Do People Appreciate Other Cultures But Not Their People?

Wikipedia defines cultural appropriation as "a concept in sociology dealing with the adoption of the elements of a minority culture by members of the dominant culture. It is distinguished from equal cultural exchange due to the presence of a colonial element and imbalance of power."[21]. This therefore applies to a great range of instances where a powerful cultural group eg. white people adopt elements from a different cultural group, ranging from dreadlocks from African and Middle Eastern culture to wearing Bindis from Hindu/Indian culture to wearing headdresses from Native American tradition.

This element of the imbalance of power is also noted in the book "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race” by Reni Eddo-Lodge, a British author of Nigerian descent who discusses issues such as racism and feminism. She presents the theory that the power imbalance is a dominant factor in racial privilege, due to the fact that the privilege is backed up by a power generally socially lacked by the minority group. 

The concept of cultural appropriation is offensive because it disregards and demeans the suffering gone through by the people of culture originally, and does not pay respect to the history of the cultural element being ‘stolen’. For example, when a white person decides to get cornrows in their hair, they generally do not look into the history of the style or think of it as offensive, however in reality, the hairstyle represents and entire history that doesn't belong to that Caucasian person – it is not their history to decide whether to represent or not. India Jewel Jackson, an editor at Hearst Publications says “when it was us doing it, it was ghetto. Now that it’s someone blonde and blue doing it, it’s fresh.”[24] which sums up the contrast in response to “black hair” being worn by black people who it’s intended for, versus white people, who somehow get away with sporting black styles that even the originators of the styles are so often shunned for wearing.

The purpose of cornrows on a black person is often for use as a protective hairstyle – black and white people's hair generally have different textures, and modern cornrows can be used for protection of black hair, or as a base for "sew-in" hair. Most white people’s hair texture means they do not need protective hairstyles to prevent breakage and therefore aid growth. However cornrows also have a long history, in that they used to be used, and still are in some places of the world, a symbol of the tribe a person was in. It's also documented that braiding patterns could be used to serve as a map for navigating around plantations and escape routes, in the past. Blackdoctor.org reports "Because women slaves were initially perceived as a lesser threat, they would hide symbols and items in their hair that would mean various things. Although they were raped and treated as sexual objects to the slave master, their crown carried messages of hope and freedom".[27] (Patrice Grell Yursik from AfroBella). In Trinidad cornrows are even called Cane Rows, to make reference to the sugar cane planting by slaves[28]. EBony blog reports that “Last April, Cosmopolitan posted a tutorial titled, “Double Cuff Mohawk Braid,” but the hairstyle being showcased was clearly cornrows. To make matters worse, Cosmo promoted the video using the subhead, “You’ve NEVER seen a braid like this before”[29]. Similarly, Marc Jacobs tried to claim Bantu knots by modelling them on the runway on Caucasuian models in spring 2015. Tutorials followed, teaching people how to do the bantu knots, but labelling them the "mini buns" of the Marc Jacobs SS15 show[30], not Bantu knots of the history of African people. In actual fact, Bantu knots can even break the hair of a white person, as most's hair texture is not made to be in the twists so tightly and is too weak, leading to breakage, matting and splitting. However, a black hair texture can handle the knots, which originate from the Zulu tribe (Bantu translating to "people" - a commonly used hairstyle among African people) [26] says Gerilyn Hayes, "NaturallyCurly" Content Editor. Again, the hairstyle has this history and also a modern purpose of aiding curl formation in natural hair that has the texture of people of African descent. They are not a funky trend for white people to appropriate.

Cultural appropriation occurs daily and poses an issue on a daily basis – and in current events it can be prominent, such as the Met Gala 2018. Recently this year’s Met Gala occurred, and as every year, there was a strong theme – this year’s theme was Catholicism related - Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. As this had the potential to be a sensitive theme, many have been criticised as the speculation surrounding the theme snowballed. Interestingly, I have personally seen the most criticism through social media directed at Rihanna, a woman of colour who has been on the receiving end of cultural appropriation all her life. She sported a bishop’s hat (papal mitre) and a bejewelled silver matching dress. The hat has sparked controversy, and paired with the theme in general and other celebrities’ outfits, a conversation has been created through social media platforms with one side of the discussion being dominated by people arguing that there were incidences of cultural appropriation. I however, strongly disagree. Referring back to what cultural appropriation actually is, it’s if someone was to use the culture of a minority group without general consent and without regarding and respecting the history behind it. The event itself, the Met Gala 2018 was approved by the Vatican, who even donated clothes and accessories to the attendees[31]. Additionally, there is not a power imbalance between Rihanna, a woman of colour and the Catholic church biased towards Riri. Not a single one of the people using the theme of the “Catholic Imagination” would be of a higher power position than the Catholic religion. Without this dipole of power drawn to the perpetrator of the “appropriation”, it cannot be offensive as there isn’t the power behind the movement. 

Overall, white people should use white privilege to empower minorities as a pose to mocking them by appropriating their cultures. Different cultures are beautiful and must be appreciated, but without the insensitive adoption of  cultural element to someone to whom it does not belong.

Author Veronica Bateman