Cultural
Appropriation sounds like a very simple term: Culture+ Appropriation. However,
the ideas and meanings that it brings to bear are some of the most complicated
that the world deals with as far as international communication is
concerned.
Cultural
Appropriation has been used to mean many things: The word, as explained by
Wikipedia and dictionary.com, is the act of taking elements of one culture and
practicing it in another cultural setting by members of the other culture. This
makes no specific reference to whether one culture or the other is a ‘major’ or
a ‘minor’ culture. Its opposite, Cultural Misappropriation on the other hand is
the act of adopting elements of one culture and practicing it in another
cultural setting by members of the other culture with the intention of mocking
the adopted culture. The original meaning of cultural misappropriation does not
make any specific references to a major or a minor culture.
However,
typical of International Relations, the power play between peripheral and
semi-peripheral countries features prominently in the case of Cultural
Appropriation such that the term ‘Cultural Appropriation’ has been used to mean
‘Cultural Misappropriation’, specifically practiced by major cultures against
minor cultures. Consequently, the real meaning of Cultural Appropriation has
been rendered almost non-existent, while the misappropriation of major cultures by
people from minor cultures have been rendered almost insignificant.
Practically, Cultural Appropriation is
an idea about the misrepresentation of minor cultures by people from major
cultures in the country of the major cultures, with the sole aim to ridicule
the minor culture. - Nothing else seems to matter as far as the meaning of the term is
concerned.
The term Cultural Appropriation in itself is not problematic. However, its influence on
inter-cultural relationships among individuals and small groups, as well as the
sensitivity it sparks especially on the internet is daunting.
Indeed, Cultural Appropriation-the adoption of elements of one culture by a person from
another and used in the setting of the other’s culture, is inevitable. However,
this simple day to day practice spotted around the world, has become the source
of hypersensitive inter-cultural debates.
