In such a diverse world, it becomes natural for people to admire and become curious about each other’s cultures. However, there is a fine line between when that admiration becomes something harmful to a heritage, its people, and history. The difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation is simple. But in today’s time of saturated media and industries that cling onto various preconceived claims about cultures, many can struggle in recognizing the boundaries between cultural appropriation and appreciation. As German philosopher and economist Karl Marx said, “The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.”
The word “appropriate” itself is easy to define. In The New York Times’ words, “‘appropriate,’ from the Latin ad propriare, [means] ‘to make one’s own.’” This rings true through the practice of cultural appropriation. Sophomore Kate Quinn states that from her knowledge, “cultural appropriation is generally expressed in fashion and media and also stereotypes.” In fashion, for example, it is true that many pieces of someone’s cultural clothing can be strikingly beautiful, or a certain hairstyle can really bring a look together. However, using these aspects to put oneself at an advantage or on a pedestal that brings them more validation or profit is problematic as the history behind said aspects is, usually, completely disregarded. Writer Tina Charisma from Harper’s Bazaar “[remembers] certain Black hairstyles were not acceptable at [her] school, whereas Kim Kardashian can go on to wear African braids without issue.” Various hairstyles like cornrows or dreadlocks are known to have held significant meaning to the black community for an uncountable amount of years. These individuals wear these hairstyles to honor their culture, ancestors, and to care for their specific type of hair. But when someone out of the community mindlessly wears these types of hairstyles, they are doing something that was not originally made for them. They disregard the history of the style by wearing it, appealing to the public because it is not something that someone would usually see on a non-black individual – it is striking and becomes unintentionally popular as people become curious with its ‘cool’ appearance. With that also comes double standards that draw cultures even further apart, as Charisma mentioned. To turn these acts of appropriation into acts of appreciation, an aspect of culture must be not only well taught about, but respected when being portrayed in the world; there must be no exaggerations or understatements when it is being used.
Britannica also mentions an instance of cultural appropriation where the Cleveland Indians baseball team gained criticism for their branding. It was not until 2022 that they changed their name and logo (a caricature-mascot of a stereotypical Native American man) to the Cleveland Guardians and a ‘G’ with wings. The team being part of Major League Baseball puts them at a position where the team holds the responsibility to be influencers to people nationally, likewise with many celebrities. The image that they carried prior to their changes was one that did not respect Native Americans. The offensive name and graphic made aspects of Native American culture seem like something silly or imagined. Having a huge platform that allows people to take information without second thoughts can only drag on the culture’s negative prenotions and quiet the voices of those who are truly from said culture. As senior Aiden Giroux says, “Consumer culture promotes [cultural appropriation] the most. Consumer culture is shaped by corporations that have the power to influence us at a societal level. Although individuals may conduct apologia for cultural appropriation on an individual level, the corporations are what shape society’s consciousness about cultural appropriation.”
While it is most common to see corporations and celebrities to be the biggest perpetrators of and furthermore criticized for cultural appropriation, that does not mean that such a topic pertains to only those people. Rather than doing cultural appropriation, many people find that individuals they know instead have a lack of education regarding the action. Junior Evan Chen reflects on his experiences as a Taiwanese American, realizing that “western norms have allowed us to have ‘freedom’ and express any religion we want, but it really censors most cultures. If you want to learn about a culture, you have to go through the web to learn it, or people who participate with culture.” There does not seem to be enough proper, accessible education for people to quickly learn about these things from a young age. As one can expect, a further lack of education on cultural appropriation and its elements could possibly lead to a continuous spread of the action and disrespect to the various cultures in this world. However, Quinn does acknowledge that “the area we live in (Issaquah) has an array of cultures and, because of that, there’s a lot of interaction between many different people that warrants a lot of appreciation.” When looking at this issue from a more personal perspective, experiences are bound to vary. In these situations, it is only up to a community’s people to be more aware and open to learning about each other in respectful ways. Smaller communities and personal relationships have the privilege to be able to talk to each other directly, opening opportunities to promote a more culturally appreciative environment.
Many attempts in turning the tables from appropriation to appreciation have actually been powered by many people’s movements in the world. Curator of Fashion Open Studio Tamsin Blanchard, interviewed by BBC, refers to the Black Lives Matter movement and believes that the movement led to a “mass realignment and re-education, and an understanding of how our colonial past and empire-building was built on the exploitation of people and theft of indigenous land and resources.” In real time, the world got to watch people strive to acknowledge the past of a group’s culture. People were willing to help each other become stronger and recognized in a society that never really put the spotlight on minority groups. Through protests, fundraisers, and more, individuals slowly learned more about a once stigmatized group of people and their heritage. Freshman Circe Allen refers to another movement popular on social media called ‘Cancel Culture,’ which completely shuts down any support for a person that may have wronged someone or some group, for example, through cultural appropriation. Allen says, “I think the spread of awareness [of cultural appropriation] is mainly due to the idea of ‘cancel culture’ because in some ways it feels like a drama-spread.” The quick jump to criticize people for their actions is powerful and simultaneously gives individuals a quick answer as to why an action done was wrong. However, this small movement becomes an issue when people become selective with who they ‘cancel.’ Giroux says that “on a smaller scale basis I don’t see [cultural appropriation] being called out as much, especially since friends tend to let things slide even if their friend has done something wrong. Apologies are usually only issued if the threat of social ostracization or career damage is on the table.” If the world truly wants to educate people on cultural appropriation and appreciation, they must do their best to call out every person who has been harmful to a heritage. Whether on purpose or not, constructive criticism is always useful and gets a point across without ill intentions.
As a single person from a single culture, I cannot speak for every minority or person of color when it comes to what is considered appropriation or appreciation. However, I feel that those who are at least somewhat similar to me, a Filipino American, can agree that what matters at the end of the day is how you portray a certain culture and its aspects. Many of my peers and I believe that the best way to avoid cultural appropriation and give into cultural appreciation is to simply educate yourself on what hurts and what supports. Information lives all around us in this modern world, so look around with intent and make sure to take in every drop of education possible. Do not be afraid to give love to someone and their culture, because with the right amount of care, you can give someone a platform that they may have never had in the first place.
