Cultural appropriation

Cultural appropriation, or more commonly known as the misrepresentation of different cultural groups, has been a hotly debated topic in the new media. But did you know that cultural appropriation in America’s music industry has been going on since the 1930s, during the era of Paul Whiteman, a popular Jazz artist? Strangely enough, some of his music was appropriated from black music artists. This act of “theft” has brought about many controversies throughout the years. But more importantly, it…

What is Cultural Appropriation? It is hard being a minority in America. The struggle for identity is a common thread amongst minority communities in this country and that issue is constantly exasperated by the white washed media. According to Susan Scafidi, cultural appropriation is “taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission.” (Scafidi) I would add that using those artifacts to make a profit is what…

white people wearing dreads, braids, dashikis, and other cultural pieces as a “trend”, the irony of this is black women and men who wear dreads, braids, and dashikis are labeled unprofessional, dirty and unkept. The cultural appropriation white people adopt African culture as their own. Cultural appropriation causes a lot of problems not for the person who appropriated the culture but the person who is being mocked. Cultural appropriation the act of taking aspects from one culture for the…

Clash of Cultural Appreciation Ideals Culture appreciation is a controversial topic in America it is often easily outburst by many different opinions, the different opinions arrive from not having a standard guideline that outlines a common definition of cultural appreciation and how to go about it. In his Article “This is How We Don’t: The Raised Stakes of Cultural Appropriation,” Rex outlines how he views cultural appreciation to be nothing more but stealing one’s identity, he refutes author,…

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…

Elizabeth Winkler writes about the exhibit, ‘American Cool’, at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and its numerous examples of cool. She says, that it highlights the idea of Americanness “earned individuality” as opposed to inherited arrogance. Cool people know which rules can be broken for illegitimate and legitimate reasons. Research emphasizes that cool people break the rules, but the right rules (Winkler, 2014). In fact, there has been a new research that finds cool people break…

In the current debate over cultural appropriation, many issues arise from varying definitions between those arguing. Progressive debate cannot truly occur while an inability to come to an agreement on such a basal level has not happened. Both sides of the argument end up ineffectively arguing one another, as their topics of discussion are not even comparable due to their differing definitions of cultural appropriation. In the current debate over cultural appropriation, what is the most effective…

years, the issue of cultural appropriation has become more and more controversial as people begin to recognize and address it. Simply put, cultural appropriation is a dominant culture borrowing from the cultures of minority groups while lacking any knowledge about the context or significance of those cultural symbols. While many instances of appropriation are seemingly innocent and for stylistic purposes, many times those in the dominant culture will profit from their cultural exploitation There…

People tend to be unaware what cultural appropriation is. Cultural appropriation defines as when one culture adopts an element of another culture. (Uwujaren 9/30/13) In the world today, many people are witless as to what is culturally appropriate. There are many examples of cultural appropriation today, such as henna tattoos, bindi’s, sports team names, etc. These types of culture or traditions have become a fad for people, especially in America. People who are within the culture tend to get…

What is Cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation: is a sociological concept which views the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture as a largely negative phenomenon. It has become normalized in media to take specific components from different cultures and weave it into “trends” while downplaying the significance of those same components to their cultures. While cultural appropriation seems harmless to those who do it, it is demoralizing to those…