Essay on Cultural Appropriation

Within the past few decades, the world has become more connected than ever before. It is easier than ever to pick up your phone or get on your computer and be able to talk to someone on the other side of the world. With the change in transportation, there are flights available that can put you on a completely different continent within a matter of hours. According to the Guardian “About 258 million people, or one in every 30, were living outside of their country of birth in 2017”. Every year more and more people are choosing to live in places that are not their home country. With the intermingling of cultures happening at a rapid pace, some cultural exchanges are more pleasant than others. When a group of people from one culture come into contact with another there is bound to be some form of ignorance or cultural insensitivity displayed from one or more parties involved. In recent years, the topic of cultural appropriation has been at the center of multiple debates surrounding the idea of cultural insensitivity and ignorance. Cultural appropriation is a detrimental system that causes harm to minority cultures, this system perpetuates harmful stereotypes and leads to the continued oppression of minority groups.

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 subject of cultural appropriation has been a hot topic of discussion over the past decade. The actual phrase “Cultural Appropriation” first began to appear in print in 1945 when the late Professor Arthur E Christy coined the phrase. In recent years, it is common to see celebrities or social media influences become victims of “call out culture” when they have showcased their acts of cultural appropriation in the media. Call-out culture is a form of public shaming where people identify offenses committed by members of their community and publicly 'call out' the offenders, thereby shaming or punishing them. This phenomenon makes it easy for the public to recognize and be aware of blatant cultural appropriation when it is done in an extreme measure. But it may be difficult to see cultural appropriation when it’s done subtly and often disguised as cultural appreciation.

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In Fall 2018, the high-end fashion brand Gucci came under fire as they showcased their models wearing items that suspiciously favored hijabs and niqabs. It has become a trend for some fashion designers, especially high-end designers, to take aspects of certain minority cultures and use them in their designs because they see them as a way to bring a form of “exoticness” to their work. All of these items hold some sort of cultural significance to the group of people who wear them. People who do not identify personally with that culture or religion do not wear it for that same cultural significance and more often than not are wearing it because it is seen as fashionable or chic. All around the world, the discrimination that people of color face when they leave the house in their traditional headdresses or clothes has skyrocketed in the past decade. For many people in the Muslim community, seeing a high fashion brand profit off of something they are often attacked for can be infuriating

Native Americans have had to deal with the struggles of oppression and racism since the early 17th century. The relationship between the indigenous people in North America and settlers from all over Europe has been one plagued by conflict, war, and death. A majority of the Native American population in the U.S. was forced onto reservations during the Trail of Tears, where they were forcibly made to walk from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to areas west of the Mississippi River. During this move, it is estimated that an estimated 4,000 Native Americans died due to cold, hunger, and disease. In the present day, Native American people are still one of the most oppressed groups in the United States. In the past decade, there has been a trend of Native American traditional headdresses and traditional clothing being used as costumes in popular culture or even during Halloween. The phenomenon of using religious or traditional items of clothing as costumes or for non-cultural purposes has just become an issue in the past 20 years or so.

When it comes to black culture, there has always been an uneven relationship between people in the black community and the people who consume aspects of black culture. This unfair exchange began in the 1950s when Soul music became extremely popular in the United States. It came during a time when many members of the black community were often oppressed by their white counterparts. They found their solace in music and show business. Fast forward to the 1990s, hip-hop came on the scene and took the world by storm. All of a sudden hip-hop culture was being showcased front and center. In the present day, this is often still the case, a good amount of the music comes from people who are in the black community. With hip-hop and RnB culture at the forefront, it has become increasingly common to see people of all racial backgrounds attempt to emulate the popular culture being portrayed in the media.

As the interconnectedness of the world continues to expand; the exchange of cultures, ideas, and people continues to grow more and more each year. This is especially true for Japanese popular culture, with the growing popularity of Japanese media, culture, and lifestyle people all over the world are beginning to pay attention to

There has been a constant debate on the reasons that cultural appropriation happens, different people believe different factors contribute to cultural appropriation. A recurring theme is that capitalism and imperialism play a huge role in what cultures are appropriated and which cultural group usually does the appropriating. When Europe began to colonize and oppress minority groups they were able to put into place an imperialist system that ensured unequal cultural, territorial, and economic exchange. Imperialism has been able to move into countries that are rich in natural resources and culture and extract any item that could make them money, culture included. This can be seen in the case of Gucci and other high fashion retailers using items of cultural or religious significance to essentially make money off of the “exoticness” of it. Cultural appropriation is profitable to certain groups, while most minority groups are often harmed by this appropriation. Objects and traditions of oppressed groups are often stripped away and used to make a profit for the people in the dominating culture.

Another theory for why cultural appropriation happens could just be plain ignorance. Sometimes when people are culturally appropriate they simply do not know that they are doing anything wrong. Often people will see something that they think is pretty or interesting and try it out for themselves not necessarily realizing what they are doing could potentially be harmful to others. This reason is best shown through white people and non-black people of color putting cornrows or dreadlocks in their hair. These people see a hairstyle that they believe will look good on them and then go and get their hair done. They don’t stop to think if it could be harmful or offensive. Most likely they are privileged enough to not have to deal with their hair being seen as “unprofessional” or “ghetto” in its natural state. So, because they have never experienced oppression in that way, they are ignorant of the harmful effects. Because of how connected the world is becoming, people are now interested in experiencing and being a part of cultures that may be different from their own. This phenomenon is fairly new, so most people are unaware of how to be respectful when taking part in other cultures.

Most people do not see the harm in cultural appropriation but what they fail to realize is that it is essentially a continuation of the racism, oppression, and genocide most minority groups have continued to face. People who defend the use and appropriation of minority culture fail to realize that race relations globally are not equal, racism still very much so exists. People are denied basic human rights and opportunities every day through Systematic Racism while white people more often than not benefit from these same systems. There is usually never an equal exchange happening. For example, when it comes to the appropriation of black culture most of the people that do it do not stand in solidarity with the black community when they fight for rights against the police. They want only a small aspect of the culture without having to deal with the negative parts that can also come with being a part of that culture.