Cultural appropriation

Cultural appropriation^[1]^[2] is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity.^[3]^[4]^[5] This can be especially controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures.^[6]^[1]^[7]^[8] According to critics of the practice, cultural appropriation differs from acculturation, assimilation, or equal cultural exchange in that this appropriation is a form of colonialism. When cultural elements are copied from a minority culture by members of a dominant culture, and these elements are used outside of their original cultural context – sometimes even against the expressly stated wishes of members of the originating culture – the practice is often received negatively.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]

Not to be confused with Appropriation (art).

Cultural appropriation is considered harmful by various groups and individuals,^[14] including some Indigenous people working for cultural preservation,^[15]^[16] those who advocate for collective intellectual property rights of the originating, minority cultures,^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20] and some of those who have lived or are living under colonial rule.^[1]^[21]^[22]^[20] Cultural appropriation can include exploitation of another culture's religious and cultural traditions, dance steps, fashion, symbols, language, and music.^[23]

Those who see this appropriation as exploitative state that cultural elements are lost or distorted when they are removed from their originating cultural contexts, and that such displays are disrespectful or even a form of desecration.^[9] Cultural elements that may have deep meaning to the original culture may be reduced to "exotic" fashion or toys by those from the dominant culture.^[9]^[10]^[24] Kjerstin Johnson has written that, when this is done, the imitator, "who does not experience that oppression is able to 'play', temporarily, an 'exotic' other, without experiencing any of the daily discriminations faced by other cultures".^[24] The black American academic, musician and journalist Greg Tate argued that appropriation and the "fetishising" of cultures, in fact, alienates those whose culture is being appropriated.^[25]

The concept of cultural appropriation has also been subject to heavy criticism and debate.^[26]^[27]^[28] Critics note that the concept is often misunderstood or misapplied by the general public, and that charges of "cultural appropriation" are at times misapplied to situations such as trying food from a different culture or learning about different cultures.^[29]^[30] Others state that the act of cultural appropriation as it is usually defined does not meaningfully constitute social harm, or the term lacks conceptual coherence.^[31]^[32] Additionally, the term can set arbitrary limits on intellectual freedom, artists' self-expression, reinforce group divisions, or promote a feeling of enmity or grievance rather than of liberation.^[32]^[33]^[34]^[35]^[27]

Academic study[edit]

The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest citation for the phrase was a 1945 essay by Arthur E. Christy which discussed Orientalism.^[39]^[40] The term became wide-spread in the 1980s, in discussions of post-colonial critiques of Western expansionism,^[39]^[41] though the concept of "cultural colonialism" had been explored earlier, such as in "Some General Observations on the Problems of Cultural Colonialism" by Kenneth Coutts‐Smith in 1976.^[41]^[42]

Cultural and racial theorist George Lipsitz has used the term "strategic anti-essentialism" to refer to the calculated use of a cultural form, outside of one's own, to define oneself or one's group. Strategic anti-essentialism can be seen in both minority cultures and majority cultures, and is not confined only to the use of the other. However, Lipsitz argues, when the majority culture attempts to strategically anti-essentialize itself by appropriating a minority culture, it must take great care to recognize the specific socio-historical circumstances and significance of these cultural forms so as not to perpetuate the already existing majority vs. minority unequal power relations.^[43]

The leaders of ancient Israel condemned the adoption of Egyptian and Canaanite practices, especially cutting the hair short or shaving the beard. At the same time, the Old Testament distinguishes the religious of the Hebrews from cultures, such as the Egyptians, where the practice had aesthetic or practical purposes.

circumcision

During the early 16th century, European men imitated the short and beards on rediscovered Ancient Greek and Roman statues. The curled hair favoured by the Regency era dandy Beau Brummel was also inspired by the classical era.

regular haircuts

During the 17th century, began wearing wigs to conceal his baldness. Like many other French fashions, these were quickly appropriated by baroque era courtiers in England and the rest of Europe, to the extent that men often shaved their heads to ensure their wig fitted properly.

Louis XIV

American soldiers during appropriated the Mohawk hairstyle of the Native American tribe of the same name to intimidate their enemies. These were later worn by 1950s jazz musicians like Sonny Rollins, and the 1980s punk subculture.^[93]

World War II

During the , it was popular in the West to get tribal tattoos appropriated from African and Polynesian culture, as well as earlobe piercings known as plugs, famously associated with the Buddha.^[94]

early 2000s

There is debate about non-black people wearing – a hairstyle many associate with African and African diaspora cultures such as Jamaican Rastafari – and whether their doing so is cultural appropriation.^[95] In 2016 a viral video was published of a young black student arguing with a young white student and accusing him of cultural appropriation.^[96] In 2018, white actor Zac Efron was accused of cultural appropriation, when he posted a picture of himself in dreadlocks.^[97]

dreadlocks

Criticism of the concept[edit]

John McWhorter, an African-American professor at Columbia University, criticized the concept in 2014, arguing that cultural borrowing and cross-fertilization is a generally positive thing and is something which is usually done out of admiration, and with no intent to harm the cultures being imitated; he also argued that the specific term "appropriation", which can mean theft, is misleading when applied to something like culture that is not seen by all as a limited resource.^[31]

In 2018, conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg described cultural appropriation as a positive thing and dismissed opposition to it as a product of some people's desire to be offended.^[178]

Kwame Anthony Appiah, ethics columnist for the New York Times, said that the term cultural appropriation incorrectly labels contemptuous behavior as a property crime. According to Appiah, "The key question in the use of symbols or regalia associated with another identity group is not: What are my rights of ownership? Rather it's: Are my actions disrespectful?"^[179]^[180]

In 2016, author Lionel Shriver said that authors from a cultural majority have a right to write in the voice of someone from a cultural minority, attacking the idea that this constitutes cultural appropriation. Referring to a case in which U.S. college students were facing disciplinary action for wearing sombreros to a "tequila party", she said: "The moral of the sombrero scandals is clear: you're not supposed to try on other people's hats. Yet that's what we're paid to do, isn't it? Step into other people's shoes, and try on their hats."^[32]^[181]

Upon winning the 2019 Booker Prize, Bernardine Evaristo dismissed the concept of cultural appropriation, stating that it is ridiculous to demand of writers that they not "write beyond [their] own culture".^[182]