The Issues of Cultural Appropriation and Representation

Over the past few weeks in class, while many topics that have been previously brought up have been very appealing to me, nothing has caught my attention more than the subject of cultural appropriation. We were sitting in class, watching a slideshow of photos. It featured a white woman dressed as a geisha, a white woman donning exotic fabrics and prints, a white woman taking a pleasant stroll in the "exquisite" desert; in every photo it seemed, someone was taken an important facet of a culture they do not identity with and are seemingly stereotyping it or using it as an accessory. I sat and thought about the impact and significance of these photos, knowing that they are only a small sample of a much more extensive and profound problem.

I had first heard of the term, cultural appropriation, when it started to surface on social media two or so years ago, and now it seems that we see a current news article about the issue every other week. The phrase cultural appropriation is defined as the adoption of elements of one culture, primarily one of a minority group, by those who do not belong to that specified culture. This includes adopting another culture's traditional clothing, hairstyle, religious symbols, dances and more, and making it one's own. I have heard arguments about the "baseless" notion of cultural appropriation, that it is plainly just an exchange and mixing of cultures that is beneficial to lift the racial barriers of society. The issue, however, does not rely is one person plainly wearing garments or a certain style that doesn't belong to them, it is the deliberate act of doing so without any knowledge or consideration of what those customs or garments mean. It is the ignorant adoption of elements of other cultures for purely aesthetic and superficial reasons; it is taking very important symbols of identity and values and subjecting them to the same status as a mere ornament. From celebrities in Hollywood stereotypically representing other cultures for photoshoots,

to celebrities from the music industry wearing traditional Japanese and Indian garments and makeup purely for artistic and stylistic reasons,

cultural appropriation is a prevalent and widespread issue in our society today. These attempts and misuse of important and meaningful symbols become society's way of attempting to erase a culture for capital or superficial gain.

"I'm so obsessed [with Japanese people] I want to

skin them and wear them like Versace"

- American pop sensation Katy Perry

While this issue is very belittled in our modern age, many negative implications arise from such a controversial topic. The problem is the misrepresentation and exploitation of minority cultures that arise. It robs and abuses the stories, experiences, and history of marginalized groups of people and tells them in a predominantly Western perspective. Important symbols become misused and generalized and lack the complexity that they truly hold. It turns cultural expression into a sort of theatrical display and dissociates cultures from its people. The social effect becomes detrimental and damaging. Representation of people of color in society is already a major problem, seen in the massive white washing of Hollywood and the television industry, and turns whatever limited portrayal they already have into a very stereotypical and negative one.