Cultural Appropriation
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About
Greenheart has a good primer on cutural appropriation to start with, which contrasts it against cultural appreciation and cultural exchange. Some discussion about the difference and why it matters, with contemporary examples, can be found in this Insider article written by Lindsay Dodgson.
Interacting with the traditions and creations of other cultures isn't inherently appropriative. Appropriation is about co-opting those things to turn a profit, or otherwise trying to pass it off as your own creation. One problem with cultural appropriation is that it erases the cultural significance behind apparel, symbols, and traditions. The effects accumulate, leading to:
• Double standards – e.g. white people wearing dreads is cool, black people get rejected from jobs by wearing their hair naturally or in styles from their heritage).
• False credit – when a tradition or icon has been stolen from a culture without credit, people in the surrounding community don't learn about the creativity, work, and innovation that went into these products. Sometimes, white people are lauded for "brilliant business ideas" that are literally just traditions stolen from African countries (often those that have spread through diaspora or the transatlantic slave trade).
• Bigotry – when awesome things are not accredited to the marginalized culture that yielded them, an opportunity to build more respect and love is lost. On the extreme end, widespread prejudices about how "uncivilized" 🤮 a culture is are left unchallenged, and bigotry thrives.
Another material consequence of appropriation happens when people from a privileged culture copy traditional businesses, then gentrify the industry. In this case, it becomes harder for the people who have cultural ties to those practices to sustain their businesses. Life generally gets harder for these individuals, and in transitioning to different jobs, the original traditions can peter out and get lost to time. The Internet has made it easier for such information to be preserved in some ways, but it is not a panacea. In other ways, misinformation also spreads more easily among the general population.
Version 4 of 4 - This issue was first identified by lavra on 9/20/2022
- Editors: lavra.
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Issues that contribute to Cultural Appropriation
The Magnova community says the following issues give rise to Cultural Appropriation. Addressing this issue could be accomplished by dealing with the following sub-issues. (Registered users can upvote/downvote these connections.)
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Projects addressing Cultural Appropriation
The following projects have been created by the Magnova community to address this issue. (Registered users can upvote/downvote which projects they want to see implemented.)
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Local instances of Cultural Appropriation
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