"My Culture is not the latest trend" [3]. Wearing braids is “cool, even exotic”, but where do we draw the line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation? Some individuals whose culture has been appropriated think that it is beautiful for other cultures to wear their garments or borrow their music, whereas others individuals believe that is disrespectful.

Although the majority seem to disagree on this topic, they all agree that it is complicated, and it is important to take into consideration the context, significance, and intention behind it. Halloween is a time of the year when garments from other people's cultures are worn as a party costume, and this matter deserves to be inquired about. If you would like to dive more into the depth of this topic, I invite you to read the article.

The following article will include:

• What Is Cultural Appropriation?
• What Is Cultural Appreciation?
• When Does Appreciation Transform Into Appropriation?
• Halloween Context Of Cultural Appropriation.

What Is Cultural Appropriation?

Understanding cultural appropriation involves understanding first what appropriation is. Appropriation means to take without permission. Therefore, cultural appropriation is represented by the inappropriate use/borrowing of elements, ideas, objects, music, the artwork of one culture, and identity by the members of another culture without permission[4]. The term emerged in the last part of the 20th century in the context of a post-colonial critique of the Westerns expansions. Cultural appropriation typically occurs when a dominant culture uses elements of the minority culture outside of its original cultural context for personal gain without fully understanding the symbolism behind them and without giving credit to the original source[6]. This behavior indirectly harms the minority culture because it may reinforce stereotypes and contribute to oppression[1,3]. To offer some examples: the Hollywood western movies that encourage a certain stereotype when depicting native Americans[11]; or the usage of the “redskin” name and mascot by the Washington Redskins football team, despite the legal efforts of native Americans to remove it as it is an offensive and disparaging racial slur[8]. In the Netherlands, as part of Sinterklaas tradition, white people are impersonating Black Pete (Santa’s help) by painting their faces black[7]. Aside from the visuals, there is also voice appropriation, which happens, for instance, when the voices of African American people are imitated by other ethnicities.

For hundreds of years, dominant cultures have colonized, massacred, sanctioned, and destroyed cultural and religious artifacts of other cultures. The lack of knowledge regarding the history of racism, discrimination, and oppression of the non-dominant cultures can contribute to the problem as the dominant culture might appropriate them without even realizing it [1]. Members of culture can wear a hairstyle because of a need[3]; and, due to that very hairstyle, they have been discriminated against throughout time. Replicating this aesthetic by the dominant culture could make them feel “exotic”, but they will never feel the struggle, the discrimination, or the racism that used to come with it [3]. Therefore, using these elements just for the purpose of being on-trend can be insensitive and disrespectful. For this reason, educating ourselves about the garments, aesthetics, and practices we decide to adopt is crucial.

The reverse cultural appropriation, meaning that the non-dominant culture adopts elements from the dominant culture, is historically considered not possible, as throughout time the dominant cultures have already imposed their ideas, practices, and styles upon the non-dominant culture by means of forced cultural assimilation[5].

Instead, What Is Cultural Appreciation?

Celebrating other cultures is compassed, however, through cultural appreciation. This involves the attempt to acquire cultural awareness and preferably an emic approach (understanding from within the culture) of understanding a certain culture. Cultural appreciation represents the effort of learning about another culture with good intention and to connect and expand one’s perspective on the culture[2]. It can be achieved by doing research, having an intimate discussion with a member of that culture, listening to the stories about the events that lead to the invention/discovery of that element, and understanding the meaning of its constituents. Visiting museums and sacred places to educate ourselves about various aspects of culture, acknowledging important holidays of the minority culture, and dressing appropriately are all part of the appreciation.

When Does Appreciation Transform Into Appropriation?

Nowadays, people come in contact easier with other cultures’ habits, practices, and styles by listening to music, watching television, and being on social media. This indirect contact may stimulate people to enquire about other cultures and result in educating themselves. It is wonderful to bring tribute to another culture by trying to understand it and celebrate it, for instance through food. It is perfectly normal for the cultures to blend in and try new experiences; however, the line is drawn where the dominant culture uses the elements from the non-dominant culture in an exploitative, disrespectful way for personal interest[6,10]. Cultural appreciation brings people from other cultures together as it comes from a place of trust and respect, whereas cultural appropriation divides them. However, keep in mind that only the members of the culture that has been appropriated can decide this.

To offer some guidelines, before deciding to borrow from another culture, you must ask yourself:

• Is this honoring the culture or doing an impression of it?
• What is my intention behind this?
• Do I understand the significance of what I am wearing/doing?
• Am I doing this to understand the culture or just to be seen on social media?
• Am I perpetuating any harmful stereotypes?
• What do people from that culture think about this?

Halloween context of Cultural Appropriation

Halloween is a holiday originating from the Celtics that celebrates the end of fall. This Holliday has transformed over the years from a pagan ritual to a costume party. Every year minority cultures have to watch individuals from the dominant culture wearing their traditional clothes as party costumes. Around this holiday people tend to get painted in blackface, brownface, or yellowface, wear feathers, chopsticks in their hair. They dress in the garments of other cultures, imitating voices, expressions, or sacred affirmations such as “The wolf is my spirit animal”. Taking meaningful elements from another culture and transforming them into the Halloween costume is one of the clearest examples of cultural appropriation.  Fetishising or mocking a culture for fun is disrespectful, and can turn into racism. Costumes that depict real culture and heritage should be worn by the people who share the history and heritage, as they are not commodities to put on once a year[9].

Therefore for this upcoming Halloween, I challenge you to do some research about a culture of choice instead of wearing their garments. Remember that members of a culture cannot wash off their skin and history, so we should pay attention to how we behave in these situations, to prevent stereotypes from strengthening.

What do you think about the article? Please leave your opinion in the comment section.

Other sources:

Youtube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7V1wqF5n0

BBC stories - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kFKzzqq7i8

Movie - I Dream of Jeannie

References:

1. Alcoff, L. M. (1998). What should white people do?. Hypatia, 13(3), 6-26.

2. Cultural Appreciation vs. Cultural Appropriation: Why It Matters. Sites.austincc.edu.

(2021). Retrieved 17 October 2021, from https://sites.austincc.edu/accent/cultural-appreciation-vs-cultural-appropriation-why-it-matters/.

3. Grays, J. (2016). The blurred lines of cultural appropriation.

4. Lexico. (n.d.). cultural appropriation. In Lexico.com. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from

https://www.lexico.com/definition/cultural_appropriation

5. LITTLE, B. (2017). How Boarding Schools Tried to ‘Kill the Indian’ Through

Assimilation. HISTORY. Retrieved 19 October 2021, from https://www.history.com/news/how-boarding-schools-tried-to-kill-the-indian-through-assimilation.

6. Matthes, E. H. (2016). Cultural appropriation without cultural essentialism?. Social

theory and practice, 343-366.

7. Raboteau, E. (2014). Who Is Zwarte Piet?: A holiday tradition in the Netherlands

involving blackface has sparked a debate about race, the legacy of slavery, and the vestiges of colonialism. Virginia Quarterly Review, 90(1), 142-155.

8. Riley, A. R., & Carpenter, K. A. (2015). Owning red: a theory of Indian (cultural)

appropriation. Tex. L. Rev., 94, 859.

9. Tracy, S. (2017). Cultural appropriation and costumes.

10. What Is Cultural Appreciation (And How It’s Different From Cultural Appropriation)? -

Preemptive Love. Preemptive Love. (2021). Retrieved 19 October 2021, from https://preemptivelove.org/blog/what-is-cultural-appreciation/.

11. Young, J.O. (2008). Cultural Appropriation as Assault. In Cultural Appropriation and the

Arts, J.O. Young (Ed.). https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470694190.ch4