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Nothing in this world is completely original. Everything we know and love today drew its inspiration from something in the past or from somewhere in the world. So is cultural appropriation as big a deal as it seems or is it all being blown out of proportion? The definition of appropriation is the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission, therefore cultural appropriation is the theft of another culture. Theft is frowned upon everywhere you go, and having your culture stolen and used for profit is just as wrong. There is nothing wrong with being angry over culture appropriation. There is a difference between inspiration and theft. If an artist truly appreciates and understand certain aspects and …show more content…
beliefs of a certain culture then it changes from stealing to appreciating. If the culture is appreciated and understand then I do not believe there should be a problem when it is being used as inspiration but it is also given credit to. An increasing number of designers and celebrities are being accused of appropriating cultures in their work and everyday fashion. For example a UK-based fashion website put up an image of traditional Indian maang-tikas for sale, referring to them as “chandelier hair clips”, and many infuriated Twitter users called it “appropriation of the historical accessory”. Anupama Dayal, designer of the “chandelier hair clips” responded to the accusations by stating, “Culture doesn’t belong to one. I get inspired by things all over the world. How can someone tell me that a certain thing is not mine?” she also said, “But in the case of this website, correct description of the tikka would have been better.” I completely agree with Dayal when she says culture doesn’t belong to one but I believe she could have respected their culture by learning the significance behind the jewelry. In India the maang-tika is more than just a beautiful accessory it symbolizes the sacred union between a man and woman in all aspects emotionally, spiritually and physically. Her blatant disrespect toward the people who grew up on this culture justifies their reasons for being angry over the product. It’s not something they just were to look nice it means something to them and they do it for the culture. Zendaya Coleman a young model and actress, decided the hairstyle she wanted to flaunt on the red carpet for the 2015 Oscars would be Faux Locks.
E! Host Giuliana Rancic didn’t quite think so. She then preceded to make racist comments toward the young stars hair by saying she must’ve smelled of “patchouli” and “weed”. Dread locks and marijuana are part of a stereotype usually associated with Caribbean culture. Coleman’s reply to the comments made was, “To say that an 18-year-old young woman with locks must smell of patchouli oil or ‘weed’ is not only a large stereotype but outrageously offensive.”
After Rancic publicly apologized, Coleman then went on to explain how her decision to wear dreads was not only for fashion but because she had learned the importance of cultural appreciation. “You have to be very careful. Some things are really sacred and important to other cultures, so you have to be aware, politically, about those things before you just adopt them.” She says. She is a person who understands how important culture is. She is willing to understand its significance even if it may not seem very
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important. Many other artist agree with the fact that you should expose yourself to something before you try to use it in your own work. Designer Kunal Anil Tanna believes “When one is borrowing an element from a different culture, it always makes sense to be well-informed about its significance. We should represent it appropriately.” Another designer by the name Nida Mahmood says that if one is borrowing from another culture, it is very important to respect the origin. “I see nothing wrong in picking up elements from various cultures. Due credit must be given to the culture you’re borrowing from,” she says. Maybe if all people thought this way there would not be a problem with culture borrowing. For those who don’t truly understand how important culture is to some people it seems ridiculous to get angry with people who use patterns, ornaments, designs, etc.
from all walks of life. Brendan O’Neil’s, editor of Spiked and a columnist for The Australian and The Big Issue, wrote in his article, “The idea of ‘cultural appropriation’ sums up everything rotten in today’s intensifying politics of identity. It’s fuelled by the borderline racist idea that to mix cultures is bad.” The stance against culture appropriation is not about halting the mixture of culture, it is to try to explain the importance of learning about, appreciating, and then applying it the correct way. Cultures should but not for fashion or profit, but for educational purposes. It is important to learn about the many cultures and unique styles in the
world. Eric Hatala Matthes is someone else who recognizes the harms of cultural appropriation. He wrote “Cultural Appropriation without Essentialism”, and in this journal he describes the problems it causes and he also gives solutions to the problem. One excerpt from the book states, “Cultural appropriation can often seem morally problematic. When the abstract schemas above are filled in with details from actual events, we often find misrepresentation, misuse, and theft of the stories, styles, and material heritage of people who have been historically dominated and remain socially marginalized.” Matthes beliefs are shared throughout this world, it is less about being critical toward “style” and more about how appropriation can skew the actually meanings and overall image of culturally important figures, styles, and heritage. Culture appropriation can be done by anyone, from anywhere, of any background. It’s not something the only one specific race or set of people. People like to say that minorities such as blacks can’t culturally appropriate but that is not true. I have a personal friend who wears a kimono robe every single day. Most people like myself thought kimonos were originally a Chinese product. You have to willing to educate yourself. Through research I was able to learn that kimono’s originated in Japan. The kimono is always used in important festival or formal moments, it is the representative of polite and a very formal clothing. I personally am like Zendaya Coleman, I am not willing to try anything before I know exactly what is it, what it means, and why. Would you be willing to take a pill without knowing what was inside and how it would affect you? I don’t think anyone would. People should feel the same way when it comes to culture and appreciating it.
Alice Walker’s short creative nonfiction, Dreads uses imagery to convey her narrative about a hairstyle that was inspired by singer, Bob Marley. Dreads are defined as a “hairstyle in which the hair is washed, but not combed, and twisted while wet into braids or ringlets hanging down on all sides”, according to howtogetdreads.com. Imagery was chosen for this paper by the depth of Walker’s illustration of beauty that natural hair has that might seem to be abonnement or not professional by society standards. This reading sparks interests just by the title a lone. That people have mixed feeling about dreads, some might see it as being spiritual; or as a political statement. However, Walker loves the way her natural hair is supposed to form without
In the documentary “Good Hair”, Chris Rock covers a lot about different hair types and what women would do to their hair just to feel beautiful. He first decided to do this questionnaire because one day his daughter asked “how come I don’t have good hair?” Chris was very curious as to how she came up with that question so he sat out to find out. He went in salons, barber shops, and beauty supply stores to find out all the information he needed to know.
Rogers from defines cultural appropriation “as the use of a culture’s symbols, artifacts, genres, rituals, or technologies by members of another culture” then it divides cultural appropriation into four different categories which is cultural exchange, cultural dominance, cultural exploitation, and cultural transculturation. Then it includes how other people define cultural appropriation. I would like to use this article to help my reader understand not only what cultural appropriation is and how it is bad but other people’s point of views and how they see it.
Cultural appropriation has been a controversial subject of debate for decades; hence it is not something “new” as society likes to think. The issue of cultural appropriation seems to have recently emerged in the 21st century because technology has allowed information to be more widespread and easily accessed. The borrowing of cultural elements of minority cultures, particularly black culture and indigenous culture, (hairstyles, music, fashion, art, etc.) by fashion labels and designers, celebrities, and the dominant culture often elicits unforgiving backlash from liberals. For example, Kylie Jenner has frequently been called out by the black community for continuously
Hair Care is another popular africanism present in America for African americans. For african american woman going for a natural hairstyle is quite common. Dating back to pre-colonial africa a natural afro hair style defined status and identity. Different styles indicated certain qualitie...
In the article “What is Cultural Appropriation and Why is it Wrong? By Nadra Kareem Nittle and article “The Difference between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” by Jarune Uwujaren. It talks about how cultural appropriation and about people wearing and using other cultural things such as the style of the clothes. It is usually known as borrowing but now it is not just borrowing since people who wear things/ objects with meaning and significance from other cultures do not even know the meaning. However, in cultural exchange it is much different when someone uses or does something that other cultures do for example, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the U.S, but it is the Latinos that live in the U.S who are celebrating and they are proud
She set the theme of the article of expressing that straightening of black people hair is the denial of self acceptance in having the confidence of their individual features. She states “Heterosexual black women talked about the extent to which black men respond more favorably to women with straight or straighten hair” (Hooks 538). She explains how they try to please other people in trying to make themselves more beautiful to others they want to attract. This is a personal opinion. She makes a broad generalization that all black men are attracted to women that have straight hair. This statistic is not efficient because there are different men that are attracted to different styles. The majority of people do not change themselves because they want to appeal to others, but to make themselves feel better about their personal beauty.
In African American Studies/Literature I walked in thinking that I could be told nothing about African American culture or history because I’m African American. In some ways I knew that racism existed but I learned how it has been subtle in control the way we think. We have learned that colonization has not ended and that in many ways we are still being oppressed. In this paper I’m going to show how African American has used hip hop and black hair are two ways in which African Americans embrace their culture and fighting oppression. However, as we have review in many classes oppression is not easily escaped. So in this paper I’m going to show how cultural appropriation is used as a way of oppressing black culture. So this paper will be an expansion of what we have learned in the
Don’t touch my hair: this should be a sentiment simple enough to understand. However, for many black women this establishment of boundaries can be broken repeatedly and without any regard for personal space. Solange Knowles’ song “Don’t Touch My Hair” and accompanying music video takes this declaration of self and creates an anthem for the empowerment of black women and dismissal of microagressions, white beauty standards, jealousy and appropriation. Her lyrics emphasize the emotional connection that black women have to their hair. But, beyond this pride is an act of self-love militant and radical against white standards of beauty; or is this self-love subscribing to the notion that black women’s hair is an object detached from their personhood- objectifying themselves to other’s gazes and not subverting them? In order to answer this question, theories from Helen
One is bound to influence the other. Take New York’s music scene for example, it is a melting pot for all types of cultures and all thrive off of on another. But for one culture to take something from that culture and put it off as their own that is wrong. This is why cultural appropriation is a different problem all within itself. Cultural appropriation has next to nothing to do with someone’s exposure to different cultures. Cultural appropriation has more to do with the fact that someone from a privilege background or lifestyle exploiting someone’s culture from a less than privileged background hence Iggy Azalea, Katy Perry, Elvis Presley, and Miley Cyrus. This is more than often done through ethnic and racial means all while having little to no understanding of the history, experience, or
" This brings us to ‘Good Hair’, a 2009 documentary by Chris Rock that examines what the ongoing pursuit of ‘good’ hair says about African-American cultural identity and the hair-care industry. It investigated and revealed why black people across the ages have subjected themselves to sometimes dangerous, often painful practices in the pursuit of beautiful hair. It also looks into the dangers of many common hair-straightening treatments and reveals the alarmingly high cost of having ‘good’ hair. The social and psychological aspect of hair was delved in by the authors of Hair Story (2010), Tharps and Byrd note, since the beginning of African civilizations "hairstyles have been used to indicate a person's marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth, and rank within the community..... ...
Have you ever taken offense when you saw someone dressed in traditional garments from your culture? In America, this happens quite often. Some people may not recognize it and some refuse to acknowledge that it even exists. Cultural appropriation is a situation in which a dominant culture steals aspects of a minority culture’s, such as hair, clothing styles, and music.
Lee revealed that she once had a manager tell her that he loved everything about her and was considering hiring her, but her hair would be an issue. The manager, who worked for a Sacramento news station told her that her hair was “too aggressive” for his viewers (Starr 2014). Statements such as the one Lee received about her hair being too aggressive are the primary reason why some Black women feel the need to straighten and alter their hair.
During an interview with Channel 4, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said that “hair is a political thing”. Indeed, the way people wear their hair tell something about them. As the author said, if a black woman wears braids, people will have a certain image of her, as a radical, an artist, a traditional African woman and so on. It opens the debate on what society consider as beautiful. Most of the time, straight hair would be considered as beautiful and professional. In Americanah, Ifemelu has an
If the appreciation for different cultures is not done correctly, it can seem to be cultural appropriation. Any piece of a culture can be stolen, mocked, and disrespected, from music, clothing, food, etc. As a society with such a vast amount of cultures, it is important to know the difference between multiculturalism and cultural appropriation. We can unknowingly steal or disrespect another culture all while thinking we are appreciating the culture.