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The Mainstream and Cultural Appropriation

“Cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture.” ("Cultural appropriation", 2016)

Tom Rees

What is being appropriated? Object with significant spiritual or religious meaning? Equal Power? Are elements of a minority culture being exploited or disrespected?

Respect Does he/she appropriating have knowledge or respect for the culture?

It Depends…

Misrepresentation is the object used or displayed in a way the culture didn’t intend?

What is being appropriated?Cultural appropriation takes many forms and pieces of culture that can be appropriated vary whether it’s clothing, symbols songs or other literary compositions.

https://quote.ucsd.edu/comm100c/2014/08/22/mistaking-appropriation-for-appreciation/

Plains Indians earned these as a place of great respect in their tribe. Originally they were sometimes worn into battle but they are now primarily used for ceremonial occasions.

Feathered War Bonnet

Modern CornrowsHas been a popular hairstyle amongst the African American culture since the 70’s and originated in Africa thousands of years ago.

http://modernmancollection.com/style/the-man-with-the-million-faces/

The morale judgment on the whole concept of Cultural

appropriation however, cannot be determined based purely on what

is being borrowed/adopted and the impacts they can have vary; as

argued by Denise Cuthbert (Cuthbert, 1998,pp.257-260)

Beg, borrow or steal: The politics of cultural Appropriation

Equal Power?

When we are talking about mainstream there is no equal power and this must be considered when arguing negative or positive impacts of cultural appropriation.In the case of negative impacts of cultural appropriation it is nearly always the minority culture that is victim to the mainstream culture of the Western World.

“normative Caucasians are generally in the position to influence global perceptions of cultural identity” (VanLang, 2016).

No.

Level of Respect

My hairstylist and my makeup artist are

actually really big into the whole culture —

they’ve been around, they’ve traveled,

they’ve gotten me into various books.

“

.”

Selena Gomez --

http://theaerogram.com/selena-gomez-steps-cold-drinks-wearing-bindi/

The fact that I had “been there” justified my

choice to wear Tibetan clothing.

But just “being there” did not give me the

information I needed to understand my own

possible role in cultural appropriation.

(Kleisath, 2014, p.247)

“

.”The Costume of Shangri-La: Thoughts on White Privilege, Cultural Appropriation, and Anti-Asian

Racism

Misrepresentation

Most cultural and religious reasons behind women wearing Burqas are all based around the concept of covering themselves up.

Lady Gaga

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/lady-gagas-burqa-is-good-for-muslim-women-8756228.html

Mainstream and Cultural Appropriation

Cultural Appropriation is such a broad topic and takes many forms and can have many different impacts on cultures depending on what it is, who is appropriating it, do they have an understanding of the culture and whether it’s misrepresented or not.

The examples previously shown outline these aspects of the issue and demonstrate how Mainstream and Cultural Appropriation can negatively impact minority cultures and how we perceive their identities.

Thank you.

Bibliography

D236bkdxj385sg.cloudfront.net. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

"Cultural Appropriation". Wikipedia. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Cuthbert, Denise. "Beg, Borrow Or Steal: The Politics Of Cultural Appropriation". Postcolonial Studies 1.2 (1998): 257-262. Web.

Kleisath, C. Michelle. "The Costume Of Shangri-La: Thoughts On White Privilege, Cultural Appropriation, And Anti-Asian Racism". Journal of Lesbian Studies 18.2 (2014): 142-157. Web.

VanLang, Christopher. "Why Are White People Never Offended By Cultural Appropriation? - Quora". Quora.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.