Cultural Appropriation
12:09
Cultural appropriation
When I first typed in cultural appropriation Google told me that it is ‘the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture.’ However, I don’t think this fully explains the concept but confuses cultural appropriation and exchange. Amandla Stenberg said it best when she said:
‘’Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated but is deemed as high-fashion, cool or funny when the privileged take it for themselves. Appropriation occurs when the appropriator isn’t aware of the significance of the culture they are partaking in.’’
In 2015 we saw the rise of the big booty, big lips, white people with ‘Afros’ and braids, there were even gelled down baby hairs on the runway. Fashion icons and celebrities such as Kylie jenner and Kim Kardashian are being praised whilst black people have been shamed for years over these same attributes. So essentially what they are saying is black features are beautiful, however, black people are not. I personally think sharing culture is a good thing, I just don’t think white people should be able to take credit from it and benefit whilst black people are still being penalised for it.
But cultural appropriation is not all about Kylie Jenners braids and silicone lips. If you’ve ever been to a Halloween party or seen images from Coachella you will probably be aware of cultural appropriation. Wearing something with significant cultural and religious background is cultural appropriation for example wearing Bindis or native American head dresses and using it out of its cultural context. Dressing up as a person of another race is racist. Some how people forget that someone else's culture is not a costume.
Overall, dressing up as a person of another race is racist. Some how people forget that someone else's culture is not a costume.
Let us not confuse cultural exchange and cultural appropriation, though the line between the two can be pretty blurry. I will talk about cultural exchange in next week's post.
Let us not confuse cultural exchange and cultural appropriation, though the line between the two can be pretty blurry. I will talk about cultural exchange in next week's post.
Let me know what you guys think!
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