Hello and welcome to another one of the debates I have in my head. It's been a while since I got into details of a topic that's caught my eye on the internet lately, so please bare with me while I poke and prod at this debate topic.
Today, we're talking about two things and just how different they are: cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. First let me give you the definitions of both.
Cultural appropriation (or, more correctly, cultural misappropriation) is when a society or culture adopts or uses the elements of another culture but for misguided purposes as well as distorting or losing the meaning behind the elements of the culture being misappropriated
Cultural appreciation is when said society/culture celebrates or shows enthusiasm or any kind of 'appreciation' for another culture and takes care to not misread or distort the foreign culture's elements as well as following them as they were established.
As you can see, one is the clear opposite of the other. But I've come to notice that most people find themselves confusing one for the other. For example, the other day, I read an article about a mom who is a party-planner and blogger, and she planned her daughter's birthday party to be Japanese/Geisha themed. Her daughter dressed in a very well-planned kimono that looked lovely and put on the closest thing to traditional Geisha makeup. You might be wondering "Where is the issue? This sounds like a fun party, if you ask me," but the mom's blog post was later reblogged on tumblr by someone who was telling her to teach her daughter that dressing up and putting on makeup like a Geisha is wrong because it is cultural appropriation.
Several Japanese people came to her defense in the comments and said that this is actually cultural appreciation because this little girl is not dressing up as a joke, but rather showing how beautiful a part of the Japanese culture is as the theme of her party so everyone else can appreciate it too.
Here's another example. You all know Miley Cyrus, I presume. Although she has turned a new leaf this year, in the past few years she has probably been the biggest icon of cultural appropriation. To those who don't know, Miley Cyrus was misappropriating African-American culture by using it in her style and her music videos, as means of profit and publicity. Not only that, but in her videos she would appear with African-American extras doing drugs, irresponsible alcohol consumption, etc. This is called misappropriation because: A) She is portraying herself as a stereotype African-American B) Associating this culture with the consumption of drugs and alcohol, and C) Doing it all because it gets more views, sells more albums, and gets her trending whether positively or negatively.
Mind you, in no way am I targeting Miley Cyrus or reprimanding her, since this was probably a marketing ploy gone terribly wrong, but I merely used what she used to be as an example of cultural misappropriation.
And let it be known that many people were very offended by her actions and that saying her previous work was cultural misappropriation was a fact by majority opinion over the past few years and not just my personal opinion. Most importantly, I think Miley learned from her mistakes over the past few years, and this just shows that she's human and she's still young and growing and learning.
Now that we see the clear difference between the two terms, let me tell you exactly what I think about this topic.
Firstly, I 100% agree with the Japanese people who defended the part-planning blogger and her daughter that dressing up in the traditional Geisha attire is by no means yellow-facing (which is like black-facing meaning painting your face a skin tone of another race as a joke) nor is it cultural appropriation. If it was, then foreigners, specifically anyone who isn't Arab, learning and performing belly dancing or having henna tattoos parlors or owning Moroccan spa houses, are advocates of cultural appropriation. These people merely appreciate what our cultures have to offer and want to share the beauty of the traditions and customs and history with others.
Secondly, let me make something clear, because I have heard it so so so many times while in university that it's almost scrawled into the inner folds of my brain. WE ARE LIVING IN A GLOBALIZED CULTURE. Meaning that most of the world is not 100% it's ethnicity anymore. Egyptians aren't 100% Egyptian (I, personally, am of French and Iranian descent as well as Egyptian). French aren't 100% French. Even Europeans aren't 100% Europeans and Americans aren't 100% Americans! Most of you have seen those videos of people taking DNA tests and finding out that they have distant cousins across the globe and that their family originated from another continent! And that's okay! That just brings us closer together. It connects us in ways indescribable. And hopefully one day it will help us to understand each other better.
Thirdly, this is just a question I have. Why can't we all just appreciate what the other has to offer? We can all learn so much from each other. We learn different concepts and ideals from each other, which can lead us to broaden our way of thinking, or we can just politely disagree. Your national favorite dishes originated from a different part of the globe. Your television shows are influenced from series airing in another country. Some of your books are translated from their original language into your own. And all of that, vice versa, applies to the rest of the world as well.
We also don't have to abandon our own culture to appreciate another one. Sure, American modernization is influencing most of the world, but that doesn't mean that your culture is any less relevant. So long as you keep it alive your traditions, customs, manners, holidays, and history, it will never die. Appreciation of something is not the end of another thing. So interacting and learning from other people won't make you less of who you are.
I also want to point out that white people can also be the targets or racism, sometimes. "GASP! HOW DARE YOU?!" No, I mean it. It's true. You remember that example I started with? The little girl who dressed up as a Geisha for her birthday? She and her mother are white. What do you think would have happened if the situation was reversed? If they were Asians and the little girl wanted a Madonna themed birthday party or whatever. Do you think the post would've been reblogged and called out for cultural misappropriation? The answer is no. Everyone would find it cute and endearing. But let a white person do it and its cultural appropriation. Regarding this point, let me make it clear that this is not the case for Miley Cyrus because she was misrepresenting the African-American culture as a white person. But the real issues to be pointed out is if a white person wants to wear their hair in cornrows (African hair braids) because they like that traditional hair style, they will get called out for trying to be black. And yet black women are praised for wearing weaves and straightening their hair and not called out for trying to be white. Now do you see the point I'm trying to make?
So why not let everyone just do whatever the heck they want? Let Caucasians get inspiration for their personal attire from Africans. Let African-Americans wear their hair straight. Let little girls dress up as Geishas or Madonna. It's all fine! Let's stop trying to find fault in someone else because of their race, and let's stop trying to find it by crying "cultural appropriation".
Finally, we should all encourage the interaction and coexistence of different cultures. Because it will abolish ignorant ideals like white-supremacy and extremism, or in other words, it will end terrorism. People like the Neo-Nazis that have surfaced in the U.S. (and are actually everywhere but haven't come out) and people like ISIS believe in the ridiculous concept that their "culture" is the one to reign supreme above all others and death to anyone who says otherwise. These are 2. We are hundreds. maybe even thousands. But if we collectively denounce these radical ideals and beliefs, then we can all live in peace. I'm not saying that all cultures should form one giant one, but we can be individuals who share the same dream, which is living in a world at peace. Bottom line is mistaking cultural appropriation for cultural appreciation is part of the reason we can't understand each other. Because we don't want one culture to touch the other, it's slowly going to turn into a full-contact sport of which culture is better. It's happened before and it is happening again (i.e. Hitler, KKK, Bin Laden).
To sum up the point of this article of mine, let people be who they want to be, even if that means they'll occasionally wear their hair differently, throw a birthday party differently, listen to different music, read different books, and, most importantly, interact with different people differently! Let them be human because it is our most admirable trait! God created us human so let us be His creation. Let us be flawed, but accepted. Let us make mistakes, but learn. And for God's sake, let's all at least try to understand each other every once in a blue moon! We'd be better people if we just made an effort.
Okay, that's all I have on this topic. I would just like to say that you should all Google Charlottesville to see just what White-supremacy and Neo-Nazis look like, and to those of you who live in the U.S. please Google ISIS to see what Extremism is. Learn about what's going on across the globe. It's not pretty, but you'll at least get a bit closer to learning that we may live on different parts of the world, but essentially share the same problems.
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Hue Mann, over and out!! ;)