On The ContraryoptativeApril 13 2005, 19:51:25 UTC
Actually, I don't think the zine writers of the website are hysterical. Many people of color, including yours truly, find a lot of cultural appropriation offensive or at the very least, annoying. I think the zine writers had every reason to react the way they did. Don’t you think you would be pissed too if you suffered through decades of systemic oppression just to have your cultural practices become the new flavor of the week? As for appropriation being a physical matter, I don't think that it entirely accurate. What could be more physical than a hairstyle? I believe that appropriation of abstract cultural symbols is just as relevant and problematic. I am not too sure what you mean by "physical" appropriation.
Also, “the cultures that our ancestors have come into contact with” is rather euphemistic. By “contact” do you mean the peoples they enslaved, the people they eradicated or just the ones they colonized?
Becoming influenced by another culture is to be at least educated about the culture you are embracing. I have not met many sporting hairstyles like Mohawks, dreads or tattoos of Chinese characters who really know a lot about the cultural practices they are appropriating. I think the website addressed those issues: "A true appreciation of other cultures means fighting against the forces trying to destroy them, not taking them on as your own."
Assimilation is not a panacea for the oppression of minority cultures; it often spells death for them. What is assimilated by the punk kids and peace loving hippies in Seattle with their neon Mohawks and dreads is nothing more than a surface understanding that is becoming increasingly misunderstood. If this assimilation of culture is really conducive to the preservation of culture, we should be swimming in Mohawk and Rastafarian culture. Alas, last time I looked out the window, we were only swimming in white kids' rebellion fueled by images, practices they do not understand. Che Guevara is on every t shirt in Kensington, but does anyone really know about his legacy? Assimilation is not acceptance, appropriation is not celebration. It’s like when Madonna ripped off vogue from Harlem gay black culture and no one bothered to send them any royalties. What I’m trying to say is, the incorporation of others' cultural practices into mainstream society is not preservation of the culture. It is distortion and lack of respect. Saying that cultural appropriation preserves threatened cultures is tantamount to saying that in spite of a little sporadic genocide, the Conquistadors were really preserving indigenous culture by wearing Incan blankets.
Re: On The ContrarysynergisticaApril 14 2005, 07:30:19 UTC
Sorry, I hope I didn't imply that I thought assimilation was a solution to the oppression of cultures... I just meant that given the world circumstances today, it seems like a very difficult force to halt. I also didn't mean to imply that cultural practices seeping into main culture was a good way to preserve culture - I meant that perhaps while certain things are dissappearing, other things are surviving in a changed, evolved form, which may quite possibly change beyond all recognition, but the influence from something external was there, and that maybe that was better than having parts of different cultures dissapearing completely, without a trace. Do you see what I mean? Shades of gray I know...
Also, “the cultures that our ancestors have come into contact with” is rather euphemistic. By “contact” do you mean the peoples they enslaved, the people they eradicated or just the ones they colonized?
Becoming influenced by another culture is to be at least educated about the culture you are embracing. I have not met many sporting hairstyles like Mohawks, dreads or tattoos of Chinese characters who really know a lot about the cultural practices they are appropriating. I think the website addressed those issues: "A true appreciation of other cultures means fighting against the forces trying to destroy them, not taking them on as your own."
Assimilation is not a panacea for the oppression of minority cultures; it often spells death for them. What is assimilated by the punk kids and peace loving hippies in Seattle with their neon Mohawks and dreads is nothing more than a surface understanding that is becoming increasingly misunderstood. If this assimilation of culture is really conducive to the preservation of culture, we should be swimming in Mohawk and Rastafarian culture. Alas, last time I looked out the window, we were only swimming in white kids' rebellion fueled by images, practices they do not understand. Che Guevara is on every t shirt in Kensington, but does anyone really know about his legacy? Assimilation is not acceptance, appropriation is not celebration. It’s like when Madonna ripped off vogue from Harlem gay black culture and no one bothered to send them any royalties. What I’m trying to say is, the incorporation of others' cultural practices into mainstream society is not preservation of the culture. It is distortion and lack of respect. Saying that cultural appropriation preserves threatened cultures is tantamount to saying that in spite of a little sporadic genocide, the Conquistadors were really preserving indigenous culture by wearing Incan blankets.
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