Cultural appropriation[1][2] is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity in a manner perceived as inappropriate or unacknowledged.[3][4][5] This can be especially controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures.[6][1][7][8] When cultural elements are copied from a minority culture by members of a dominant culture, and these elements are used outside of their original cultural context – sometimes even against the expressly stated wishes of members of the originating culture – the practice is often received negatively.[9][10][11][12][13] Cultural appropriation can include the exploitation of another culture's religious and cultural traditions, dance steps, fashion, symbols, language, and music.[14]
Cultural appropriation is considered harmful by various groups and individuals,[15] including some Indigenous people working for cultural preservation,[16][17] those who advocate for collective intellectual property rights of the originating cultures,[18][19][20][21] and some of those who have lived or are living under colonial rule.[1][22][23][21] According to some critics of the practice,[who?] cultural appropriation differs from acculturation, assimilation, or equal cultural exchange in that this appropriation is a form of colonialism.
Those who see this appropriation as an exploitative state that cultural elements are lost or distorted when they are removed from their originating cultural contexts and that such displays are disrespectful or even a form of desecration.[9] Cultural elements that may have deep meaning in the original culture may be reduced to "exotic" fashion or toys by those from the dominant culture.[9][10][24] Kjerstin Johnson has written that, when this is done, the imitator, "who does not experience that oppression is able to 'play', temporarily, an 'exotic' other, without experiencing any of the daily discriminations faced by other cultures".[24] The black American academic, musician, and journalist Greg Tate argued that appropriation and the "fetishising" of cultures, in fact, alienate those whose culture is being appropriated.[25]
The concept of cultural appropriation has also been subject to heavy criticism, debate, and nuance.[26][27][28] Critics note that the concept is often misunderstood or misapplied by the general public and that charges of "cultural appropriation" are sometimes misapplied to situations such as trying food from a different culture or learning about different cultures.[29][30] Others state that the act of cultural appropriation, usually defined, does not meaningfully constitute social harm or that the term lacks conceptual coherence.[31][32] Additionally, the term can set arbitrary limits on intellectual freedom and artists' self-expression, reinforce group divisions, or promote a feeling of enmity or grievance rather than of liberation.[32][33][34][35][27]
^ abcFourmile, Henrietta (1996). "Making things work: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Involvement in Bioregional Planning" in Approaches to bioregional planning. Part 2. Background Papers to the conference; 30 October – 1 November 1995, Melbourne; Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories. Canberra. pp. 268–269: "The [western] intellectual property rights system and the (mis)appropriation of Indigenous knowledge without the prior knowledge and consent of Indigenous peoples evoke feelings of anger, or being cheated"
^"A right royal rip-off". The Age. Australia. 20 August 2003. Archived from the original on 18 August 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
^Rogers, Richard A. (1 November 2006). "From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation: A Review and Reconceptualisation of Cultural Appropriation". Communication Theory. 16 (4): 474–503. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2006.00277.x. ISSN1468-2885. Carman, Tim (26 May 2017). "Should white chefs sell burritos? A Portland food cart's revealing controversy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2017. Lindtner, S.; Anderson, K.; Dourish, P. (11–15 February 2012). "Cultural appropriation: information technologies as sites of transnational imagination". CSCW '12: Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. doi:10.1145/2145204.2145220. S2CID4464439. Borgerson, Janet; Schroeder, Jonathan (21 May 2021). "Midcentury Dance Records and Representations of Identity". Independent Social Research Foundation. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021. Borgerson, Janet; Schroeder, Jonathan (2021). DESIGNED FOR DANCING : how midcentury records taught america to dance. [S.l.]: MIT Press. ISBN978-0-262-04433-2. OCLC1230460986. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2021. Cavazos, Elsa (4 August 2022). "I Almost Choked On My Agua Fresca When I Learned About Spa Water". refinery29.com. Refinery 29. Archived from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022. In July, TikToker Gracie Norton shared multiple videos of her mixing together a fruity anti-inflammatory drink she called spa water with her more than 500,000 followers.The since-deleted videos caused a stir, especially among Latines on the social network, who responded to Norton's cucumber, water, and sugar blend by calling the drink what it actually is — agua fresca — and her alleged discovery of the so-called "wellness drink" as another example of culinary appropriation and/or food gentrification. Pagán, Angela L. (28 July 2022). "How TikTok Is Messing With Latinx Food, and Why It Needs to Stop". thetakeout.com. The Take Out. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022. By calling esquites Mexican street corn, TikTok influencers like @janellerohnerare essentially rebranding the recipe as if it's something newly concocted by the internet. We don't call spaghetti 'Italian sauce noodles,' so why rename this traditional piece of Mexican cuisine?
^Scafidi, Susan (2005). Who Owns Culture?: Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law (Rutgers Series: The Public Life of the Arts). Rutgers University Press.
^Mesteth, Wilmer, et al (10 June 1993) "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality". Archived 9 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. "At the Lakota Summit V, an international gathering of US and Canadian Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations, about 500 representatives from 40 different tribes and bands of the Lakota unanimously passed a 'Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality'. The following declaration was unanimously passed."
^Rainforest Aboriginal Network (1993) Julayinbul: Aboriginal Intellectual and Cultural Property Definitions, Ownership and Strategies for Protection. Rainforest Aboriginal Network. Cairns. Page 65.
^ abJohnson, Kjerstin (25 October 2011) "Don't Mess Up When You Dress Up: Cultural Appropriation and Costumes". Archived June 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine; at Bitch Magazine. Accessed 4 March 2015. "Dressing up as 'another culture', is racist, and an act of privilege. Not only does it lead to offensive, inaccurate, and stereotypical portrayals of other people's culture ... but is also an act of appropriation in which someone who does not experience that oppression is able to 'play', temporarily, an 'exotic' other, without experience any of the daily discriminations faced by other cultures."
^Wallace, Michele (1992). Black Popular Culture. Seattle: Bay Press. pp. 13–15. ISBN978-1-56584-459-9.