Iona Popat

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N º04

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Believe it or not, the line between cultural appreciation and appropriation can sometimes be blurry for people of colour too. However, what is crucial to the distinction is that appropriation seems two-fold to me: what the power dynamic is between the appropriator/appreciator and the culture they ‘take’ from, and whether there is any recognition of the heritage that they claim to be appreciating.

I studied some of Said’s Orientalism and he emphasises the way the Western world uses representations of ’the Orient’ only to fulfil its own desires and consolidate its power; it's a though almost parallel to imperialist ideology for some. The power imbalance is so crucial to how the line can be drawn. Unique cultural identities can be manipulated by economic, political, or aesthetic appropriations, with the historically ‘dominant’ culture appropriating only parts of a ‘weaker’ culture that they like the aesthetic of, or want to engage with, and of course, only when it suits them.

For example,  the likes of Stella McCartney appropriating traditional West African fabric prints for their runway last year, and it being seen as ‘innovative’ or ’new’, is just another example of a Western brand appropriating parts of such a culture that has no control over its own representations. Even worse, the brands gave no real recognition to the West African culture. This seems an obvious case of appropriation.

However, the blurriness over the issue often comes when considering individuals appropriating culture. The white art teacher with the dreadlocks. The girls in my school year who wore bindis to summer festivals. The recent US white high school student who wore a traditional Chinese dress to prom. I think I agree that sometimes this is symptomatic of other wider issues. Because we still have systematic racism and oppression in our world, it is not easy to see how we could have a free flow of ideas, aspects of culture, and practices when being white is still a privilege.

I think that individuals aren’t often malicious in intent when appropriating parts of these cultures, and part of me did feel a bit sorry about the Twitter backlash the girl who wore the Chinese outfit to prom received, but I think that such appropriation is still perpetuating a dangerous narrative that marginalised cultures are free for taking. Is it really that big a statement? They probably don’t mean to make such a statement, and it might not ring alarms for some white people or even some people of colour, but for those who the appropriated parts of their culture hold real meaning and value, rather than just aesthetic, it’s a reminder that some people would rather ‘appreciate’ their culture instead of recognising, confronting, and dismantling the systematic racism that legitimises the cultural appropriation criticism in the first place.