I often hear the problem expressed as “Appropriating culture without an understanding of the history and problems of the the originating culture”…but I seriously ask, what does this mean to the individual? How can a white woman show that she is cognizant and aware of the longstanding problems of Asian women before wearing a sari? There’s no stamp of approval or badge she can wear.
Seems that the takeaway for an individual is that it’s best to just stick to the same clothes other people your color are wearing.
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That’s an excellent point, but it’s also part of what the exact problem is with @caze’s remarks: There’s practically zero rhetorical significance in the different word choice. He’s not creating a systematic argument about how “cultural appropriation” is somehow overly political. It’s just a way of not dealing with the argument at all, as if s/he would suddenly be okay with the concept if we all decided that “cultural exploitation” was more appropriate wording. We all know that’s not the case, we could call the concept “shit-soup” and s/he still would have issues with it. Never mind that no one is interested in the argument s/he wants to have. The focus on “appropriation” versus “exploitation” picks nits so small that we’d need optical tweezers to start dissecting it.
Beyond that, it’s simply not practical to have an argument with a pro-lifer to convince them that they shouldn’t use that term and instead pick something else before further argument commences. To do so would be to fail to consider, in advance, very valid rebuttals that would ultimately boil down to the tedium of discussion what “pro” and “life” actually mean. All the while, we all know what the substantive issues are. Can’t we just cut to the fucking chase?
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Precisely my point. It would be more productive for you to respond to the theory, rather than what it’s called.
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Precisely my point. It would be more productive for you to respond to the theory, rather than what it’s called.
I already have, specifically as it relates to music (I know little about corn-rows), if you take issue with anything I’ve said why don’t you let me know.
In the mean-time, here’s some more Sam Cooke, my favourite song of his was written by two white guys, originally made popular by The Mills Brothers (four black guys) and later again by Les Paul and Mary Ford (a white dude and dudette, their version is great too) before Sam Cooke recorded his version. It’s good these guys didn’t realise they were stealing one another’s culture or we wouldn’t have these fine songs.
Here’s a french gypsy getting in on the action for good measure:
Let’s not forget that Afrika Bambaata also merged in electronic music as well - a genre that might be the only new non-African or Latin music style created in the last century.
The problem is that sometimes that “culture” looks an awful lot like “a bunch of clueless white people exploiting a one-dimensional stereotype of the people they or their ancestors abused, enslaved and waged genocide against.”
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It’s precisely because it’s not just a matter of individuals making decisions in isolation from their social context, but of social patterns.
In a way, focusing on celebrities – musicians, etc. – is a bit misleading. We’re not just critiquing their individual actions, but the entire mechanism where their individual actions are amplified.
That’s because it is.
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A large part of me is extremely offended by the idea that anyone or any group can own or even has special rights to culture. The idea that people on Boing Boing, a place that promotes Creative Commons and copyright reform, seems to be arguing for protectionism for culture is extremely disappointing.
Cornrows (as awful as they are) and grills (again, awful) are not some sacred cow. If some white guy wants to change his hair style and put something in his mouth, so be it. If he’s intentionally mocking you, well, he’s an asshole. If he’s just expressing himself, then good for him.
A couple of the instances in Stenberg’s video appear to be racist mocking and I’m good with calling these people out, not for their cultural appropriation but because they’re racist assholes.
Also, twerking is stupid. There, I’ve said it. If you’re going to steal dance moves, steal good ones.
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And to me, that’s the problem…this is really motivated by broad societal problems, but to the individual it just says “Keep to your own ‘white’ fashions, white people.”
And maybe that’s what ought to be said. I’d prefer that to “Don’t wear our fashions unless you first meet some vague undefined criteria of ‘appreciating our suffering and history of oppression’ which leaves the person just as liable to be seen as an exploiter as before”.
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Then appropriation has at least two considerably different meanings, one which implies copying or reproducing, and the other which implies depriving the former possessor of the appropriated thing. Elvis Presley appropriated the music of Big Mama Thornton, but he did not deprive her of the music. In fact, as someone said, he built a bridge over which a great multitude crossed, certainly to the particular advantage of at least some Black musicians, and generally to us all. In general cultural appropriation does not deprive the people of the source culture of their culture, unless, of course, the appropriators actually deprive them of it through copyright or other IP laws – in which case the problem is not borrowing someone’s cultural artifacts, but inflicting violence on them.
And to be clear, for things like headdresses and religious symbols, the message for anyone outside that culture should indeed be: don’t wear this, you’re acting like an asshole if you do.
But what about HALLOWEEN?
What I think @caze is getting at is that there is not a disagreement about what “it” is called, but that people are referring to two distinct phenomena. Even though there is often a relationship between appropriation and exploitation, they are still distinct ideas. Riffing off of this post:
Appropriation would be sporting the symbols of Marines because one thought they were kewl, and clueless to the fact that the Marines likely wouldn’t see it that way. It’s mostly a matter of bad taste.
Exploitation would be using the symbols to defraud others, to profit from people’s sympathies, secure employment, etc. It’s using the work of the group to get something they aren’t entitled to.
This sort of exploitation does involve appropriating something, but it’s manipulative. The person might not even like whatever they are fronting. OTOH appropriation without malice or deception can increase cultural awareness. One might be ignorant of the original cultural context, but realize a new, equally valid context. To extend the comparison some have made with remix culture, it can be like the difference between found texture or a reference to something else, and wholesale plagiarism.
Appropriation is not always exploitive. Hence the “nuances” bit.
You’re kidding about that Catholic thing right? Anti-catholicism was rampant in the United States until relatively recently.
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Whatever you do, don’t search “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”…
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They are historically oppressed in this country. The first anti-Catholic laws start in the 1600s banning them from certain territories. The Irish and Germans immigrants were discriminated against primarily because they were Catholic. There were deadly riots against Catholics throughout the 1800s.
When I was a kid, Catholics and Evangelical Protestants (particularly Baptists and Lutherans) hated each other so much that yes, they suffered from discrimination. We’ve had one Catholic President despite Catholics making up a quarter of the population. There is a reason for that. A lot of evangelical Protestants still hate Catholics with a passion.
Ok, then nun/priest costumes are out.
All costumes related to religion and culture are out; only fictional characters that doesn’t tread on cultures, or historical figures of our local past.
No. Banning cultural appropriation of historically oppressed groups is stupid. No one owns culture. Wear all the nun and priest outfits you want. Just don’t be a prejudiced asshole about it.
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