Cultural appropriation

[DIVINEprividence]

I had a conversation with my daughter. She was concerned about some outfit she wanted to get, which had an African flavor but was worried it would be interpreted as cultural appropriation and a photo may go on social media and she would get savaged by it. Is this what we have come to? There used to be a time when we viewed cultural diversity as a strength precisely because cultures would influence each other. I think of the Kogi truck phenomenon in LA where they combined Korean and Mexican food. I think that is beautiful. I am an old school liberal and I find this situation horrifying and not helping race relations or the cause of cultural diversity at all. Someone please explain this insane bullshit to me. I don’t get it.

[Laelth]

1. I can't explain anything to you.

My advice would be to listen to your daughter. If she’s concerned about something, there’s probably a good reason for her concern. She is the present and the future. You and I are the rapidly-waning past.

-Laelth

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I've always thought of cultural appropriation as where

you act like a particular culture or some aspect of it is yours or you have a right to it - beyond merely adopting things - a style, or some jewelry, or music, or food - because you like it or think it's beautiful. Is it cultural appropriation if, for example, I went around all the time in a sari or a dashiki, since my heritage is mainly Scandinavian and I'm almost as white as Mike Pence, or would I just be making myself look silly? If I wore a sari just because I thought it was beautiful, that might be different from claiming I'm Indian when I'm clearly not, or maybe wearing it to a Halloween party. Using the dress of other cultures as costumes can be problematic. But we shouldn't be dissuaded from admiring and incorporating aspects of other cultures as long as we give them proper attribution and don't claim them as our own; our society is multicultural and it's better and stronger if we acknowledge all contributions from everywhere.

[Lisa0825]

5. Beautifully said.

[LaelthsDaughter]

3. There's Appropriation and then there's Appreciation

It is a fine line between the two in some cases. As long as you know the history of the clothing, the importance and don’t make fun of it, you’re fine.

Be respectful and the sane people will not care. There will always be some people who think that what ever you wear is wrong. If you’re that worried, don’t wear it.

[LAS14]

4. Well said. nt

[StarfishSaver]

6. This

[Blue_true]

7. I am Black. I love Tartan-Blackwatch casual dress shirts and blue-Gingham shirts.

That is what I like because it fits my eye and makes me feel good about my dress. I really don’t care what other people think about that. I have seen young White people that rock hair braids because it fits there faces and hair texture, I don’t view that as cultural appropriation, it is the style those people were comfortable sporting.

Your daughter should buy and wear the clothing that works for her, don’t worry about what other people think. So what if someone photographs her and put it online, if she doesn’t read it, the storm will be just a peddle in a big ocean. She should wear what makes her happy, she will be better off for that. If some of her close friends or coworkers ask, all she need to tell them is she loved that particular piece of clothing and felt it would work well.


Now, if your daughter goes around trying to act Black, that is a horse of a different color, so to speak. What she should do is earnestly seek to understand Black people that she meet and why they may view the exact same thing differently than she does. And she should always fight for economic and social justice for everyone.

[GulfCoast66]

8. Unless doing in a demeaning or mocking way no big deal.

Cultural aspects are by their very nature transferable. It’s how societies grow and change.

[Oneironaut]

9. I don't think cultural appropriation is necessarily bad.

The example you mentioned is completely benign. I think the real problem here is the constant specter of being shamed on the internet for the littlest of things, if not doing nothing wrong at all.

Harmful cultural appropriation would be something like dressing up in silly Native American costumes that are racist stereotypes. I think the absurd complaints about "cultural appropriation" mostly come from Twitter, and those people have nothing better to do. 99.99% of everyday people don't care.

Eating certain food, wearing certain clothes, wearing your hair a certain way, or how you design your house will never be harmful (minus extreme examples, of course).

[Blue_true]

11. I agree.

Our national culture is a blended culture, and all of us are better off if we take that to heart. The key aspects of life are fairness and optimism, everything else is excess. If we demand fair conduct of every aspect of life in America and we maintain optimism that we will solve the large problem, then our shared future will be better.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. I think we're going through a tough time right now.

People are trying to protect their own cultures because we have a president who is attacking them. But there is some things we can learn from each other. Like the white female student who endeared herself to all of us by saying that the picture of her Georgia hallway that got her suspended was good trouble.

Right now, we need to give each other support in the right way. But, there will be stumbles. And we better be prepared to be forgiving at times, because we'll probably see those stumbles from people in Biden's generation, and thus Biden.

[JI7]

12. There are always "people on the internet" that will criticize things

but as others said as long as it's about appreciation and not meant to ridicule most will be ok with it.

[soryang]

13. it an ad hominem attack

...i don't find the criticism merits any consideration because it's illogical.