Cultural Appropriation: Know it to avoid it

You walk into a musty South Oakland basement. To your left and right you see your fellow classmates dressed up for Halloween.

Amongst the princesses, soccer players and superheroes, you see a few people wearing Native American headdresses with red paint smeared on their faces. Some other students are wearing hijabs.

“It’s just for fun,” they’ll say.

What they don’t realize, however, is that they’re mocking the cultures in which these traditional headpieces originated.

What if the students were wearing the headdress to honor Native Americans or the hijab to honor Muslim women? Well, there is a difference between dressing up as Sacagawea to honor her bravery and just putting on a headdress and some red paint. Likewise, there is a difference between dressing up as Razia Sultan in honor of her strong leadership and throwing on a hijab and calling it a costume.

That difference is cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is a difficult phrase to universally define. It takes on many different definitions depending on whom you ask. Some see it as a very significant concept while others believe it holds no merit.

The confusing thing about cultural appropriation is that anything can be seen as cultural appropriation if enough people claim that it is.Because the phrase cultural appropriation is a socially constructed word such as “racism,”“oppression” or “justice,” its meaning changes based on the person.

By splicing the definitions of culture and appropriation together, we can define cultural appropriation as the action of taking the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement of another collective group for one’s own use.

But this definition seems vague. Who determines the members of a collective group — the member, the government, a paper bag? What counts as intellectual achievement — certain clothes, a certain style of speaking, a specific way of completing a task? If two people of different groups come up with the same intellectual achievement, which group claims the achievement? Because cultural appropriation is so hard to concretely define, many people do not understand what it is and how it can be damaging.

Akilah Hughes, also known as SmoothieFreak on YouTube, defines cultural appropriation with a pointed statement.

“[Cultural appropriation is] when you hijack part of a culture for personal use, without permission, not out of respect or tribute but because, oh my god, headdresses are so cute,” she says in her YouTube video, “White Party – A Lesson in Cultural Appropriation.”

In the video, she demonstrates cultural appropriation using the example of a “White Party” — an idea based on theme parties typically held in white culture, but are instead spun to portray stereotypes of white people, and displayed by people of color.

But she ultimately trivializes cultural appropriation when she likens it to throwing a themed party like a “fiesta” or “pimps and hoes” party — pimps and hoes do not have a race and can be found in some form in almost every culture.

She then invalidates her argument by making a video titled “Common White Girl Tag,” where she essentially mocks white girls and their stereotypes.

Although Akilah shined light on the detriments of cultural appropriation, the mainstream media misrepresents what the issue actually is by being hypocritical.

Maisha Johnson, a writer for EverydayFeminism.com, explains cultural appropriation in her article, “What’s Wrong with Cultural Appropriation?,” by describing the way cultural appropriation leads to negative situations.

Those who identify with a minority group in America are hurt and disgusted by the use of their culture by others because they are usually not given credit for the ideas that stemmed from their culture. Because of this lack of credit, the minority group will be barred from certain benefits such as money or recognition and their future generations might never know the important impact their people had.

For example, Marc Jacobs recently “created” a new trend he termed mini buns — very similar to bantu knots, a popular hairstyle used by Africans and the black community. Whether he realizes it or not, Marc Jacobs is culturally appropriating because he is trying to take credit for a hairstyle that has been used by African women for many centuries.

Many black women, myself included, have been told by other people and the media that when we wear hairstyles such as bantu knots and braids they look unprofessional, dirty and unkempt. So it is very hurtful to see that these styles are deemed high fashion when “created” by a white man and worn by white supermodels. If nobody had brought attention to this, Marc Jacobs might have gone down in history for inventing the “mini bun,” profiting from this appropriated hairstyle.

A person is culturally appropriating if they knowingly use another group’s cultural elements to make a profit or garner recognition without acknowledging the other group — sometimes, this practice comes in the form of comedic commentary and can be falsely attributed as a “social benefit”.

If you are profiting by using practices or artifacts specific to another culture — selling clothing or jewelry, producing music, etc. —  you should take the time to understand the meaning, ensure that nothing sacred to a culture is being desecrated, and give credit to the people of that culture.

An example of what constitutes cultural appropriation is the story of Rachel Dolezal, a biologically white woman who identifies as black, and advocates on behalf of blacks. Race is a social construct that relates to the way that humans identify each other. People of similar races and ethnicities usually develop a sense of solidarity with each other that can sometimes give way to racism. Skin color, hair texture, mannerisms and speech are all indicators of a person’s race and, more often than not, play significant roles in how a person is treated by others.

Dolezal knew this. Osamudia James, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law wrote in her article, “Let’s Talk about Rachel Dolezal,” “[Dolezal] appropriated a black identity to gain status and influence in a community that isn’t actually her own.”

What Dolezal did is considered cultural appropriation because she used the identity and mannerism of a culture that is not biologically her own in order to gain recognition and influence.

Cultural appropriation is all about the intent and credit. Some items such as a hijab or Native American headdress are specific to a certain people and hold special meaning and value.

Accept that you cannot be a part of everything and that some things are off limits to you because of your race or religion.

Instead of having theme parties centered around a specific culture where people dress up most likely as exaggerated stereotypes, throw a party in celebration of a culture by highlighting the meaning behind different symbols important to that culture.

If you cannot do that, it might be best to just stop throwing theme parties altogether. Finally, use judgment when evaluating whether or not something is offensive, but do not feel the need to limit yourself to your own specific culture to avoid offending people.

Cultural ideas, practices and artifacts should be freely exchanged, and different groups of people should be allowed to partake in cultures that are not expressly their own. When labeling instances as cultural appropriation, it is important to realize that no group can hold a monopoly on an intellectual achievement or art.

Take rap music, for example. Yes, rap music stemmed out of black oppression beginning in New York City in the early 1970s and is deeply embedded in black culture — but this does not mean that it must stay there. Other races should not be barred from integrating the styles of rap music into their culture.

If every group could only use what other credit their group with discovering, we would all be very deprived and primitive. Only Egyptians would be able to wear eyeliner — eyeliner first appeared in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Only Arabians would be able to drink coffee — the Arabs were the first to cultivate and trade coffee. Only Europeans would be able to fly — Sir George Cayley designed the first fixed winged flying machine.

Not everything is cultural appropriation, and not everything should be taken offensively. Instead of trying to segregate cultures and function as separate races of people, let’s share and learn from each other and operate as a single race — the human race

Write to Ogechukwu at ogo1@pitt.edu.