Members:

Hoàng Phạm Việt Anh

Lương Thị Hồng Hạnh
Nguyễn Ngọc Diệu Ly
Phạm Thu Trang

Topic: Cultural Appropriation - What’s the big deal?

Message: It is advisable to be careful when using a cultural element that is not of your own.
It is the best to fully understand, appreciate and use elements from other culture with
consideration and respect.

Tasks:
● Script & Materials: All
○ What is cultural appropriation? - Ly
○ Examples of cultural appropriation (cuisine, fashion, etc.): Hạnh
○ The controversy: 2 contrastive opinions
■ For: Việt Anh
■ Against: Trang
○ Our own opinion and message - Ly
● Voice-over: Ly, Hạnh (current)
● Video: Trang, Việt Anh

Deadlines (!!!): - Extended

- Script: Fri (07/12) - Done 10/12
- Voice-over: ​Sat (08/12)​ -> ​Wed 12/12
- Video: ​Mon (10/12)​ -> ​Mon 17/12
- Showing: ​Tue (11/12)​ -> ​Tue 18/12
- Submission: ​Sun (16/12)​ -> ​??

Note: Please remember to keep your references organized in order to save time and
labour.
 SCRIPT

1. (Definition - Ly)
By definition, “Cultural appropriation” happens when a dominant culture take aspects
(including artistic forms, theme, practices) from a more marginalised culture without
permission. Unlike culture exchange, there is no mutual interchange but experience of
systematic oppression of minority culture from members of a dominant culture. Simply put,
the acts of cultural appropriation appears when one member of the more dominant society
adopts customs, practices, ideas from another without acknowledgement. The
unawareness of this cultural phenomenon leads to racial, cultural bias and cultural
insensitivity. Therefore, to avoid landing in such offensive situations related to cultural
issues which is said to lose the value of cultural heritages, there is the need of throwing a
spotlight on the specter of cultural appropriation.

2. (Examples - Hạnh)
Among various examples of cultural appropriation, food is an aspect of culture that can be
seen in our daily lives.
Food can be appropriated by being replicated and sold to a more powerful group of people
without paying ‘homage, which then allows the appropriator to capitalize on the opportunity.
This kind of appropriation can be seen in restaurants or recipes in many viral social media
food trends.
Like this “Banana Sushi”
Or this “Pho with Broccoli and Quinoa”
When it comes to the pop culture, we can also see cultural appropriation in various
situations.
When white celebrities wear costumes from other minority cultures
When they have “black hairstyle”
Or when they adopt a “blaccent”, which means a black accent.
The Hollywood is not an exception when it has witnessed whitewashing in movies for
decades.
From a white actor playing a Japanese landlord in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in 1961,
Or an Arab prince portrayed by a white actor in “Lawrence of A’rabia”.
To a cast of all white main players in “21” (2008), a supposedly asian-american movie,
Or the 2017 movie “Ghost in the shell”, where Scarlett Johansson playing a Japanese
character.
And the list goes on.

3.1. (Việt Anh) There are two contrastive opinions about cultural appropriation. The
supporters argue that it is a natural evolution process of human. Borrowing from other
cultures is essential to cultural change of society as a whole. The important thing is to not
appropriate to be offensive, or in a way that is offensive, even if accidental. Every culture
has developed borrowing from one another be it European, African or Asian. In the context
of globalization, cultural appropriation is inevitable. The prime example would be how the
Romans tried to imitate the style of Greek art. They brought Greek art to their home country
because they admired it but not because they wanted to abuse it. As a matter of fact, both
cultures and the world could take advantage of the Roman’s adoption of Greek art. In that
context, cultural appropriation is a common and beneficial event. Another example is yoga.
When this cultural feature went overseas or when it was assimilated, there is a wonderful
synthesis that creates a new and better tradition. Yoga is an ancient Hindu spiritual
practice, but in a western yoga studio, this tradition is natural and well assimilated. It is
even argued that western yoga studios do a far better job than Indian ones do. Clearly,
cultural appropriation can do something for the culture which its country can not do to it.

3.2. (Trang) However, cultural appropriation has also met a lot of backlash. Most of the
criticism is about the misuse of a minor community’s culture, or the fact that people from a
dominant culture use a cultural element of a minor culture without fully understanding the
history and meaning of that element; therefore degrade that cultural element. One example
is the use of blackface, a form of make-up when a non-black person paints his/her face
black to impersonate a black person, which is now regarded as racist towards the black
community, because it once was used to stereotype and make fun of black people back in
the time of slavery.

Another example is non-African people wearing cornrows, a hairstyle originated from Africa.
While many people claim that the reactions were exaggerated, the criticism is
understandable as cornrows are not just a kind of hairstyle but an important part of African
tribes’ culture, which show information like a person’s age and status in the community.
During the time of slavery, black people were forced to shave their head, which was
considered to be an act of stripping away their culture, and for a long time, those who kept
their traditional hairstyles were mocked and even punished.

Therefore, when non-black people (especially Caucasian celebrities) wear cornrows (and
lots of times they do not know the meaning of the style), they are criticized and considered
to be ignorant and erasing black people’s decades of struggling and fighting for the right to
keep their culture. The same can be said about Native Americans’ headdresses, which are
used as costumes nowadays, and is even an inspiration for a Victoria’s Secret design which
received lots of backlash. In fact, the headdress is something sacred that has to be earned
and is only worn by male chiefs of the tribes on special occasions. The criticism is also due
to the dark history of genocide committed on Native Americans in the name of civilization.

4.Opinion and message:

To conclude, in the era of globalization and integration, cultural appropriation cannot be
fully avoided, and it is also unfair to blame all appropriation a crime. Cultural appropriation
can be a way to breathe new life into culture; besides, people have borrowed, adopted,
taken, infiltrated and reinvented from time memorial. However, be careful when using a
cultural element that is not of your own. It is the best to fully understand, appreciate and use
elements from other culture with consideration and respect.
 References

Indians.org (n.d.). ​Indian Headdresses​. Retrieved from

http://indians.org/articles/indian-headdress.html
Wheeler, A. (2017). ​Why cornrows are not just braids​. Retrieved from
https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/59g3aa/why-cornrows-are-not-just-braids
Eglash, J. (n.d.). ​History of Cornrow Braiding.​ Culturally Situated Design Tools. Retrieved
from
https://csdt.rpi.edu/culture/legacy/african/CORNROW_CURVES/culture/african.origins.htm
Baylor University (2018). ​Race, Culture Expert Shares History and Why Blackface and
Other Cultural Appropriation at Halloween Is Inappropriate. Retrieved from
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=204045
Howard, P. S. S. (2018). ​The problem with blackface.​ Retrieved from
https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-blackface-97987
Lynskey, D. (2014). ​This means war: why the fashion headdress must be stopped.​
Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/jul/30/why-the-fashion-headdress-must-be-stop
ped
Shipp, E. R. (1987). ​Braided Hair Style At Issue in Protests Over Dress Codes​. Retrieved
from
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/23/garden/braided-hair-style-at-issue-in-protests-over-dr
ess-codes.html
Fixico, D. L. (2018). ​When Native Americans Were Slaughtered in the Name of
‘Civilization’.​ Retrieved from
https://www.history.com/news/native-americans-genocide-united-states
Young, C. (2015). ​To the new culture cops, everything is appropriation​. The Washington
post. ​Retrieved from:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/21/to-the-new-culture-cops-ev
erything-is-appropriation/?utm_term=.b6655e3244f9​.
Karen, A.. (2015). ​Cultural Appropriation | Project Humanities​. Projecthumanities.asu.edu.
Retrieved from: ​https://projecthumanities.asu.edu/content/cultural-appropriation​.