture it is all good? What about the other way around – when a person from an oppressed culture takes something from the western culture? Like Mark Jacobs said when he was talking about his models' dreadlocks “Funny how you don't criticize women of color for straightening their hair”. Shortly after that, he apologized.

Then, we talk about understanding and respect, in the Cambridge definition, which means that it is not only about taking, borrowing or adopting something from another culture, but it is also about the intentions and the understanding that we have. An example to that is when Gucci models did their runaway walk wearing turbans on theirs heads although they were all white westerns completely not related to the Muslim culture. “A turban is a symbol of faith and not a fashion accessory” said people after the show. They found the lack of understanding offensive and said it was cultural appropriation.

So where is actually the problem?

The problem lies in the lack of understanding, respect and mutual interchange of cultures. What is incredible about different cultures, no matter if we talk about dominant or oppressed ones, is the possible cultural exchange. This is what makes traveling, living abroad, meeting new people so amazingly great (check these articles : The lessons I learned form traveling and living abroad. Part 1 and Part 2). You see something new, you learn, you expand your vision of the world, you see life from a different perspective. I don't think that there is something wrong in western women wearing Indian dresses, for example, if they love the Indian culture, if they actually know what they wear, if they know the meaning behind it, what this dress means for the people who wear it etc. However, if you want to go to a Halloween party dressed up like an Indian, this is offensive even if your intentions are not bad or against the Indian culture. The thing that is offensive is that for you dressing up like an Indian or let's say a native American is funny. This is racist even if you don't really realize it at the moment, but it is.

I know that some people may say that they actually don't have bad intentions when they dress up like a native American and I completely believe them, but we should ask ourselves the question : do we need to be rude to be racist? Do we necessarily have to say something bad or do something bad to insult someone? We don't. But our behavior and lack of knowledge and respect for these people and culture are insulting and offensive. Our ignorance is offensive!

But what is culture actually?

These are beliefs, ideas, traditions, speech, a lifestyle and material objects associated with a group of people.

The thing about cultural appropriation is that we have a dominant dynamic. The dominant culture takes something from the oppressed one without giving any credit, without acknowledging its meaning for the people. So, you take something from a less dominant culture which could be even their national heritage and use it for fun or fashion (for example, Gucci and theirs turbans or Victoria Secret's and their American natives costumes). The culture of the people in these examples is not respected. The two brands earned a significant amount of money without acknowledging at all the source of their “inspiration”. It would have been completely different and not considered as cultural appropriation if they had hired Muslim or native Americans to wear these cloths or designers from these two cultures to create them.

If you think about it, this is another form of exploitation. You take, steal or “borrow” something from a less powerful people and you don't give them any credit for that. You don't acknowledge the origins of the product. This is a pure form of modern plagiarism.

Let's take another example - the Holi festival which is a spring festival celebrated in India and Nepal also known as “the color festival”. According to Wikipedia “The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships. It is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for a good harvest”. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi ) Then we have, The Color Run. This is a run competition where runners are showered with color powder along the run. This concept is completely inspired by the Indian Holi festival, but nowhere on their website this has been mentioned. The owner of The Color Run takes all the credit and doesn't say anything about the Holi festival. This is a true example of cultural appropriation.

What does appropriation mean?

Appropriation is the illegal, unfair or unjust taking of something that actually does not belong to you. For example the owner of The Color Run takes the concept from the Holi festival and he makes a lot of money from that, because let's face it – what makes this race fun and enjoyable are the colors, so actually the success of his business lies completely or mostly on the concept of Holi festival. This is not “borrowing”, this is stealing! Where is the information about the Holi festival? Why doesn't he say explicitly how he got the idea for The Color Run? Where is the cultural exchange? Is there any benefit for the Indian culture from The Color Run? No. Some of the people who participated at The Color Run maybe don't even know about the existence of the Holi festival. Another very important thing is that this festival has a very important cultural and religious context for the Indians, something that is completely not respected in the color race, except maybe the idea that there is no winners... This might be taken by some people as insulting and disrespectful.

What about the people who say that cultural appropriation is actually a good thing?

Some people think that this way their culture becomes more popular and people could know more about it. If Katy Perry wears a Geisha dress, it is true that many other people would like to wear the same one. Maybe some of them will even learn something about its origins and the traditions that come along. When Gucci puts turbans in their collection like a major accessory, probably many people will get interested to know more about theirs origins and why people actually wear them in some countries. However, certainly many people, maybe even too many, will be wearing them only because it is trendy... and this is cultural appropriation because of the lack of knowledge and understanding.

So is it really a question of domination?

Yes and no. It is a question of domination when we talk about big western companies that can take advantage of some existent cultural traditions, ideas and objects from countries which are less powerful and less known and maybe will not even know about the stealing of their national heritage. In this case, the westerns use their power and their “luck” of not being born in a small African tribe, for example, where people don't even go out of their village and unfortunately, don't really know what happens on the other side of the globe. This is a big fat form of modern exploitation!

Now, let's see for example if you buy a T-shirt with some Chinese motives representing a sacred ritual for Chinese people. You don't know about all this, but you love the colors and the model of the T-shirt. You don't have to feel guilty of wearing it. You are not making fun of the culture or taking any credit out of it, you just like the T-shirt. The guilty one in this scenario is the company which created the T-shirt. They took credit of the other culture and didn't give them back anything and not even acknowledge it. So, you don't have to feel bad because you have dreadlocks and you are a white person form Germany. Your intention is not to mock at the people of color or make fun of them (otherwise, why are you going to put something funny on your head or body?!). You just like how it looks and how it feels. That's it. No need to become a maniac about it. However, what you can do is to learn a little more about why people of color actually have dreadlocks. The thing is, and this is why the topic of cultural appropriation is controversial, that some of them don't have a choice. This is the only way they can do their hair. And white western people do have a choice when it comes to theirs hair styles. They have many, even too many. Also, for some people dreadlocks can have a very strong religious and spiritual meaning.

So, finally, the real question is : what are your intentions?

Are you really genuinely interested in this thing or you just like the superficial effects of it (like how it looks like, how it feels like, how much money you can make out of it, how popular it is at the moment etc.)? Was it made by people from the culture of origin? What does it mean to them (is it a sacred object, a spiritual or a religious practice, a national heritage)? How respectful is this for the culture (do you use it in an appropriate way according to the culture of origin)? What is your intention (are you making fun of it or you really like and appreciate it)?

If you genuinely like and appreciate something, you would be probably also interested in learning something more about it.

So it is all also a question of education!

We need to be more educated about what surrounds us. Cultural appropriation is a sign of a lack of education. People need to know more about what they wear, what kind of music they listen to, what movies they watch and to question theirs origins. What is the meaning behind what you see? It is great to do yoga because it feels good and you can get fit, but people in India don't do yoga to get fit. It is a sacred spiritual practice for them. Be curious about everything and learn. And when you learn something new, share it with your friends, family, colleagues... with the world. Different cultures exist so we could learn and enrich our lives, our perceptions of the world and of what is around us. There is no fun in taking something without giving something in return. What makes this world so colorful is the diversity of people and cultures we can meet. The goal is the mutual interchange – when you learn something from the others and they also learn something from you. This is a win-win process. And this is how we become better, more open-minded, more tolerant, more understanding and respectful, more empathic. Learning, sharing and exchanging are the best ways to connect to others on a deep level and to show them your love, appreciation and respect. Love, Elena