Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation is when someone intentionally or unintentionally takes and exploits part of a culture that is not their own. It can mean using ideas, cultural customs, or clothing inappropriately and without permission.

In the United States, cultural appropriation typically occurs across race, where the dominant white culture takes elements from the cultures of Black people, Indigenous people, or people of color, for their own benefit without the consent of the people who belong to that culture.

Rather than honoring or respecting the culture it is taking from, cultural appropriation causes harm to the culture and the people who claim it as their way of life.

Susan Scafidi, law professor and author of “Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law,” defines cultural appropriation as:

“Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else’s culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture’s dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It’s most likely to be harmful when the source community is a ​minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g., sacred objects.”

LET’S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE

A key component of cultural appropriation is when those who are in a position of power or privilege commodify cultural customs or traditions that are not their own for the sake of being fashionable, trendy, or simply for profit.

Sometimes acts of cultural appropriation can be blatant, such as when non-Indigenous people attempt to recreate Indigenous ceremonies for profit.

An extreme example of this is self-proclaimed “guru” James Arthur Ray. Ray was attempting to profit off of Indigenous cultural traditions and ceremonies without having any connection to Indigenous peoples. In 2011, Ray was convicted of three counts of negligent homicide after three participants died in his faux sweat lodge ceremony.

Acts of cultural appropriation can also be more subtle and occur every day.

We see countless examples of this when white celebrities and influencers wear their hair in dreadlocks, box braids, or styles that are specific to Black culture and tradition.

According to journalist Wanna Thompson, “instead of appreciating Black culture from the sidelines, there’s this need to own it, to participate in it without wanting the full experience of Blackness and the systemic discrimination that comes with it.”