Yes, yes, yes. Exactly, exactly, exactly. Thanks, Joel. Anyone who feels compelled to level accusations of appropriation would first do well to read your review and, better yet, the book itself, for healthy reminders of what constitutes "culture." Of course, when power, oppression, and/or mockery are evident, those are situations to decry (and modern sensibilities are sharply attuned to recognize those), but the vast, vast majority of expressions adopted and incorporated from other cultures into our own persist because they are valued, esteemed, and celebrated.
A wonderful summation. Fascinating to follow the movements — the innovations/inventions— through history. And almost impossible to make demarcations; the ‘blending’ can be so subtle.
That chart is good to see. I feel like I have this conversation with more and more people. I always try to find a nice way to say, "You don't understand how art works." It's good to see books like this coming out. Maybe we are reaching a tipping point on the assumption that all appropriation is bad. What's that Picasso said? "The good ones borrow. The best one steal" Sure, cover your tracks but that's the deal with art. One fun thing is country and blues both use some variation of a lap steel or slide playing but the concept for that is from Hawaii. Showing my daughter old bands is so funny. She finds a new band and loves it then I play her the band that influenced them. Crestfallen! Ha ha, yeah kiddo, it's just how it works.
Yes!! I remember a few scandals about people 'appropriating' the qipao (tight Chinese formal dress) - but the qipao would never have existed without the influence of Western flapper fashion in cosmopolitan, multicultural Shanghai. I think these accusations are mostly made by those who feel estranged from their ancestry and want to claim a part of it in postmodern US or UK - but I can't see a path forward for the concept of CA if it is to exist alongside that of a multicultural society
I’m no liberal, but I do believe in iron man vs straw man. This isn’t correct because it misses the fundamental point.
“A shorthand way of thinking: If a people developed a particular idea or practice, it’s theirs. If someone takes and runs with it for their own purposes, that’s appropriation.”
If this was the definition, you’re right. You win the argument. But it’s not. It’s missing the most important point of the appropriation argument. Which adds:
“When someone is looked down upon because of a cultural practice, but then the appropriating person is looked favorably upon.”
Here are some examples.
Braids on black women are unprofessional and looked down upon. However, a white celebrity is praised for their cool braid look.
Tacos are finger food are eating by dirty Mexican peasants. Then Glen Bell makes them and they are all the rage.
I don't profess to know anything about Cultural Appropriation, but if I write a story--as I have--about the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya during the 50s, is that Cultural Appropriation? By that same logic then, can you not say that the Tokyo Symphony playing Bach and Beethoven, is a Cultural Appropriation of Western Culture? Ludicrous, or what? As a writer, am I no longer allowed to write about different cultures? I suppose that means books like SHOGUN, TAI PAN, GAI JIN and NOBLE HOUSE should be thrown onto the fire, or at the least banned for eternity because they were written by a non-Asian? If I want to write ANYTHING that takes place in the past--say Rome, or Greece, Babylon, Carthage--I shouldn't? Again, that makes no sense. Cultures change with the times; languages change. If they didn't, why did they make the Rosetta Stone? I'm going to continue writing what interests me. If you want to say that a story I wrote is "Bad" or "Unacceptable" because I told a story about a White family in the Deep South during the Civil Rights movement, used the "N" word, showed the violence and hatred of one set of people towards another, where is the Cultural Appropriation? Is it because I'm white? Because I'm white, I have no right telling the story of someone of colour? I'm not allowed to do a retelling of GUNGA DIN in prose, because I'm White? I'm married to a Fijian Indian. I probably know more about it than the average White man, but can't write about it? I'm supposed to write about what I know? My parents were Fresh Off the Boat immigrants who came to Canada after the War. My father purposely chose to come here, rather than the US. Canadian Culture and American are different. We have different words and expressions we use when we speak. So I shouldn't write about Americans because that would be Cultural Appropriation. I don't know how someone in Kentucky lives anymore than he knows anything about Montreal. Who comes up with this stuff? I say if I offend you, get over it. Nothing's going to happen. Your feelings will be hurt, and that's it. Either turn the page or close the book. But don't make a big deal out of it.
Yes, yes, yes. Exactly, exactly, exactly. Thanks, Joel. Anyone who feels compelled to level accusations of appropriation would first do well to read your review and, better yet, the book itself, for healthy reminders of what constitutes "culture." Of course, when power, oppression, and/or mockery are evident, those are situations to decry (and modern sensibilities are sharply attuned to recognize those), but the vast, vast majority of expressions adopted and incorporated from other cultures into our own persist because they are valued, esteemed, and celebrated.
A wonderful summation. Fascinating to follow the movements — the innovations/inventions— through history. And almost impossible to make demarcations; the ‘blending’ can be so subtle.
That chart is good to see. I feel like I have this conversation with more and more people. I always try to find a nice way to say, "You don't understand how art works." It's good to see books like this coming out. Maybe we are reaching a tipping point on the assumption that all appropriation is bad. What's that Picasso said? "The good ones borrow. The best one steal" Sure, cover your tracks but that's the deal with art. One fun thing is country and blues both use some variation of a lap steel or slide playing but the concept for that is from Hawaii. Showing my daughter old bands is so funny. She finds a new band and loves it then I play her the band that influenced them. Crestfallen! Ha ha, yeah kiddo, it's just how it works.
Yes!! I remember a few scandals about people 'appropriating' the qipao (tight Chinese formal dress) - but the qipao would never have existed without the influence of Western flapper fashion in cosmopolitan, multicultural Shanghai. I think these accusations are mostly made by those who feel estranged from their ancestry and want to claim a part of it in postmodern US or UK - but I can't see a path forward for the concept of CA if it is to exist alongside that of a multicultural society
I’m no liberal, but I do believe in iron man vs straw man. This isn’t correct because it misses the fundamental point.
“A shorthand way of thinking: If a people developed a particular idea or practice, it’s theirs. If someone takes and runs with it for their own purposes, that’s appropriation.”
If this was the definition, you’re right. You win the argument. But it’s not. It’s missing the most important point of the appropriation argument. Which adds:
“When someone is looked down upon because of a cultural practice, but then the appropriating person is looked favorably upon.”
Here are some examples.
Braids on black women are unprofessional and looked down upon. However, a white celebrity is praised for their cool braid look.
Tacos are finger food are eating by dirty Mexican peasants. Then Glen Bell makes them and they are all the rage.
Great read!
"Adopting and adapting cultural products from near and far is how cultures develop." - Love this!
This is how art gets made. How creativity lives, breathes, and thrives.
I don't profess to know anything about Cultural Appropriation, but if I write a story--as I have--about the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya during the 50s, is that Cultural Appropriation? By that same logic then, can you not say that the Tokyo Symphony playing Bach and Beethoven, is a Cultural Appropriation of Western Culture? Ludicrous, or what? As a writer, am I no longer allowed to write about different cultures? I suppose that means books like SHOGUN, TAI PAN, GAI JIN and NOBLE HOUSE should be thrown onto the fire, or at the least banned for eternity because they were written by a non-Asian? If I want to write ANYTHING that takes place in the past--say Rome, or Greece, Babylon, Carthage--I shouldn't? Again, that makes no sense. Cultures change with the times; languages change. If they didn't, why did they make the Rosetta Stone? I'm going to continue writing what interests me. If you want to say that a story I wrote is "Bad" or "Unacceptable" because I told a story about a White family in the Deep South during the Civil Rights movement, used the "N" word, showed the violence and hatred of one set of people towards another, where is the Cultural Appropriation? Is it because I'm white? Because I'm white, I have no right telling the story of someone of colour? I'm not allowed to do a retelling of GUNGA DIN in prose, because I'm White? I'm married to a Fijian Indian. I probably know more about it than the average White man, but can't write about it? I'm supposed to write about what I know? My parents were Fresh Off the Boat immigrants who came to Canada after the War. My father purposely chose to come here, rather than the US. Canadian Culture and American are different. We have different words and expressions we use when we speak. So I shouldn't write about Americans because that would be Cultural Appropriation. I don't know how someone in Kentucky lives anymore than he knows anything about Montreal. Who comes up with this stuff? I say if I offend you, get over it. Nothing's going to happen. Your feelings will be hurt, and that's it. Either turn the page or close the book. But don't make a big deal out of it.