Cultural Appropriation Essay

Cultural Appropriation is when one’s culture takes another’s principles of their culture as their own (Welsh 2002: 21). There have been many disputes, whether if this is ethical or not. Cultural appropriation is something that is not recognized in everyday situations (Osteroff 2017). Certain trends nowadays from different cultures are shared with other cultures (Bolam 2017). It is as if it is a norm; especially in western culture, where people live in a multi-cultural society without noticing it. The effects of oppression and social structures is what forms cultural appropriation in society.

When one thinks about the history of cultural appropriation, one could say through the effects of colonialism, other cultures that have been colonized

For example the corporate world, people believe that black people with braids aren’t an accepted form of professionalism (Sini 2016). Not only is this a form of cultural appropriation, but also a form of ethnocentrism. An example of cultural appropriation is when Katy Perry made her hair into braids, which she gotten a lot of negative feedback for cultural appropriation (Floria 2016). She later had to apologize because she didn’t know about the fact that man black women have been persecuted for having braids (Floria 2016). This not only shows cultural appropriation, but the lack of awareness in today’s society that people don’t know how the post-colonial effects affected many marginalized groups (Osteroff

Some people think it is okay to do certain things because they believe they are representing equality and make other cultures look good when it is shared. Some people try to reprsenet cultures respectfully through cultural exchange, which is where a lot of people get confused with. Cultural exchange is when there is a mutual understanding between both cultures. An example of cultural exchange is when a white female is invited to an Indian wedding. The white female comes to the wedding in a sari; which shows a respectful understanding between both parties. It isn’t something that is worn because of the experience, but rather to show respect to the culture. The manner one would present themselves in this case would be as any other house guest. One mustn’t act as if they are the honoured guest, or draw any attention. Cultural exchange isn’t when one tries to embrace one’s culture and try to share their culture with the other party. An example is just because Indians who wear suits doesn’t make white people to wear saris. Not every culture has allowed themselves to be explored. This also further emphasizes that even in the corporate world that certain hairstyles and clothing are unacceptable. Just because we are in a multicultural country, not everything is expressed in the rightful