Cultural appropriation in the modern era: Karina Montes

Abstract

I’m gonna leave this blank for now but will add it for the final draft. 


Graph will be made by data collected in survey.

Cultural appropriation in the modern era: Literature Review

Cultural appropriation has been a controversial topic since the 1950s, most notably when

Elvis was accused of appropriating of the song “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton and

making it his own, changing the lyrics and the meaning behind the song (Gray, 2017). People

continue to debate about what can be shared and not shared between cultures, and if anyone can

just grab as they please from one culture to another in order to celebrate diversity and

multiculturalism. Some people believe that cultural appropriation shouldn’t be a important topic

and it’s a generation victimizing themselves, while others think it’s a very important issue which

should be respected among cultures. There are people who generally don’t know what cultural

appropriation is, or don’t see it as a bad thing as they don’t think people are doing it with a ill

intention but instead wanting to spread and celebrate their cultures. 


People also debate if cultural appropriation has been going too far, there’s the question of

what can and can’t be appropriated such as costumes, accessories, music and even to the extent

of food. This topic has many left-right extremist views and no real clean boundaries about when

is wearing an accessory going too far and offending the people of that culture itself. This review

will help clean up those boundaries and people’s opinions about this topic through these

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questions:


1. Do people experience cultural appropriation?

2. How has media made cultural appropriation a thing accessible to large masses of

people?

3. What is the difference between what a POC and a white person opinion on the issue?

4. How can people be aware of other cultures and not be disrespectful when showing

their admiration towards it?

These questions will give background information how POC’s cultures have been appropriated,

what they still experience now-a-days, and how can POC educate non-POC into respecting a

culture that isn’t theirs while still celebrating it.

Do people experience cultural appropriation?

Cultural appropriation has been an issue that is very much still alive today. People who

identify as caucasian or white are usually the ones who are blamed for appropriating someone’s

culture be it on accident or on purpose. What cultural appropriation actually is, is the borrowing

or “stealing” of a certain aspect or symbol of another person’s culture when you’re not part of it.

The main issue stems from people taking away the true meaning behind that symbol, accessory

or hairstyle. (Nicklas, Lindner, 2012) This debate is most brought up around Halloween time,

because many people like to use stereotypes as costumes. People question if wearing kimonos,

headdresses, or characters that are meant to be of different races such as Pocahontas or Moana

are offensive. The real problem comes when stores sell “sexy” versions of these costumes,

cheapening the historical meaning and making it offensive to people of these ethnicities. Other

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types of costumes people have problems with are afro-styled wigs which were worn when

wearing black-face to make fun of African Americans was very popular in the United States

(Dastagir, 2017).

There are several questions to answer but because many people define cultural

appropriation in different ways, it’s hard to draw the line of where cultural appropriation begins.

Many people think that cultural appropriation is a plethora of ideas and behaviors that we’ve

been gathering since our cultures began to intermix. The first step to appropriate something, to

many professionals specially in the film industry, is to make an adaptation of it. Meaning a clone

or to steal the idea of something so that a broader public can consume it. It’s very much taking a

symbol or item and watering down all the meaning or history behind it. It’s legal and cultural

plagiarizing (Nicklas, Lindner, 2012). After this is where definitions get muddled, there is no

clear limit on when and what something can be appropriated. Many people dislike the idea that

hairstyles and music genres are being produced and worn by people outside of the certain race.

For example, people dislike the fact that there are several white rappers rising, or that mostly

white women are wearing braids or hoop earrings.

*Primary Research added here*

Cultural appropriation accessible to large masses of people.

During Elvis’ times, people didn’t know what cultural appropriation was or gave it much

thought. Before if you called someone out on stealing work or appropriating of it they’d just

laugh at you and disregard your opinion as long as the content that was being provided was

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changed ever so slightly or it was good content. Now a days, the Kardashian sisters have been

accused of cultural appropriation, specially more towards black culture and even going as far as

being accused of doing blackface. In the beginning the sisters were hit hard with criticism since

people thought they were too rich and spoiled for their own good. As they continued to be

accused over and over again they became desensitized and so did their audience. It just became a

characteristic they had, they’ve been accused of wanting be “be black” and if someone asks

about the Kardashians that topic will come up quite often. (Woodward, 2015)

There’s no denying the Kardashian’s popularity, they’ve even come to call themselves the

first family of entertainment. Anything they do, from fashion to lifestyle to makeup is attention

seeking for the general public. They’ve secured their position as a household name and there’s

people who try products or follow trends just because “the Kardashians are doing it.” They’ve

grown immensely popular within the last 10 years, and their mistakes or problematic behavior is

what grabs the attention of the masses. It creates drama and more entertainment for their reality

TV show. That’s why when asked about cultural appropriation they’re quick to apologize and to

ask to be educated instead of being attacked, however they don’t change their behavior. Their

most common excuse it not knowing, or not being aware because they didn’t read too much into

the situation (Woodward, 2015).

What is the difference between what a POC and a white person opinion on the issue?

Kylie and Kendall Jenner are the two younger of the Kardashian sisters. They were raised

in the limelight and have consequently become even bigger controversial figures than their

sisters. Kendall was once caught in a very big argument when she made a commercial with

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Pepsi, where it showed her giving a police officer a Pepsi in order to bring piece to a riot

happening. Many people thought this was insulting to the Ferguson movement and trying to

profit off something tragic that many people died during and are still fighting more even now.

Another incident is when the sisters released a fashion collection which

includes several t-shirts, all which have the faces or iconic designs of 90s rappers intermixed

with the sister’s faces. Many people accused them of stealing the designs, of appropriating of it

and of black culture since rap and hiphop have their roots deeply embedded in the black

community. It went so far that the mother of one of the famous rappers in their shirts started

accusing the Jenner sisters of cultural appropriation, since she’s the mother of a well known and

respected figure in the community that’s why her accusations have a major impact (Andrews,

2017).

When people are born into wealth and privilege they don’t typically understand the point

of view of people of color (POC) and how much of an impact it can do taking away their culture

from them. Many POC suffer discrimination from a young age, such as South Asian women

being made fun of for wearing Bindis even thought it’s in their culture and their right to do so.

These women were being forced to hide their culture and attempt to Americanize themselves so

they wouldn’t be made fun of or discriminated for being different. Besides suffering

discrimination from other cultures they also suffer it within their own, they fight a term called

colorism, which means darker skinned women are seen as less beautiful than the light skinned

girls regardless if they’re from the same ethnicity. This is why the movement, #ReclaimTheBindi

started, because when they were kids these south asian girls had to get rid of their bindis in order

to fit in, but once music festivals began to become popular and people wore them to these events

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they were still not allowed to wear them themselves, their culture was taken from them and made

into a costume, an accessory (Kemp-Habib, 2016).

Khoe Kardashian is seen in several episodes and photoshoots sporting native american

styled head dresses. Something she’s been criticized for since the beginning of their reality TV

show, however she keeps on repeating the same mistake over and over again. Less than 2% of all

native tribes registered in the US even used these war bonnets, but they meant a sign of respect

and honor to the ones that did use it. However, all Native Americans started being associated

with the headdress, it became a stereotype of all Native Americans. So people wearing them in

music festivals and media is now offensive to all Native Americans because it groups them into a

single category, regardless if all the tribes are vastly different from each other. Native Americans

see this as a huge issue, as it’s disrespecting their culture and the original meaning of the head

dress, even if it’s not part of their tribe, they’re still all being belittled into one single stereotype

and disrespecting the original meaning. Many white people don’t understand why the headdress

is offensive, this has been referred to as white privilege, because they’re dictating what Native

Americans are allowed to be offended about, what they’re allowed to be called, where they’re

allowed to live and so on. (White, 2017)

How can people be show adoration to other cultures without appropriating?

Katy Perry was once called the queen of cultural appropriation, since she’s used several

cultural references across her music videos and live stages. However, a Japanese youtuber, Yuta

Aoki, interviewed several people from the streets of Japan of different ages to ask what they

thought about foreigners wearing kimonos and using the singer Katy Perry as an example. Most

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of them had positive outlook on it, and enjoyed the fact that they saw their culture being

represented and showcased for the general public. Of course the reaction of the public will also

depend from culture to culture. It’s possible that not all cultures will be as accepting of foreigners

wearing or showcasing their culture to different groups of people. Such as Miley Cyrus and

Justin Bieber wearing dreadlocks. Most of the people offended by it were part of the black

community, saying that white people not only not have the correct type of hair to wear dreads but

overall shouldn’t take something that’s most prominent to their culture.

It has to be clarified that there are two different groups, people who do it with malicious

intent and others that accidentally do it because they’re trying to give praise or adoration to the

culture. People acculturate on accident, wether it be because of ignorance or because of lack of

exposure. A big way to spot when someone did it accidentally is if they apologized publicly then

stopped from doing it again after that point. (Arewa, 2017) What turns people away from the

idea of cultural appropriation is that it’s becoming a witch hunt to see what people can be

offended by next. It’s something that has been slowly been blown out of proportion through out

the years. It’s difficult to tell if the reason behind that is because people are more about the topic

itself, is it becoming more popular because of it’s importance or is it gaining a bad reputation

because it’s seen as a way for millennials to victimize themselves.

Conclusion:

At the end there’s too much controversy around this topic to have a concrete answer in is

cultural appropriation right or wrong. There must be a definition of the term and the limits of

how far it goes before any real change can happen. Cultural appropriation has been displayed

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countless of times, made accessible to the common person through famous people and other

media outlets. There is no way of avoiding cultural appropriation, since it’s becoming a norm,

adding more fuel to the conversation of what’s right or wrong about it? The intermixing of

cultures is not what’s wrong here, what people are upset about is that their cultures and their

identity is being used as a costume or an accessory instead of being respected. At the end if

people are willing to learn and others are willing to teach about the subject, then both parties can

mutually grow and begin making progress to be more united.

*reference primary research in conclusion*

Ref:

Andrews, M. T. (2017, June 30) “Kendall and Kylie Jenner are accused of cultural

appropriation, this time by Notorious B.I.G.’s mom.” The Washington Post. Retrieved

from, https:// www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/30/kendall-

and-kylie-jenner-accused-of-cultural-appropriation-this-time-by-notorious-b-i-g-s-mom/?

utm_term=.eada4ca5470b

AREWA, O. B. (2017). LOVE, HATE, AND CULTURE WARS. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 97(1),

26

Aoki, Yuta. [That Japanese Man Yuta]. (2016, Sep 26). “Can Foreigners Wear Kimono?

(Japanese Opinion Interview). [Video File]. Retrieved from, https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=0pXotxxYFlk

Dastagir, E. A. (2017, 23 Oct) USA Today. “Is it OK for a white kid to dress up as Moana for

Halloween? And other cultural Appropriation Questions” Retrieved from, https://

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www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/23/halloween-cultural-appropriation-questions/

780479001/

Gray, B. J. (2017, 6 Sept.) Current Affairs. “The Question of Cultural Appropriation.” Retrieved

from, https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/09/the-question-of-cultural-appropriation

This article answers almost all my questions it talks about what cultural appropriation is,

Kemp-Habib, A. (2016, 9 Jun) VICE. “The South Asian Woman Reclaiming Their Culture and

Battling Colorism.” Retrieved from, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5gqbd8/the-rise-

of-online-desi-activism

Nicklas, P., & Lindner, O. (2012). Adaptation and cultural appropriation : literature, film, and the

arts. Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2012].

White, F. (2017). Fashion and Intolerance: Misappropriation of the War Bonnet and Mainstream

Anger. Journal Of Popular Culture, 50(6), 1421-1436. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12616

Woodward, E. (2015, 13 July.) Buzzfeed. “9 Times The Kardashians Have Been Accused of

“Cultural Appropriation”. Retrieved from, https://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/

times-the-kardashians-have-been-accused-of-cultural-approp?

utm_term=.lkdMvaeXe#.oenJwg1E1

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