In defence of cultural appropriation

Subject: RE: In defence of cultural appropriation
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 13 Oct 15 - 01:13 PM

So me wearing a Nehru jacket or Fairisle sweater is cultural appropriation? or is the line drawn elsewhere?

Subject: RE: In defence of cultural appropriation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 13 Oct 15 - 12:48 PM

Hack journalist with 2000 words to fill succeeds in stringing together enough platitudes. This needs to go viral, does it?

Subject: RE: In defence of cultural appropriation
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Oct 15 - 11:32 AM

PS - if a mod is aware of Azizi's contact details it might be helpful to have her input.

Subject: RE: In defence of cultural appropriation
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Oct 15 - 11:31 AM

It seems partly to be about musical appropriation - so probably does belong above the line. But a lot of it is about matters of appearance and matters of cultural significance, the misuse (usually merely through ignorance) of culturally significant symbols.

I have started to canvass the issues with my G/F (who is Yoruba).

To my mind it is odd that there are a bunch of twerps like the racist historian who object to the fact, as he put it, that the English are becoming black. What he really meant was that England was seeing some increase in behaviour similar to that of certain sections of Jamaican urban ghettoes.

Then of course there are people like me who object to the Americanisation of English culture, seeing it as a form of colonialism - while I always liked the Rolling Stones.

The current objections, I think, are in part merely as petty as the childish accusation of "copycat". But in part they are more serious. Not only does much cultural appropriation undermine the cultural identities of those systematically exploited in the past (and now and so exploited again) but it risks corrupting the meaning of aspects of historically rooted cultural behaviour. Tribal tattoos that represent important rites of passage in societies are stolen for mere decoration - and their meanings may be lost. Mind you I don't suppose that the cultural ivory anklets worn by some African women to indicate that they have successfully borne ten children will become as popular.

But on the other hand traditional-minded Afrikans have much for which to thank the African diaspora. For example a considerable amount of the learning of traditional Afrikan belief systems has returned to Africa from the diaspora - albeit in some cases modified and given a syncretic form.

To my mind more important is that African-Americans must surely be free to reflect the cultural symbols of their ancestors (even if I will never enthuse about animal sacrifice in African belief systems). With what cultural history should they associate if not that?

At the moment I am not clear whether I approve or disapprove in general - but I am clear that if one wishes to reference a set of cultural beliefs one should be careful not to distort them, and know what one is doing. This seems to me sometimes to get lost.

Subject: RE: In defence of cultural appropriation
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Oct 15 - 11:08 AM

Interesting stuff, Dave, with some relevance to how we all choose and make our music.

I wonder what the black New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian guys think about it all! Cultural appropriation on an exuberant and wondrous scale!

Subject: In defence of cultural appropriation
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Oct 15 - 10:56 AM

Interesting article in The New Statesman

Only flicked through myself but, from what I read, I generally agree with the authors leanings. I will read it in more depth later but I thought I would post it here in advance.

Cheers

DtG