What is cultural (mis)appropriation?
Cultural (mis)appropriation can be defined as 'the taking- from a culture that is not one's own- of intellectual property, cultural expressions, artefacts, history and ways of knowledge'.
To put in other terms cultural appropriation includes:
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A dominant culture taking cultural elements from a systemically oppressed community
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A power dynamic - a dominant group using the intellectual property of indigenous, oppressed group of people
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A person/group which does not belong to a community but uses its cultural elements
Cultural appropriation has become a recurring phenomenon in the fields of Fashion, arts and design.
Let us see few examples of cultural appropriation in fashion.
Fashion
Fashion designers and brands have time and again used the cultural elements and intellectual knowledge of an oppressed community.
Boho, bohemian, Gypsy
This word has become a common occurring attributing it to free-lifestyle, wanderers, care-free attitude, liberals ignoring the actual history of bohemians. Know more
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Native-American Beads, Head dress
Ignoring the gruelling facts of the oppression faced by Native-americans and reducing them to head-dress and beads is offensive to say the least.
Goth and gothic
Another common fashion theme used with total ignorance about the goth culture or the people.
We can also see gothic and goth being interchangeably used. Goths were a group of east-germanic people while gothic is a type of architecture. Goth also represents a subculture.
No! Just because you like the colour black, you cant use the word ‘goth’ !
Motifs and cultural expressions of a community
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Motifs, prints, african indigenous people's tattoo, artefacts of a community are appropriating an entire culture to things. In India we saw a FAD of using Warli motifs in interiors, fashion while warli is originally a wall art practiced by a sect of indigenous people of Maharashtra. Ignoring their history and picking up their intellectual property is a case of cultural appropriation. Similarly the use of tattoos, jewellery of indigenous people is reducing people to things.
