Cultural Appropriation: Not A Myth, By James O. Young

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Cultural Appropriation: Not a Myth
Cultural appropriation is one of the most controversial and talked about issues in current social conversation. Almost everyone seems to have thoughts on it, but many find it difficult to give concise arguments about what specific acts constitute appropriation, and which ones do not. Partly, this is because many people who have a voice in determining what is generally considered cultural appropriation are not the ones being appropriated. This is also why there is a social argument about whether cultural appropriation is real or even problematic. It is impossible to truly grasp the seriousness and expansiveness of cultural appropriation when your culture is not getting appropriated. However, when one takes …show more content…

James O. Young published a piece in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism entitled “Profound Offense and Cultural Appropriation” in which he breaks cultural appropriation into three categories: subject appropriation, object appropriation, and content appropriation. Understanding these three categories can break down the different types of appropriation as well as help people learn what is and is not appropriation. Subject appropriation refers to when an outsider to the appropriated culture represents members or forms of that culture. An example of this kind of appropriation could be an upper-class white author writing a novel about the hardships of growing up in a poor, black neighborhood. Because the author does not have a background in this culture, they are appropriating it by making it the subject of money …show more content…

Katy Perry dons them in her music video for “This Is How We Do” and the Kardashians popularized the new style of “boxer braids” which are, in reality, cornrows that date back to ancient Africa. Braiding one’s hair into cornrows is, in itself, not technically cultural appropriation, but when these celebrities make money off of the style or rebrand the style and claim it as their own, that is appropriation, especially when cornrows and other black hairstyles are seen as unprofessional in when black people wear them, but high fashion when white celebrities do the same

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