Cultural Appropriation

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Contextual Quote

"Was the Jimi Hendrix Experience a black act or a white one? How about Cypress Hill (B-Real is Latino)? How about Jurassic 5 (Cut Chemist is white)? How about Guns ‘n’ Roses (Slash is half black)? Reifying “cultural appropriation” requires you to go around quantifying aggregate phenotypic and ancestral material in a manner that typifies obsolete race science."

- Franklin Einspruch [1]


Description

Franklin Einspruch:

"“Cultural appropriation” is hard to define because it isn’t real. A given culture joins the people who engage seriously in that culture. One can talk about rap being a black thing, or the hora being a Jewish thing, or kaiju movies being a Japanese thing, and so on—but the relationships are that of association, not ownership. Culture doesn’t belong to you; you belong to a culture. What does not belong to you cannot be, as Braswell puts it, “taken.”

Culture can, however, be copied, emulated, and adapted—with varying levels of success and sensitivity. If someone adapts the culture with which you affiliate, and the results are cynical, hollow, frivolous, or “cringe,” it is reasonable to feel distaste. But the result hasn’t failed because they “appropriated” or copied a form of cultural expression; everything is copied. It failed because its creator could not adequately cohere technique, feeling, and content. The correct descriptor, in this instance, is “bad art.

...

As far as we know, every people of the earth in every era produced visual culture, styling and modifying their bodies, adorning themselves, and producing durable objects of representation and abstraction. New culture came about the way new people came about—by mixing. The anti-appropriationists of today sound much like the anti-miscegenationists of the past, taking for granted that racial groups have clear borders and ought not be seen in public to combine. The pro-human approach is to allow such combinations, whether at the personal or cultural level. Not all mixing will work out well, just as not all relationships will work out well. But the successes deliver new kinds of life and new kinds of art, and justify the failures. To oppose “cultural appropriation,” is, in a sense, to oppose life.”

(https://fairforall.substack.com/p/cultural-appropriation-isnt-real?)


Typology

Franklin Einspruch:

"His first guideline, for example, “Never use other countries or cultures that are not your own as jokes or costumes (e.g., wearing a sombrero at your Cinco de Mayo party),” was tested in real time by one brave soul who did exactly that. Donning a sombrero, poncho, and a cartoonishly fake mustache, he roamed around the campus of UCLA asking students whether they found his outfit offensive. Many of them did. He then went to Olvera Street in Los Angeles and asked the same question to Mexican people there. They did not. Such antics are indeed likely to offend some people, even some Mexican Americans. What this case highlights, however, is how often well-meaning white people are the most outspoken on the supposed harms of “cultural appropriation,” despite the people they are trying to defend having no issue with it at all.

Braswell’s second guideline is, “Don’t misrepresent traditional or sacred elements of a culture that have profound meaning for its members (e.g. wearing a Native American warrior headdress to a music festival).” In fact, most of the complaints against cultural appropriation pertain to material that is only “traditional” in the sense of habit, sometimes not even long standing habit. Take, for instance, braids. Does anyone think that the world is being made a better place for black people by the regular attacks on K-pop stars for their hairstyles? Are South Koreans a “dominant culture” with respect to American blacks? How “traditional” are hoop earrings? How “sacred” is carrying a baby in a wrap?

The third guideline, “If you are engaging with another culture, make sure you are engaged with its members and see how you can use your platform to benefit their interests,” as well as the fourth, “Don’t allow cultural appropriation to fuel profits without acknowledging the contributions and historical origins of a cultural product—and where possible, work to share those profits with the communities you’re engaging with” have similar issues. In 2014, the metal band Mastodon shot a video for their song “The Motherload.” It begins with the kind of dungeon and devil-worship imagery that has been cliché in metal videos since the 1980s, and is later overtaken by the royalty of the Atlanta twerking scene. This was, for the record, hilarious—an intentional, good-natured prank on metal. Mastodon was ripped so hard for “cultural appropriation” that the star dancer of the video, an utter goddess named Jade, publicly defended it. “Ask us if it was racist or sexist,” she said. “We were the ones right there experiencing it. I’ll tell you from my view: no.” Though it shouldn’t have been, that defense was necessary because community engagement and payment to those involved were not enough to stop the charges of wrongdoing from those who believe “cultural appropriation” is a legitimate grievance. It seems that Braswell’s third and fourth guidelines are conditional, at best."

(https://fairforall.substack.com/p/cultural-appropriation-isnt-real?)