Cultural Appropriation Examples

Describe a problem that you’ve solved or like to solve... it can be intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma. explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution

In Western culture, people seldom realize the amount of cultural appropriation that occurs around them. Westerners are blinded by cultural mockery and cultural appropriation without realizing its offensive effects to minority groups. During the Halloween holiday, in Western culture, people of all ages dress up in a variety of costumes such as horror themed, fairy tale themed, job themed, cultural themed and much more. Harvard University members have argued that a cultural themed costume is a form of cultural appropriation. Also in Western culture, in the music industry, white artists have utilized and exploited aspects from minority cultures to boost their fame. Costumes, props, ideas, music, and others considered as cultural appropriation is often overlooked but it is apparent when closely examined.

As our country evolves with different cultures from around the world, people are unaware of the fine-line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. So, what is cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation is when members of a dominate culture, mainly white, borrow from the cultures of minority groups without their input. While there are many people who feel disrespected by others using their culture, there are still people who appreciate and value ones culture.

The authors goal of the text was to discuss cultural appropriation. She uses African American culture as the primary example for inappropriate and misuses of their culture. The paper

Cultural appropriation is disrespectful to those belonging to the minority culture. A blatant example of cultural appropriation shown in

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

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?

Cultural appropriation defines as someone from one culture taking or borrowing aspects of another culture that is not their own. “Appropriation occurs when a style leads to the racial [assumptions and] generalizations…where it [may have stemmed from], but is deemed as high-fashion, cool, or funny when the privileged take it for themselves” (Stenburg). 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. Cultural appropriation does differ from cultural appropriation, there is a fine line between the two, but nonetheless, they are two different things.

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…

Cultural appropriation is “the adoption or theft of icons, rituals, aesthetic standards, and behavior from one culture or subculture to another” according to Unsettling America: Decolonization in Theory & Practice.

A new year is soon approaching and we as a society have made so much advancement, where even simple tasks such as walking is made simple by hoverboards. Despite all this; however, we are still lacking in some areas and have yet much to improve on. One is cultural misappropriation, it is so prevalent in our society and most don’t even know and see it as something wrong or that they are even doing it. Cultural misappropriation is essentially a misrepresentation and misrepresentation of another's culture that isn’t your own. And this is wrong because it negatively affects and offends the culture being taken advantage of. And we are flooded with cultural misappropriation in our everyday lives from brands and companies to even celebrities.

1. Describe a problem you have solved. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma—anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took to identify a solution.

Every single person belongs to, or comes from, a specific culture. When people steal aspects from that culture, typically clothing, that theft is called cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation also happens when a dominant culture takes aspects of a culture that has been oppressed by the dominant culture. Today, cultural appropriation is especially common in media, the fashion industry, and even the music industry. Often, garments of clothing—or even sacred items—are used in the wrong way, or even sexualized. If a garment or sacred item is used wrongly too often, it eventually loses the meaning it held in its culture and simply becomes just another object. Also, people often “borrow” from other cultures without knowing much of anything

In 2016 I remember watching former President Barack Obama hold the first ever Diwali celebration in the White House. And 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 ethnicity. I felt as though I was more a part of the USA, as it supported the same values I was taught growing up. According to Oxford Dictionary, cultural appropriation is defined as the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society. This can be especially dangerous due to the distortion and disconnection of such custom from its roots. Losing one’s cultural identity to another group is not fair or proper. However, at the same time, cultural appropriation can be beneficial to the overall development of the world. People can relate to aspects of other cultures and feel as though they too support the same ideologies. In this case it is improper for us to discourage such actions because many people in the world can share the same viewpoints and therefore be connected. Therefore, cultural exchange is the act of sharing cultural values between different groups of people and thus connecting the world through similar interests. One universal commonality between many groups is art, specifically music. Music is a media which can be

Even though it is tough to give a clear definition, the article states that cultural appropriation is, “Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else 's culture without permission.” This includes unauthorized use of another culture’s dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. When these things are used it is most likely to be harmful when the source community is minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, especially sacred objects.