Appropriation Of African American Culture

Racial and cultural appropriation has become increasingly significant in society within the past 30 years. “The idea of “cultural appropriation” has recently entered mainstream

Cultural appropriation is not seen exclusively in dance but rather a multitude of pop culture. For example in fashion. Fashion is a huge part of today's culture, and many designers created their clothing through the inspiration of other objects and or culture. Appropriation begins to

According to Oxford Dictionary, cultural appropriation is defined as the inappropriate adoption of the customs of one people by members of a more dominant people. This can be especially dangerous due to the distortion and disconnection of a culture’s custom from its roots. However, at the same time, cultural appropriation can lead to cultural exchange which is beneficial to the overall development of the world because different cultural groups can connect to others through cultural similarities. An example of this is when former President Barack Obama, in 2016, held the first ever Diwali celebration in the White House. Although this was an attempt for America to appropriate Indian culture, at no point did I feel offended or mocked. As an American Indian, this made me garner a feeling of great pride for both my country (USA) and for my ethnic background. Therefore, cultural exchange/appreciation is the act of sharing cultural practices between different groups of people. Nonetheless, there is a fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. The issue of this boundary can be explored in the rap industry which is dealing with an influx of multicultural attention. Rap, historically, was an artform founded and pioneered by the African American community. Recently, there has been a surge in the participation of whites in rap. Robert Clift's 2010 documentary, Blacking Up, investigates the issues of cultural exchange and appropriation in the hip hop

However, Huffington post journalist Olufunmilayo Arewa clarifies this when she says, “When patterns of borrowing fail to acknowledge their sources and compensate them, they can be categorized as cultural appropriation” (Arewa). This mostly relates to intellectual property copyrights such as books, music, art, etc. When ethnic majorities reap the profits of a stolen idea from a marginalized culture, it is then considered cultural appropriation. It does not mean that people cannot be inspired by that culture or attempt to replicate it with their own spin on it, but rather, they should not poach on minorities’ works and claim it as their own. Arewa also clarifies that it is appropriate and normal for cultures to impact each other when she says, “The reality of human experience is that borrowing and cultural mixture are widespread” (Arewa). Since America is a “melting pot”, as mentioned before, multiculturalism effects on rap should be expected, including rappers not of African descent. Rap is one of those areas that whites can participate in, but they should not rip-off other artists styles or

In America, cultural appropriation has been a prominent topic in the media. From the afro in the 70’s and perms in the 80’s, some ethnic groups see some ethnic groups culture fashionable and “aesthetic.” Though not intended, those specific groups (mostly African American and Native American cultures) see this as a form of mockery and feel discredited when someone with power in the media takes a certain style and profits. I believe that if you take a specific item out of it’s original context it is cultural appropriation by using certain items in the media as everyday

Cultural appropriation is a huge topic, within today’s society, many question what is cultural appropriation and what is not. The definition of cultural appropriation is, “....the use of ideas, symbols, artifacts, images, objects, etc., derived from contact between different cultures. It often implies a negative view towards the minority culture by the dominant one and is often culturally insensitive”(Biron). Examples of cultural appropriation would be portraying a culture through stereotypical depictions of them or wearing a culture as a ‘trend’. Another example would be wearing a headdress to portray a Native American or wearing a sombrero and a poncho to depict a Mexican. Just those words sound degrading and racist each of these ethnicities. Many think it is socially acceptable to be insensitive to a culture, because they classify the appropriation as them appreciating the culture. Cultural appropriation shows only the stereotypical view of culture and has no regards to the actual culture. Many look at the cultures as inspiration for ideas, but that does not mean to steal the ideas completely. Cultural appropriation is not only insensitive, but also racist. Blackface, for example, was used to portray an African American by painting the face of an non-black actor black. The NFL team Redskins uses an offensive and racist word to label their team; their mascot is a “Native American” wearing headdress. First and foremost, not all Native American cultures wear headdresses, these depictions of Native culture show natives as all the same. Minorities have faced appropriation for decades, but why did this problem only recently come about?

According to theodysseyonline, “there's a very fine line between the two. Appreciating aspects of a culture means understanding the history while appropriating means picking and choosing parts of a culture to turn into a prop or costume”. Many artists in the media have made music videos that are fantastic examples of culture appropriation. In 2014, Katy Perry released the music video for “This is How We Do” Perry received great backlash because of the amount of culture appropriation was very… well…

1. Amandla Stenberg defines cultural appropriation as a rampant phenomenon, which it occurs when the appropriator does not have a deep understanding of the significance of a certain culture. Then use this culture as a part of their artworks. 2. The widespread appropriation of hip hop culture rises the movement called “Black Lives Matter”, which is an institutional racism, when the time the police department as an institution brutality against black people.

We all know Miley Cyrus, the former child star whose loud and awkward transition into adulthood reached its climax with her performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. From major news outlets and pop culture tabloids to social media, all anyone could talk about in the following days was Cyrus and her attempt at twerking. Due to this notorious live performance and Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” music video where she is once again seen twerking while surrounded by black backup dancers watching her in awe, Cyrus has been criticized for using both black women and black cultural elements as props (grills for example) in order to add authenticity to her hood persona (Stewart, 2013).

The term appropriationism reflects the overproduction of reproductions by copying, imitating, repeating, quoting, and adapting pre-existing names, concepts and forms. Often this becomes unavoidable when multiple cultures come together, cultural appropriation can include using other cultures traditions, fashion, symbols, language, and cultural images without permission. For example - a well-known appropriation artist Richard Prince, altered and incorporated a number of Carious photographs into a series of paintings and collages titled Canal Zone, which Prince exhibited in 2008 at New Yorks Gagosian

In fact, the charges of cultural appropriation are being hurled at every corner on the Unite. States: the art museum, the restaurant, the movie theater, the novel and, especially, the college campus. (Bari). I have met some appreciation in my life. As Ellison’s opinion, “the majority of cultural appropriation occurs during Halloween, when people think it's acceptable to don offensive dress. Many put on blackface, or brownface, as part of their costumes. Others simply come up with costumes meant to insult and demean another ethnicity or culture”. During the last Halloween, I met some white people who wore in ninja outfits in college during the Halloween. However, the outfits they wore actually did not show the real meaning of ninja. They merely cosplayed the characters of a Japanese animation named NARUTO. The real ninja is masked, and wear in black and looks low-key. Nonetheless, the costumes they wore in were more colorful and various. Those people do not really understand the histories of ninja, the reason why they wore in ninja outfits was simply, they thought it was interesting. Their behavior is similar to what Katy Perry has did. They altered others’ cognition to ninja as well. They may not tend to do it, but it was no denying that they appropriated from Japanese culture. Nowadays the phenomenon is common in Unite. States. However, nothing could be the excuse of neglecting other cultures and adopting them in an insensible manner. It is important to note that appreciation involves respect and value. It's okay to find things beautiful. It's better to appreciate it and learn more about it. Especially before you put an article of clothing on. Understanding the cultures sufficiently and avoiding appropriation are imperative before applying it. Otherwise, one’s ignorance would be revealed and shows rudeness. In a word, the situation of cultural appropriation should be

Cultural appropriation, whether it be intentional or not, should be avoided at all costs because cultural appropriation allows our society to continue to (1) express appreciation for a culture, but not for its people, (2) glorify those who adopt features of the oppressed cultured group but discredits its members. (Thesis)

Pop culture fully embraces, encourages, and reinforced commodifying blackness. As Hooks said, “blackness primarily in a commodified form that can then be possessed, owned, controlled, and shaped by the consumer and not with an engagement in black culture that might require one to be a participant and therefore to be in some way transformed by what you are consuming as opposed to being merely a buyer” (Hooks, Cultural Criticism & Transformation). This is commonly seen within the entertainment industry. Many white artists force the “commonsense” message that it is okay to pick and choose what facet of black culture to use for their personal benefit. These white artist culturally appropriate black culture, and use the culture as a come up to save their failing careers to or to stay relevant, and then once they achieve their goal they discard black culture. Furthermore, when they get called out for their shenanigans they play the ‘victim’ or claim they did not know the harm they were causing. They cover up their disrespect with fake apologies and they want to be coddled and educated, which

Cultural appropriation defines as someone taking or borrowing aspects of another culture that is not their own. Author Lilly Workneh gives a clear definition when stating, “Appropriation [of a culture] occurs when a style leads to racist [assumptions and] generalizations…where it originated, but is deemed as high-fashion, cool, or funny when the privileged take it for themselves” (Workneh). Whether it is intentional or not, appropriating a culture involves partaking in the continuation of disempowering certain groups that are typically already marginalized within society. In spite of the slight confusion, cultural appropriation is far more than the idea of pizza merging from Italian immigrants and eventually becoming a food many people label as American. Many people tend to make the argument that there is no such thing as stealing a culture and that a culture is not a tangible object that some groups of people have the automatic right to claim and others do not. However, people in favor of cultural appropriation typically do not see that there is a difference between the appreciation and subtle appropriation of cultures. Appreciation of a culture does differ from cultural appropriation in many ways. There is a fine line between the two, but that fine line is still considered paramount within society. To simply put it, cultural appropriation is when somebody attempts to adopt specific aspects of a culture that they do not belong to. On the topic of appropriating a culture it

People from distinct ethnicities are protesting against cultural appropriation because they think that celebrities from another ethnicity are stealing their cultural acting as if it is trivial to them. These people are feeling disdainful towards the people who are flaunting their appearances around