In current culture we seem to have an obsession with the term “cultural appropriation.” Recently Adele was accused of cultural appropriation after she had shared a picture on Instagram wearing a traditional African hair style in Banku knots which are small, coiled buns that are generally associated with people of African descent. It caused a meltdown on twitter and Instagram of people who cried out in disgust that it was cultural appropriation. However, Adele received much support with people like David Lammy and Naomi Campbell showing their support as did Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain.
Cultural appropriation seems to be another sin when someone is dressing in another culture’s traditional dress. There have been examples of this in recent history with non-native American Indians wearing the traditional Native American war bonnet, or Mexican attire and dress with sombreros. Often happens around Halloween when people are looking for Halloween costumes, but it does swing wider than that. In essence if a culture, particularly a dominant culture uses minority culture whether that is fashion, art and so on. The argument is that it is seen as harmful of those minority groups as it can be seen that if wearing such items can be a form of desecration.
This, much like cancel culture, seems to be being pushed by a minority of people through social media. There are so many countries, and so many hundreds to thousands of different cultures that have been adopted from one to the other to then get annoyed over specific examples of this is outrageous and seems to stem from nothing more than being perpetually outraged. It is nothing more than trying to control other people’s behaviours. If people did not like a particular culture, for instance, those that hated Native Americans or Mexicans, since that is the example I have used, it would be very unlikely they would be wanting to incorporate that culture as a part of their own identity. In fact it would be reasonable to assume they would be doing their best to disassociate with those cultures, rather than wear it. Again even if it was for mocking, it would be still strange to seriously engage with it if you hated it.Where do you draw the line? For instance I’m not Chinese but if I’m eating Chinese food, even if ordering from a takeaway, is that cultural appropriation? If I’m reading a Greek translated novel to English, is that appropriation? What about music?
Those examples are more like appreciation than appropriation. People in a free society are allowed to enjoy other cultures, and express themselves in that in any way, shape or form. Whether it is dressing in Chinese traditional dresses, Mexican attire, writing about the Maori, or whatever interests you. It is not up for other people to decide on that especially since there is no law about it. There are no laws about cultural appropriation. I consider myself an aspiring writer, and if I want to write about Greek Culture, Italian history, the life of Native American Indians, the life and experiences of Muslims in Europe, the Armenian genocide, and anything else, I do have that freedom to write on such topics.
I do however think a form of cultural appropriation could exist, which is when you say your of a particular race, adopting it as your own and passing it as your own in a form of intellectual dishonesty, which is totally different from these examples above. For instance, a professor, Jessica Klug in the USA admitted she was not black. Again, though as disgusting and dishonest at is, its not against the law either.
The other thing I have noticed especially during lockdown another form of cultural appropriation, or rather its mis-cultural appropriation, so that is taking something from another culture and using it to justify your own position. For example, the Malcolm X quotes or Martin Luther King quotes that were used to justify rioting in the USA. Often these quotes came from white people but often taken out of context. Again, as irritating, and dishonest as it is, it is not against the law. However, these types of “appropriation” should be challenged. Otherwise it will be spread like a false gospel.
I think we need to move past the idea of cultural appropriation in general and be allowed to celebrate and enjoy other cultures, which is why we have different days, and holidays dedicated to different festivals, religions and all sorts. If other people aren’t allowed to also take part, what is the point? Aren’t other people allowed to celebrate them as well?