Appreciation or Appropriation?
Have you ever stopped to think about Halloween costumes? Dressing up as a Latino or a Native American is considered normal in our society. However, these cultures aren’t meant to be costumes. They present a way for people to identify and express themselves while belonging to a community of people who share similar beliefs. This is cultural appropriation; the adoption or use of elements of a culture by a person of another cultural background. Although many people assume that cultural appropriation shows appreciation, this sociological concept is highly present in our society, and it is highly offensive when it is done in a way that shows a lack of understanding in the significance.
Granted, cultures are …show more content…
These are things that they can’t change about themselves and it's those things that make people wary of them. These groups of minorities have been oppressed for decades and the way to stop people from being ignorant, racist, and uneducated is to teach them about the unique cultures, rather than having people appropriate. Cultural appropriation weakens the already weak. It illustrates a way in which our society is very selective of who its accepting of. When two white teenagers post a picture on Twitter of them wearing a hijab in the excuse that they were feeling ‘ethnic’ and continue on with their lives and actually have people complimenting them, you know society is judgmental. Muslim women have been killed, threatened, and beat for wearing a hijab, it’s no shocker that hijabis find this offensive. Our society is getting better at handling issues relating to minorities, but we are nowhere near where we need to …show more content…
One must obtain an understanding of the role of power and its history in the context of colonialism and imperialism in determining what constitutes cultural appropriation. The people who advocate for this issue are mainly oppressed minorities who have been belittled for embracing their culture. There is nothing wrong with learning about another culture or adopting different aspects as long as it is done with the correct understanding and respect the culture
Have you ever stopped to think about Halloween costumes? Dressing up as a Latino or a Native American is considered normal in our society. However, these cultures aren’t meant to be costumes. They present a way for people to identify and express themselves while belonging to a community of people who share similar beliefs. This is cultural appropriation; the adoption or use of elements of a culture by a person of another cultural background. Although many people assume that cultural appropriation shows appreciation, this sociological concept is highly present in our society, and it is highly offensive when it is done in a way that shows a lack of understanding in the significance.
Granted, cultures are …show more content…
These are things that they can’t change about themselves and it's those things that make people wary of them. These groups of minorities have been oppressed for decades and the way to stop people from being ignorant, racist, and uneducated is to teach them about the unique cultures, rather than having people appropriate. Cultural appropriation weakens the already weak. It illustrates a way in which our society is very selective of who its accepting of. When two white teenagers post a picture on Twitter of them wearing a hijab in the excuse that they were feeling ‘ethnic’ and continue on with their lives and actually have people complimenting them, you know society is judgmental. Muslim women have been killed, threatened, and beat for wearing a hijab, it’s no shocker that hijabis find this offensive. Our society is getting better at handling issues relating to minorities, but we are nowhere near where we need to …show more content…
One must obtain an understanding of the role of power and its history in the context of colonialism and imperialism in determining what constitutes cultural appropriation. The people who advocate for this issue are mainly oppressed minorities who have been belittled for embracing their culture. There is nothing wrong with learning about another culture or adopting different aspects as long as it is done with the correct understanding and respect the culture