Cultural Appropriation
Being in Temasek Polytechnic, all students are able to pick three subjects from the other different faculties. This semester, I decided to take Creative Writing and what can I say? It had really rekindled my love for writing! In this subject, we are being taught on how to analyse stories and also the different techniques on how to write one seamlessly. It is like literature back in secondary school, really. But the only things missing are the company I had in class; and not forgetting my witty teacher Mdm Kala. One of our assignments that we have to do is to come up with a reflection on any topic that we want. I decided to do on cultural appropriation as I feel that this subject isn't really being discussed much and I thought I would like to share it here.
Cultural appropriation is the adoption of parts of a certain culture by a group of people, typically by a group of the privileged dominants, for the purpose of show or fashion, without truly understanding the true reasons behind it.
While the topic of cultural appropriation is a term that isn’t often heard in daily conversation in Asia, it is definitely growing in America. With people having such a privilege over just about anything, they deemed it okay to be able to pick and choose racial symbols, or even parts of a race, and then suit it to their needs. The use of bindis while calling Indians ‘smelly’, the niqab while calling Muslims ‘oppressed’, the use of kimonos while making fun of the people’s accents and calling them ‘small-eyed’. In short, they had blatantly chose the “pretty” or “interesting” concepts from cultures and threw it all together as their very own costume whilst ignoring the history behind it and discriminating the people of origins at same time. That is cultural appropriation.
I strongly believe that there is a fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. In all honesty, I did not have much issue with people ‘borrowing’ our culture’s outfits at first as I feel that every culture is beautiful and should be shared with everyone all across the world. However, it started to infuriate me when Muslims are being labelled as ‘terrorists’ and are subjected to abuse for donning the hijabs, when it is part of our religion and holds such a cultural significance; but when a Hollywood celebrity choses to use it, she’s seen as cool and fashionable. It was then that I realise why cultural appropriation is an issue and it is definitely not okay. You cannot take the attractive bits from people’s religion or culture and glamorise them whilst ignoring the fact that Muslims out there are receiving a great deal of abuse for wearing what the Westerners are seemingly turning into a fashion trend. Ignorance is so destructive. Why is it okay for them to use it but not us? Why can’t we proceed with our religious needs? Why do white people get to express themselves freely but not us?
However, with these being said, I still have hope in humanity and I feel that people should learn about all the different cultures. Asia, for instance, I feel, have the richest cultures in the world. It is still being practiced today and the people have been taught to be proud of it, even when others frown upon it. By learning about the different cultures, it can certainly broaden one’s horizons and of course, gain some knowledge.
I guess what I am saying is that as long as you recognize the history of what you’re wearing, and know why you’re doing it, and as long as the media presents it in that light, it is not as hurtful.