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Tomorrowland

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When Native American Appropriation Is Appropriate

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Culture is fluid, and today's taboo may be tomorrow's trend.

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Shaylah: Pop culture and Cultural Appropriation (Thoughts on the matter)

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Shaylah: Pop culture and Cultural Appropriation (Thoughts on the matter)

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yes or no?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1A405jBqg

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Halloweekend has begun! By now, most of us girls have our costumes planned out and we can't wait to dress up and celebrate. We are all busy and hard working, and holidays such as this give us a chance to go out and have some well-deserved fun. It is a good time seeing how creative everyone gets with their costumes, every year there are some stand-outs that really get a good laugh.

However, what may seem like a funny costume idea to some, can actually be very damaging to others. Every year people push the boundaries of what society deems "okay" for a costume. A lot of these costumes deal with really touchy subjects of race and discrimination. What typically makes the costume provocative and inappropriate is the physical manifestation of a stereotype.

Imagine having a rumor spread about you that is completely false. Now imagine that everyone knows this rumor, and judges you for it every single day. Imagine that your family gets judged for it too, and your friends and anyone else who looks like you. Nothing you do or say can change this stigma easily, but you work really hard to change people's minds anyway. This rumor keeps you from the things you want to do, sometimes even from people you care about, no matter what you do. This is what it feels like to be affected by a stereotype. So if you knew the costume you choose to wear for Halloween could cause someone to feel this helpless, would you choose differently?
"Illegal Alien" costume
Stereotypes can target anyone, but most offensive costumes target people of color, attacking their culture on the basis of a common assumption that is not even true, or is weakly based in reality. These stereotypes may seem like a joke or in good fun, but they carry a heavy burden of oppression for the individuals they are targeting.

STARS is a peer organization at Ohio University that stands for Students Teaching About Racism in Society. The organization's mission is to "facilitate discussion about diversity and all isms (sexism, classism, heterosexism, ethnocentrism etc.) with an emphasis on racial issues. We aim to raise awareness about social justice, and promote racial harmony." STARS started the poster campaign " We're a Culture Not a Costume" in 2011 to fight back against oppressive and offensive costumes on college campuses.

This juxtaposition of real students holding pictures of other students in racist costumes that specifically attack their culture is powerful. The message is strong; it is not acceptable to wear these costumes. The cultures and races the costumes exploit are not what is being seen. A culture comes from a community of people with years and years of history. Culture means belonging to a group and sharing a bond of heritage and traditional practice. These costumes do a really good job of taking that away from groups of people for one night of "fun."

UMass Amherst works very hard in the dormitories to promote socially acceptable costumes and a safe environment on Halloween. UMass policy bans costumes that cover the face with masks or excessive face paint, deeming all students must be recognizable at all times, including on Halloween. The Residential Assistants are also trained in educating their residents about responsible costumes. A residential assistant who works in Central residential area said "My Assistant Residential Director and Residential Director made sure to be very thorough about talking about offensive costumes in our October floor meeting. A couple of RAs on my staff have made October bulletin boards that cover what is/not offensive, and I've even been in other buildings that have lots of boards about how costumes can be extremely sexist, promote cultural appropriation, etc."

Think before you act. Wearing one of these costumes may get a laugh out of some, but it won't be received well by others. You could face disciplinary action for dressing in an unrecognizable way. Future employers could see photos of your offensive costume and decide not to hire you in the future. You may even hurt a close friend. But most of all, wearing these costumes perpetuates stereotypes of cultures that are untrue and hurtful. These costumes try to take away people's voices and their power as a culture.

This Halloween, make the choice to be progressive. Do the right thing and make the choice to wear a costume that is not offensive. If you see someone wearing something racist, speak up. There is power in ally ship and awareness! Diversity is something to be celebrated and embraced in a community, and everyone should feel safe and accepted. Halloween should be no exception to these basic human rights.

You have the power here, collegiettes! Make the responsible choice and pick a cute costume that won't offend anyone, and you are sure to have the best night ever.
Happy (progressive) Halloween weekend, Collegiettes!

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What Not To Wear on Halloweekend: Offensive Costumes

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Imagine having a rumor spread about you that is completely false. Now imagine that everyone knows this rumor, and judges you for it every single day. Imagine that your family gets judged for it too, and your friends and anyone else who looks like you.

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is it really cultural appropriation

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About your comment below on Offbeat Families: the photo you were concerned about has been removed from the post, but I wanted to follow up with you via email. A sponsored post isn't the best place get into a whole discussion about race and cultural appropriation, but I'd love the opportunity to dive into this more.I'm totally 100% with you on how the hipster trends of cultural appropriation are problematic (it's something we've talked a LOT about on Offbeat Bride), but I'm confused about how a photo of the children reflects this.

So, for starters, we don't know anything about the cultural background of these children - they could be half or a quarter Native. By accusing them of appropriation, there are some serious assumptions being made about people of mixed race backgrounds looking a certain way. For that matter, they could have a non-blood relative or family friend who is Native American who gifted this headdress. We simply have no way of knowing.

That said, even assuming they ARE white and have no personal connections to Native culture, I'm confused at how children involved in imaginative play can be considered hipster-ish cultural appropriation. Children engage in fantasy play all the time, including cultural play like pretending to be everything from Eskimos to French bakers to Aboriginal hunters to Russian spies. By saying these children are somehow guilty of appropriating for fashion or appearance feels like it's suggesting that children are only allowed to play-act their own personal experiences.

Shouldn't we be encouraging children to learn and explore other cultural experiences through play? Where-as status-seeking adults may wear a head-dress out of some sort of ironic fashion statement, it feels like these kids are potentially playing dress up in the same way they would by wearing a sombrero they brought home from a family vacation to Mexico, or a pair of little leiderhosen from Germany. I totally understand the issues of genocide and colonialism - but imaginative play feels like the perfect time to talk to kids about these issues.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Again - we're definitely batting for the same team here, but I'm really struggling with the idea that we're now accusing children of being culturally appropriative fashionista hipsters. Help me understand?

When I saw that post, I too had a gut reaction. The issue for me was NOT that a child playing "Indian" would be inherently problematic. Kids love to play iconic characters from other cultures which are usually simplified to the actionable elements: for my kids, wearing black and walking sneakily through the house is "being a ninja," and doing kicks and cartwheels is "being Brazilian" a la capoeira. Like you said, that is a fantastic time for parents to step in and use their enthusiasm for a teaching moment.What raised my alarm bells was wondering how the image was made- was the headdress a favorite play item or a prop introduced for novelty? The picture doesn't seem to evoke kids playing Indian, to me; it hit me as kids dressed as Natives for the novelty of the photograph. Of course, I do not know this family and it is totally possible that the kids wear those things every day and love them to death; it was just the way the image struck me as an outsider. Which brings me to the thing that does tend to bother me, which is such an image used for advertisement.

I get really squeamish with Native Novelty Advertising. At this point, the aim of the imagery has moved on from a child's interpretative play to imagery created and selected by adults and marketed to other adults. I used to come across this often in the back pages of granola-mom magazines in the product ad pages. From images of native-looking people using the product to claims like, "Inspired by the traditions of the insert-indigenous-people-here," I feel this kind of advertising was built on the foundation of romanticizing native peoples, which is totally a form of subverting those people. I don't think these ads are all wrong or all distasteful; I just feel it is a ground which should be walked carefully and consciously on the creator and consumer ends.

I'd like to note that I wasn't aware of the "hipster" fad with headdress. The photo that some readers objected to was not intended to offend anyone, and I apologize for that. This was just a game these brothers were playing. If I'd known about this whole hipster thing (I've just read all the blog links that were provided), I certainly would not have added fuel to that fire.

And no, I do not put kids in blackface. I like to photograph kids in their natural play, and what I love about that particular photo is the boys expressions. I consider what they were wearing to be secondary.

Again, I apologize if you were offended; that was definitely not my intent.

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When is it cultural appropriation and when is it just kids playing dress-up?

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About your comment below on Offbeat Families: the photo you were concerned about has been removed from the post, but I wanted to follow up with you via email.

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http://scarftrend.blogspot.com/2012_05_06_archive.html

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Devon `No doubt` being insensitive in music video

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Devon `No doubt` being insensitive in music video

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http://flavorwire.com/344807/what-a-native-american-expert-thinks-about-that-controversial-no-doubt-music-video

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NOT YOUR ‘FASHION DOTS’: THE CONTINUOUS APPROPRIATION OF BINDIS

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Not your 'Fashion Dots': The Continuous Appropriation of Bindis - Shameless Magazine

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In the latest slew of North American women pop stars to don the bindi, white-passing Selena Gomez clocked in at number 10 for her MTV Movie Awards performance of "Come and Get It." While i...

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Before Miley Cyrus tried on aspects of black culture, she was trying her hand at Bindis

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I committed my first act of cultural appropriation when I was three years old. I was given a , the checkered scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. My grandmother had more important things to worry about than Middle Eastern politics, and keffiyehs were readily available in the markets in Dubai where she lived. It became my comfort blanket when my mother took me there on a long visit. I brought it with me when we returned home to suburban London and I dragged it around for a few years, occasionally using it to dress up as a shepherd for school nativity plays. Towards the end of the second intifada in 2004, a cousin came to stay and spotted it at the back of my wardrobe. She was desperate to borrow it because, she said, 'terrorist scarves' had become 'all the rage' at school.

By that time, keffiyehs had long been adopted by Western fashion to signal third-world glamour. Madonna had worn one for a bit, and back in 1988 Time magazine assured nervous readers that the keffiyeh was 'just an accessory... the ethnic type of look is in right now'. My cousin's request seemed innocuous. It hadn't occurred to me to ask whether it is possible to borrow something from another culture and give it your own meaning, without trampling on whomever it came from. It is so easy to take someone else's identity and turn it into just another 'type of look'. The symbols of one's own culture, religion or race can arouse a fervent, protective sense of identity. Yet for the outsider, the disputes that arise from such feelings can seem insignificant and opaque.

Years later, a rugby captain at my university defended his team's decision to wear loincloths and 'black up' their skin for a safari-themed party by arguing that they were 'just going along with the theme', and that no one had complained of being offended. The university disciplined the team by making them attend a cultural diversity seminar - as if it had all been a bit of innocent 'banter', like a child making an inappropriate joke.

The university rugby players took their cues from the buffoonery and racist comedy of the minstrel tradition. Although minstrel shows were created by white performers, some African American entertainers made a career of wearing blackface in the 19th and early 20th century. George Walker and his vaudeville partner Bert Williams billed themselves as the 'Two Real Coons', and Walker justified playing racial stereotypes for laughs by pointing to the number of families their 'race institution' supported. But later attempts to introduce more rounded characters and romantic storylines into their performances incurred the disapproval of The Chicago Tribune, whose critic complained: 'there is hardly a trace of negroism in the play'. It is galling enough to hear an outsider defining your religion or culture; even more when they're measuring how far you fall short against their standards.

Symbols of any sort are a means to an end - they stir our memories in order to activate emotions. The cross reminds us of Christianity, and the story of the passion; Ronald McDonald of processed meat in a bun. Using a symbol for any new purpose can alter its meaning irrevocably. The swastika conveyed strength and good fortune to Hindu and Jain communities for centuries until it became, for much of the world, inextricably linked to Nazism. Today we appropriate symbols of other cultures in order to signal exoticism, or sensuality, or our rejection of mainstream society - but even the best intentions can seem to excuse a trade in stereotypes that harm others, and are the accreted sum of a hundred small offences besides our own.

Let's say that we could stop all cultural appropriation tomorrow. No feathered headdress would ever again mar a fashion runway. Blackface would remain a thing of the past. Only those signalling their identification with the Palestinian struggle would wear the keffiyeh. Yet here's a sticking point - since the scarf was once just a symbol of Arab masculinity, should we revert to that? Given that almost every cultural form has been purloined from somewhere else, it proves tricky to tell what belongs to whom, and to separate the offensive jerks from those pursuing respectful cultural innovation. The line between insider and outsider can be surprisingly indistinct.

I'm a case in point. I am ethnically Indian but with only distant ties to that region - my ancestors left it more than a century ago for East Africa. Apart from English, the only language my parents have in common is Swahili, but I can't speak that beyond a few words, thanks to the once widespread belief that teaching children more than one language would damage their fluency in all. My polyglot mother gleefully compares me to a coconut: brown on the outside and white on the inside. This is often the case for second-generation immigrants, of course. Yet it still feels as if the real child of my parents - the one who didn't forfeit her parents' culture - might be lurking somewhere inside me like a vanishing twin.

I'm not a true heir to any culture. I realise that this is at least partly the result of my own lackadaisical approach - it is pleasant to picture myself picking up more Swahili or learning how to pin a sari in place, but less agreeable to knuckle down to it. As an adult, I've appropriated things from my parents' culture and other places - picking the bits I like and discarding the rest. I am not alone: you might count yourself among the growing mishmash of cosmopolitans, for whom cultures are like ill-fitting second-hand coats, moulded by the shoulders and elbows of the deceased. Like Williams and Walker, I wonder which side of the line of offence we fall.

Let's raise the stakes of appropriation - what if the cultural territory being trodden upon really is holy ground? It's a question that came sharply into focus last summer when I heard that a group of whirling dervishes could be found in the inner suburbs of west London, linked to an organisation known as the Study Society. The only firm point in my identity is Islam - a touchy subject at the best of times. Sufism is often described as Islamic mysticism, and almost all orders ask new members to testify to a belief in a monotheistic God and in the Prophet, although this might be very liberally interpreted. Though I'm not a Sufi, I became intrigued when a friend told me it was her escape from the formalities of our childhood mosque, which transplanted its own rituals from East Africa.

I was surprised to learn that none of the Study Society's dervishes have any strong religious affiliation, nor any theist leanings. Yet many of them show up dutifully once or twice a month to perform the Mevlevi Order's traditional ceremony, which intersperses the 'turning' (as the pirouetting movement is known), with long readings from the Quran. As a Muslim, I couldn't understand why anyone with no belief would do this month after month.

After every session, there was a kitchen gathering where the atmosphere teetered between contagious enthusiasm and juvenility. On my second visit, some of the dervishes rapped out a beat on daf drums while a younger member body-popped beside them. They were warm, friendly, and oblivious to my growing discomfort with the New Age tone.

That evening, I asked a woman in her early twenties, who had turned with eyes closed and an ecstatic smile, what she got out of it. 'It's like I'm in love when I turn,' she explained. 'It's like giving birth to yourself again.' I wondered what giving birth to herself had felt like the first time.

The Sufi order of the Mevlevi, to which whirling dervishes belong, was founded by Rumi's disciples in the 12th century. But the Study Society's practice in west London is not something thatany traditional dervish would recognise. Islamic Mevlevi life mostly disappeared from Turkey in 1925 when Atatürk's secularising regime shut down the dervish lodges and outlawed the order. Set up in England in 1951 as the Society for the Study of Normal Psychology, the Study Society was inspired by P D Ouspensky - a Russian esotericist who popularised an approach to 'self-realisation' that combined Eastern traditions and was intended for Western people. They invited one of the last few traditional Mevlevi sheikhs to teach them the ceremony; he was delighted to find an eager audience and made them promise to preserve the ceremony as he had taught it to them.

They took the beautiful turning ceremony, discarded the religious roots, and created an alternative to yoga

They did preserve it - but emptied of its original meaning. The society's current 'sheikh' is a soft-spoken man named Philip, who said that the Society was his escape from a regimented boarding school in Berkshire in the 1970s. He explained that he used the turning almost as a meditative technique. The Quranic readings evoked a more pleasant aesthetic backdrop for him than, say, a Bible reading - precisely because no one can understand them. 'As a non-Muslim,' Philip said, 'they're just really nice sounds I say. If it was a Christian prayer, I might have a problem with that because that would be my own upbringing and culture, which would have certain connotations... In a way, we've taken what we were given and turned it into something new.'

Philip's comments recall the words of a French ambassador to Istanbul, Édouard Thouvenel, who advised his readers in 1902 to see the 'spectacle' of the turning. He continued: 'The Turks will protest at that word - spectacle. For them, it is probably a pious exercise... For the Europeans they are also, without doubt, part of the spectacle.' But where Thouvenel simply described the ceremony as an entertainment for Europeans, the Study Society has actively helped to make it so. They took the beautiful turning ceremony, discarded the religious roots, and created an alternative to yoga. I couldn't dislike any of the individual dervishes, but when I left for the final time it was with a sense that these Western, 21st-century hippies had taken a precious something of mine and trampled it into the ground.

The Toronto-based art historian Deborah Root, who studies the appropriation of Native American culture, tells a story in one of her essays about a hitchhiker she picked up travelling to the US West Coast in the 1990s. His name was Karma and he had noticed the medicine wheel (a sacred symbol in North American indigenous culture) hanging from her mirror. 'Far out,' he said, before explaining that he did not consider himself white because 'his spirit was Native; he was, he said, a "white-skinned Indian".' Root reflects that: 'I ridiculed this man... but the fact remains: I am white, I used to wear headbands, and I have a medicine wheel in my car.'

After reading this, I began to wonder how much my frustration with the Study Society had to do with insecurity about my own identity. The best way to stake your own claim as an insider, after all, is to mark out someone else who clearly doesn't belong.

It would be anachronistic to say that Rumi himself would have disagreed with my identity politics. But his contemporary appeal lies in the sense of inclusion that runs through his poetry of divine love: the same tone of invitation that draws so many to evangelical Christianity. The Study Society liked to quote a version of one of his most popular verses: 'Whoever you are, return! ... This court of ours is not a court of despair.' Taking the tribal approach, he suggests, risks missing out on some vital opportunity.

Identity politics are a response to perceived threat. The weaker the culture, the more it tends to fear appropriation - and Native American anger over cultural and religious appropriation is a case in point. In 1993, a 'Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality' ranked 'wannabes' such as Karma alongside 'commercial profiteers and self-styled "New Age shamans"'. The urge to cut off cultural exchange with all outsiders, regardless of their intent, is an understandable response to a brutal history of cultural erosion. But it's difficult to see how pulling up the drawbridge could strengthen Native American society in the long run. Some indigenous people agree - the University of Victoria philosophers James O Young and Conrad G Brunk note that some think the adoption of their beliefs by outsiders is a necessary step 'if humans are to reharmonise life on earth'. But a price must be paid for the survival and spread of a culture's core values: they will be open to a degree of reinterpretation.

Young and Brunk are among the first philosophers to have begun exploring the morality of different forms of appropriation, and in The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation (2009) they deem it 'reasonable' to be offended at the inauthentic representation of your religious beliefs. But Young also argues that giving reasonable offence might not be morally wrong. The expression of 'an artist's individual genius', he argues, depends on his or her freedom to appropriate themes and subject matter from other cultures. As Picasso is said to have put it: 'Good artists copy, great artists steal.'

Middle Eastern belly dancing was connected with pagan fertility rituals; early Christmas celebrations appropriated the festival of the pagan winter solstice

Young's point applies to something far more common than those rare expressions of uncontested personal genius. Cultures that wish to avoid fossilising and becoming irrelevant must be open to new expressions of their own particular, collective 'genius'. In doing so, they run the risk of becoming less connected to past traditions. They must trust that this will help to sustain and strengthen the ideas worth saving. The Cornell historian Benedict Anderson defined a nation as an 'imagined political community'. His description might apply to any community and their shared culture: it is imagined, he says, because though members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, 'yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion'.

Every nation - every community - has its invented rituals and symbols, which spring up to help people grasp the terms of this intangible 'communion' in everyday life, fading away when they no longer do the job. And then new practices that suit new ways of life rise up to fill their place. Sir Walter Scott improvised many supposedly 'ancient' clan tartans in the 19th century - the cloth that had once been banned as a symbol of Scottish patriotism was being reimagined as a symbol of British unity. Middle Eastern belly dancing might originally have been connected with pagan fertility rituals or with travellers from India, just as early Christmas celebrations appropriated the festival of the pagan winter solstice. Private aural confession emerged as a Christian ritual in Ireland only in the sixth century, before spreading as a sacrament to the rest of Europe. All rituals and symbols are constructed, and inherited tradition is not always the best test of cultural authenticity. Religions and cultures - and indeed nations - have survived only by being open to new ways of representing themselves. Few have scrupled about drawing inspiration from others in the process. No matter how offensive - and even destructive - cultural appropriation can be, it is almost impossible to separate every murky incident from this wider process of exchange and adaptation.

I made my peace with the Study Society some months later when I visited a more explicitly religious Sufi order and was surprised to see just how much they had borrowed from Western culture. A female sheikh in hijab was leading the session - one of very few Muslim women in this country to lead a religious gathering that includes men. She explained that the order's grand sheikh had adapted their practices after moving to the West in the 1990s - dialling down their devotional sessions from four hours to one, and working with his wife to raise female sheikhs inside the order. Islam's core tenets have been expressed in dozens of varied traditions over the centuries - perhaps an occidental version is about to have its time, drawing inspiration from the rituals and practices of the West. Turnabout is fair play.

I won't stop being angered by particularly crass examples of cultural imperialism anytime soon - and I don't believe that anyone else should stop defending their own inherited cultural practices from being hollowed out and turned into costumes by adults who want to play dress-up. But it is worth remembering that the culture you hold dear will have been shaped by the practices of other cultures at some point. Look ahead: you have the power to shape the cultural future. Are you sure you won't draw inspiration from others in turn?

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The line between creativity and stealing from another culture - Nabeelah Jaffer | Aeon Essays

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I committed my first act of cultural appropriation when I was three years old. I was given a , the checkered scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. My grandmother had more important things to worry about than Middle Eastern politics, and keffiyehs were readily available in the markets in Dubai where she lived.

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Cassie "Dear White Hipsters: My Culture Is Not A Trend"

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Cassie "Dear White Hipsters: My Culture Is Not A Trend"

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I love gauges, tattoos, piercings, and dreads, but they have come from a lot of very diverse cultures.

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http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-hook/1563147/selena-gomezs-bindi-styling-offensive-bollywood-star-priyanka

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/15/you-can-t-steal-a-culture-in-defense-of-cultural-appropriation.html

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Madonna

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Marianne Stray Shots: Nicki Minaj's Gyration & Taylor Swift's Cultural Appropriation

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Marianne Stray Shots: Nicki Minaj's Gyration & Taylor Swift's Cultural Appropriation

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http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/editorials/id.2511/title.stray-shots-nicki-minaj-s-gyration-taylor-swift-s-cultural-appropriation

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Azaela Banks

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Azaela Banks

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"The bindi is an auspicious religious and spiritual symbol... It is not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects or as a fashion accessory..." If us Indians had preserved the sanctity and holiness of the bindi, Zed's argument for cultural appropriation would have been airtight. But, the reality is, we haven't.

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Chelsea "The Fashionable Face of Racism"

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Chelsea "The Fashionable Face of Racism"

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http://mediadiversified.org/2014/02/06/cultural-appropriation-the-fashionable-face-of-racism/

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Iggy A

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I have gotten even more into snapping shots for my Insta lately! Taking photos on the go of my favorite places and foods has become one of my top hobbies, including hunting down cute spots and snacks to Instagram! Since I also review a lot of cute restaurants (c heck out my guide to New York City's pinkest cafes and shops!) I've been working on one of the most iconic Instagram photo layouts: the flatlay.

Flatlay is the term for still-life photos shot from above, usually food, makeup, or fashion products. A flatlay can be a great way to showcase products, show a glimpse into your day when a selfie isn't gonna cut it (we've all be there, right? #undereyebags?). If you're a fashion blogger, consider using flatlays to arrange entire outfits you're thinking of wearing or to show example styles. The rules are different depending on if you're at home or on the go, but there's definitely a trick to nailing either kind. Here's my favorite tried-and-true tips for a great flatlay.
Work square.
For Instagram, we all know square is best. Turning your phone's camera to square-mode is a given when arranging your flatlay. Feel free to move or change things with the camera on, too, so you can see ahead of time what your photo will look like. Filling the square is also important - you want to make sure there's no gaping holes in your design.
Bring accessories.
Using props can be a great way to bring your aesthetic into a photo away from home. A fashion magazine, sunglasses, lipstick, jewelry, a phone case, or even your own manicure or bejeweled fingers can work. If you're shooting onto a table or counter, getting your feet or the pattern of your dress in the shot also adds personality. You can use whatever you have on hand, or if you're going out specifically to snap food photos, think ahead and bring some likely items.
Floral friends.
Another easy, girly touch: fresh flowers. Pick them up from a street vendor or grab your own if you've got a bountiful yard. Roses always look classy, but daisies are becoming popular too. For an airy feel that's popular in Korean insta pixs right now, pull over some greenery like a potted plants or strands of ivy.
Mind your background.
If you're shooting at home, it's easy to experiment with different backgrounds like textured fabric (fluffy faux fur is especially fun), faux backdrops like a single marble tile or piece of painted wood, scrapbook paper, or even your bedspread or rug. On the go, you'll probably be using your cafe table. Keep in mind the aesthetic of your overall feed - dark tables will look good with dark feeds, and white tables or light wood will look better on light themed profiles. If you have a delicious snack that isn't grooving with you table, consider adding in your props to take away from the backdrop. Or if I'm unprepared, I'll ditch the flatlay altogether and look for a likely colored wall, like in my unicorn ice cream cone above.
Think color palette.
Flatlays are a visual treat for the eyes, a little like designing a still life moodboard. When considering your accessories, always be thinking of a color palette. Usually one or two colors worked around a neutral is a good balance. In my case it's usually pink (surprise) but if you have a dedicated color on your Insta, now is the time to use it. Shout out to my pal Lessie, who manages an amazing monochrome Insta!
Natural light is king.
If you're at home, finding your biggest window and setting up your background there is a given. In restaurants or cafes, try to grab a seat next to the window or even outside if there's outdoor seating. At the same time, try to avoid harsh shadows from too strong light - indirect, white light is best. A lot of bloggers suggest morning light is the purest choice, particularly on slightly overcast days.

Here's a few other blog articles I liked on flatlay advice:
Suzie Speaks: How To Create A Flatlay With Basic Props Amanda Adams: Background Options For Your Instagram Flatlays I Am Mumpreneur: 7 Steps To A Perfect Flatlay Dizzybrunette: How to Master the Flatlay
Or, if you want a huge dose of inspo, check out the IG tag #flatlayforever - to see tons of cute flatlays of every style and color palette.

I'm still learning how to master my flatlay skills too, so feel free to comment if you have any secret tips and tricks to a great flatlay photo! If you've tried any of these tips, let me know and link your Insta!

Read the other articles on ParfaitDoll.com on how to have a super kawaii instagram!
How To Have a Super Kawaii Instagram How To Have An (EVEN MORE) Super Kawaii Instagram

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I have gotten even more into snapping shots for my Insta lately! Taking photos on the go of my favorite places and foods has become one of my top hobbies, including hunting down cute spots and snacks to Instagram! Since I also review a lot of cute restaurants (c heck out my guide to New York City's pinkest cafes and shops!)

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“'Borrowing' is a key component of cultural appropriation

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Cultural appropriation is the adoption of certain elements from another culture without the consent of people who belong to that culture. It's a controversial topic, one that activists and celebrities like Adrienne Keene and Jesse Williams have helped bring into the national spotlight. However, much of the public remains confused about what the term actually means.

People from hundreds of different ethnicities make up the U.S. population, so it's not surprising that cultural groups rub off on each other at times.

Americans who grow up in diverse communities may pick up the dialect, customs, and religious traditions of the cultural groups that surround them.

Cultural appropriation is an entirely different matter. It has little to do with one's exposure to and familiarity with different cultures. Instead, cultural appropriation typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups. Quite often, this is done along racial and ethnic lines with little understanding of the latter's history, experience, and traditions.

Defining Cultural Appropriation

In order to understand cultural appropriation, we must first look at the two words that make up the term. Culture is defined as the beliefs, ideas, traditions, speech, and material objects associated with a particular group of people. Appropriation is the illegal, unfair, or unjust taking of something that doesn't belong to you.

Susan Scafidi, a law professor at Fordham University, told Jezebel that it's difficult to give a concise explanation of cultural appropriation. The author of " Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law," defined cultural appropriation as follows:

"Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a ​ minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects."

In the United States, cultural appropriation almost always involves members of the dominant culture (or those who identify with it) "borrowing" from the cultures of minority groups.

African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and indigenous peoples generally tend to emerge as the groups targeted for cultural appropriation. Black music and dance, Native American fashions, decoration, and cultural symbols, and Asian martial arts and dress have all fallen prey to cultural appropriation.

"Borrowing" is a key component of cultural appropriation and there are many examples in recent American history. In essence, however, it can be traced back to the racial beliefs of early America; an era when many whites saw people of color as less than human.

Society has moved beyond those gross injustices, for the most part. And yet, insensitivity to the historical and current sufferings of others remains apparent today.

Appropriation in Music

In the 1950s, white musicians borrowed the musical stylings of their black counterparts. Because African Americans weren't widely accepted in U.S. society at that time, record executives chose to have white artists replicate the sound of black musicians. The result is that music like rock-n-roll is largely associated with whites and its black pioneers are often forgotten.

In the early 21st century, cultural appropriation remains a concern. Musicians such as Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and Miley Cyrus have all been accused of cultural appropriation.

Madonna's famous voguing began in black and Latino sectors of the gay community. Gwen Stefani faced criticism for her fixation on Harajuku culture from Japan.

In 2013, Miley Cyrus became the pop star most associated with cultural appropriation. During recorded and live performances, the former child star began to twerk, a dance style with roots in the African American community.

Appropriation of Native Cultures

Native American fashion, art, and rituals have also been appropriated into mainstream culture. Their fashion has been reproduced and sold for profit and their rituals are often adopted by eclectic religious and spiritual practitioners.

A well-known case involves the sweat lodge retreats of James Arthur Ray. In 2009, three people died during one of his adopted sweat lodge ceremonies in Sedona, Arizona. This prompted the elders of Native American tribes to speak out against this practice because these " plastic shamans" have not been properly trained. Covering the lodge with plastic tarps was just one of Ray's mistakes and he was later sued for impersonation.

Similarly, in Australia, there was a period during which it was common for Aboriginal art to be copied by non-Aboriginal artists, often marketed and sold as authentic. This led to a renewed movement to authenticate Aboriginal products.

Cultural Appropriation Takes Many Forms

Buddhist tattoos, Muslim-inspired headdresses as fashion, and white gay men adopting the dialect of black women are other examples of cultural appropriation that are often called out. The examples are nearly endless and context is often key.

For example, was the tattoo done in reverence or because it's cool? Would a Muslim man wearing the keffiyeh be considered a terrorist for that simple fact? At the same time, if a white man wears it, is it a fashion statement?

Why Cultural Appropriation Is a Problem

Cultural appropriation remains a concern for a variety of reasons. For one, this sort of "borrowing" is exploitative because it robs minority groups of the credit they deserve.

Art and music forms that originated with minority groups come to be associated with members of the dominant group. As a result, the dominant group is deemed innovative and edgy.

At the same time, the disadvantaged groups they "borrow" from continue to face negative stereotypes that imply they're lacking in intelligence and creativity.

When singer Katy Perry performed as a geisha at the American Music Awards in 2013, she described it as an homage to Asian culture. Asian Americans disagreed with this assessment, declaring her performance "yellowface." They also found issue with the song choice, "Unconditionally," alongside a stereotype of passive Asian women.

The question of whether it is a homage or an insult is at the core of cultural appropriation. What one person perceives as a tribute, people of that group may perceive as disrespectful. It's a fine line and one that must be carefully considered.

How to Avoid Cultural Appropriation

Every individual has choices to make when it comes to sensitivity toward others. As a member of the majority, someone may not be able to recognize a harmful appropriation unless it's pointed out. This requires awareness of why you're buying or doing something that represents another culture.

The intention is at the heart of the matter, so it's important to ask yourself a series of questions.

Why are you "borrowing" this? Is it out of a genuine interest? Is it something you feel called to do? Or, does it simply look appealing and you're following the trends?

What is the source? For material items such as artwork, was it made by someone from that culture? What does this item mean to them?

How respectful is this to the culture? What would someone from that group feel about it?

Genuine interest in other cultures is not to be discounted. The sharing of ideas, traditions, and material items is what makes life interesting and helps diversify the world. It is the intention that remains most important and something everyone can remain conscious of as we learn from others.

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Understanding Why Cultural Appropriation Is Wrong

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Cultural appropriation is the adoption of certain elements from another culture without the consent of people who belong to that culture. It's a controversial topic, one that activists and celebrities like Adrienne Keene and Jesse Williams have helped bring into the national spotlight. However, much of the public remains confused about what the term actually means.

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Ben "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

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Ben "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

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http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html

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would tattoo's be considered cultural appropriation?

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Cara "American Apparel Afrika Clothing Line"

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Cara "American Apparel Afrika Clothing Line"

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http://www.whattamisaid.com/2008/09/zebras-tribal-prints-its-afrika.html

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Shaylah : History of Celeb. Cultural Appropriation

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Shaylah : History of Celeb. Cultural Appropriation

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http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/recent-history-of-celebrity-cultural-appropriation.html

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BY DERRICK CLIFTON

That's a message Cultural appropriation is not okay. In fact, it comes with Katy Perry refuses to understand, with the artist doubling down on her strains of prejudice and, within a larger system of colonial whiteness, racism. bigoted behavior in the new video for " This Is How We Do."

If you're Katy Perry, for example, you believe it's A-OK to don corn rows and gel down your baby hair, put on some long fingernails and so-called sassy mannerisms with a "blaccent" and slang to portray how you believe certain black women behave and speak. But when you do it, as a white artist, you perpetuate a long legacy of white cultural theft-in addition to bypassing all the racist and misogynist insults those black women must contend with on a daily basis. That includes being called "ghetto" by white (and other) people, typecast as a welfare queen or otherwise told that your natural hairstyles and expressions are inferior and unwelcome. These are symptomatic of slavery and segregation in America and, yes, this really still happens every day. And it's cultural appropriation.

As writer Tamara Winfrey Harris expertly notes over at Racialicious, it's the oppression that causes the intense offense that many people-mainly white people-seek to explain away rather than critically question.

A Japanese teen wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of a big American company is not the same as Madonna sporting a bindi as part of her latest reinvention. The difference is history and power. Colonization has made Western Anglo culture supreme-powerful and coveted. It is understood in its diversity and nuance as other cultures can only hope to be. Ignorance of culture that is a burden to Asians, African, and indigenous peoples, is unknown to most European descendants or at least lacks the same negative impact.

And what makes cultural appropriation all the more infuriating for people of color rests on the fact that other people-white or not-can take off their costume and return to everyday life without the discrimination or stigma commonly associated with those cultural expressions. Just because you may find any elements of another culture or subculture to be awe-inspiring, or even have an odd fetish or fascination with it, using those expressions dispensibly is an insult that comes with a long history and trend of racial and ethnic discrimination and prejudice. It's insulting to say the least.

This stuff dates back to Elvis being referred to as "The King" of rock n' roll when he borrowed or stole heavily from black artists, Madonna with "Vogue" and a variety of other instances, and too many other white artists to name in America.

Don't be basic like Katy Perry, though, who thinks she's appreciating cultures when she routinely appropriates them, even after being called out by people of color. Here's how people can avoid a similar, sad state of being:

1) Cite your cross-cultural influences publicly and often.

There is a fine line between appropriating a culture and appreciating a culture. And, more often than not, we see artists appreciating other cultures and paying homage to the originators, rather than outright stealing the expressions without giving any credit or acknowledging the history behind them. For example, with some blends of soul, R&B and pop music, Adele, Sam Smith, Christina Aguilera and many other white and non-black singers publicly acknowledge how they admire historically black genres and artists, and draw from that inspiration to mold their own creative contributions.

That's what appreciation looks like. But if Sam Smith went around ripping off an artist like Frank Ocean, you best believe many black folks in and out of the music business would have a thing or two to say about it-just as they did with Robin Thicke's alleged theft of a Marvin Gaye classic in "Blurred Lines."

2) Don't wear very culturally-specific clothing if you don't understand the significance.

This is why Native American headdresses, and even the Orientalism that comes with donning saris, henna tattoos, and other Indian ornations, rub many people in both communities the wrong way. With the headdresses, many of those cultural staples represent things, people or moments that are held sacred in spirituality, leadership, or other facets of everyday life that have a long history-especially as it pertains to white, Western colonization and genocide of the peoples for economic exploitation and domination.

3) Speak or sing in your own normal voice, not what you think is another culture's accent.

Iggy Azalea's natural speaking voice, for example, is the rural Australian accent with which she was raised speaking. However, when she steps out of an interview and into a studio (or a stage, for that matter), her voice transforms from the Mullumbimby, Australia tonality to a grungy, Southern female "blaccent" when she's rapping. While she personally shares her admiration for legendary rap artists such as Tupac, even citing him as the reason why she felt so inspired to enter the industry in the first place, the "blaccent" and Iggy's claim that Miley stoke twerking from her (and not from black cultures)-along with the industry chatter that she allegedly doesn't write the rhymes she spits-is a strike against her authenticity and tips her over the line from appreciation into appropriation.

4) Stereotypes aren't your toys. Don't play around with them.

This was on full display in the Katy Perry video with how she used the "blaccent," corn rows, and sassy, affected mannerisms in order to display how she thinks a black woman "do" on a daily basis or even how she parties. Also in the video, Perry reclines on a beach chair while wearing a single, long, black, and braided ponytail while chucking up long-nailed deuces and eating a big slice of watermelon-a fruit long associated with racist stereotypes of African-Americans eating it with fried chicken, even if the fruit detail is essentially false.

She even played on the Japanese geisha tropes during her performance of " Unconditionally" at the American Music Awards last fall, with her shuffling around on stage donning yellowface and constant bowing demonstrating a cultural ignorance and confusion about how geishas actually operate.

5) An authentic cultural exchange should feel free and affirming, rather than plagiarizing or thieving.

Let's be real. Most of us wish we could stop having conversations about racism and how it operates in American society, opting instead to just comingle, integrate and figure out how we can work through all the messiness together to create some lasting equity-which will take much more than people not stealing other cultures' expressions without being aware of the history and consequences. A real cultural exchange isn't only about mannerisms, vocal dynamics, costumes, religious traditions, musical stylings or other items. That exchange also functions as an ongoing conversation to truly understand the social and political dynamics of a community, to truly understand the everyday burdens and prejudice that often fostered the very costumes or sayings that mainstream (and white) culture have taken for granted.

Don't just borrow or pay homage. Do yourself the favor of learning more. Go to a library, take a class or even read on the Internet about the histories of a particular culture and what their people struggled through while creating these items you've become so fascinated with. And take it even one step further: Get politically active and operate in solidarity with said peoples. That is, if you actually give a damn.

Derrick Clifton is a New York-based journalist, speaker and commentator covering the intersections of identity, culture and politics. He's the author of the forthcoming book HEART WERK, a collection of coming-of-age essays about navigating life and love within multiple marginalized race, sexual and gender identities. Follow him on Twitter, on Facebook, or visit derrickclifton.com for more information on his work.

Photo via Katy Perry/VIMEO

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5 ways white people can avoid cultural appropriation

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BY DERRICK CLIFTON That's a message Cultural appropriation is not okay. In fact, it comes with Katy Perry refuses to understand, with the artist doubling down on her strains of prejudice and, within a larger system of colonial whiteness, racism. bigoted behavior in the new video for " This Is How We Do."

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she looks gorgeous but that isn't jewelry and

by wearing it as jewelry, it takes away from the true meaning

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Haley "culture appropriation might be theft

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Haley "culture appropriation might be theft

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Have you heard about Columbusing? It's "the art of discovering something that is not new," according to NPR's Code Switch blog. Apparently, few are innocent of this form of cultural hijacking, with the author postulating that "if you've danced to an Afrobeat-heavy pop song, dipped hummus, sipped coconut water, participated in a Desi-inspired color run or sported a henna tattoo, then you've Columbused something."

You don't have to read the rest of the story to guess what happened next. The piece drew hordes of "PC police" commenters who said things like, "What do you expect? Reparations because I enjoy authentic Mexican food?" The article provokes controversy in the appreciation-versus-appropriation debate, one that's lately been raging.

College student Sierra Mannie recently voiced her take on Time's website with a controversial missive imploring white gay men to stop stealing black female culture. It sparked plenty of rebuttals, some accusing Mannie of homophobia and Time of cravenly pitting two oppressed groups against each other for page views. Then Clutch proposed that black women reclaim twerking from Miley Cyrus and fellow co-opters. A brilliant work of either satire or cultural activism, it got women talking about the U.S.'s painful legacy of cultural appropriation.

The idea of Columbusing is about as American as it gets. It seems there isn't anything we won't "discover" and claim for ourselves-see Manifest Destiny, the moon, even the Middle East. Culture is no exception. "The U.S. has a remix history," said Matt Delmont, an associate professor of history at Arizona State University who teaches popular culture, urban studies, and the histories of race and ethnicity in the U.S. "It's about people borrowing and stealing, loving and hating, different things that people produce." Historically, that's usually meant the dominant white, Western European population appropriating African American and Native American cultures for profit.

The act, Delmont said, often played on a fear or a fantasy of a particular marginalized group. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the popularity of Native American attire and "Buffalo Bill" shows was a reflexive way to assuage guilt for decimating the native population. In the first half of the 20th century, music execs cherry-pickedentire catalogs of black jazz and rock and roll, two forms of music born from the struggle of the black experience. Repackaged for white audiences, the music stripped artists of the economic agency and credit they deserved.

"There's always been a vast inequality in terms of who can profit from different types of cultural performances," Delmont said. "Whites can cross those boundaries fairly freely and bring aspects of African American culture back. For African Americans those boundaries are very fixed, with fewer opportunities in terms of education and in terms of employment."Not only couldn't appropriation go both ways, but for formerly enslaved or colonized cultures, taking on Western culture wasn't a choice at all: It was a matter of assimilation and survival.

Given that messy legacy, Americans can't seem to decide on clear answers to a few important questions. How do you responsibly engage with a facet of culture that isn't "yours"? Who really owns culture, and can it be possessed at all?

Complicating the issue is the fact that there's almost no purity left in our culture, yet some groups still lay claim to certain forms of expression. "One of the tricky things about appropriation is that some things can only be ever owned by or performed by one specific culture," said Delmont.

Nowhere is this more contested than in hip-hop. It was once the only vehicle for giving disenfranchised black Americans a voice and visibility. Now hip-hop is so mainstream that at least two generations of white suburban kids have grown up with it. Many are now eager to interpret the form for their own purposes. "You can claim that rap is strictly the province of one group," Delmont said, "but you can't expect a white person of Macklemore's age to not rap."

Then there's Iggy Azalea, a poster child for what happens when appropriated culture gets commodified. Whatever your opinion of her talent, you can't argue that Azalea isn't a marketer's dream. She's young, blond, and so pretty that she's a model. She uses the voice of a Southern black female to rap, yet she speaks with an Aussie accent. It's an odd affectation, considering that other international acts such as Dizzee Rascal (from the U.K.) haven't felt the need to adopt an American delivery to win acclaim.

In an interesting reversal of historical music industry gatekeeping, Azalea didn't achieve mainstream success until she was anointed by T.I., a black music heavyweight. So when a Forbes headline says "Hip Hop's Unlikely New Star: A White, Blonde, Australian Woman," it's a laughable claim. It's also a sad reminder that even when they're at the top of the game, black artists are still marginalized.

For people who helped create a specific expression of "stolen" culture, there's a choice of whether to preserve or reclaim that space, and even close ranks. But policing participation in certain realms of music, art, food, or speech feels like a massive step backward.

The reality is that our culture is one that's been endlessly remixed, often on the backs of others. One way to acknowledge our debt? Pursue a deeper engagement with the food, art, music, and films you enjoy."A more responsible way of consumption is prioritizing or praising a nerdiness about culture," said Delmont. "That's not just wanting to listen to what's new right now, but using the Internet to learn more about how that came to be."Your open-mindedness doesn't have to stop with cultural consumption. How about having a conversation with the Bangladeshi owner or the Ecuadorian cook at your favorite restaurant?

You don't have to genuflect at 45 cultural altars before you press play or eat a meal. That's what the Columbusing conversation about hummus and coconut water gets so wrong. Focusing on innocuous enjoyment distracts us from focusing on larger institutional inequalities and who perpetuates them. It's on all of us to ask hard questions about which aspects of certain cultures continue to get stolen, and why. That means calling out Pharrell Williams when he wears a headdress on a magazine cover, and challenging Miley Cyrus when she treats black women as set dressing on her stage.

We can also tip our cap to Kanye West (yes, really) and others who create more nuanced work. "For all his problems, West's performance of 'Blood on the Leaves' at last year's MTV VMAs was an amazing example with layers of complexity," said Delmont. "He referenced Kara Walker's artwork and 12 Years a Slave with the imagery[and] Nina Simone and Billie Holiday with the 'Strange Fruit' sample, all in a three-and-a-half-minute clip."

There will always be people with good taste and bad ideas, whether they love Chipotle and want to repatriate Mexican immigrants or claim credit for cultural discoveries that aren't their own. Their Columbusing could be an act of ignorance or just immaturity, like a teenager talking ad nauseam about unearthing Led Zeppelin. Either way, they require education, not a pass. Just don't expect the marginalized to do the schooling.

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Why Cultural Appreciation Might Be Theft

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Have you heard about Columbusing? It's "the art of discovering something that is not new," according to NPR's Code Switch blog. Apparently, few are innocent of this form of cultural hijacking, with the author postulating that "if you've danced to an Afrobeat-heavy pop song, dipped hummus, sipped coconut water, participated in a Desi-inspired color run or sported a henna tattoo, then you've Columbused something."

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http://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Lady-Gaga-1-640x359.jpg

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Cultural appropriation is a term that isn't often heard in daily conversation, which means it's inevitably misunderstood by those who feel attacked by feminists, sociologically-informed bloggers, and others who use the term.

Many a white person sporting dreadlocks or a bindi online has taken cultural appropriation to mean the policing of what white people can or can't wear and enjoy.

Having considered their fashion choices a form of personal expression, some may feel unfairly targeted for simply dressing and acting in a way that feels comfortable for them.

The same can be said for those who find criticisms of the Harlem Shake meme and whatever it is Miley Cyrus did last month to be an obnoxious form of hipsterdom - just because something has origins in black culture, they say, doesn't mean white artists can't emulate and enjoy it.

And then there are people who believe that everything is cultural appropriation - from the passing around of gun powder to the worldwide popularity of tea.

They're tired of certain forms of cultural appropriation - like models in Native American headdresses - being labeled as problematic while many of us are gorging on Chipotle burritos, doing yoga, and popping sushi into our mouths with chopsticks.

They have a point.
Where do we draw the line between "appropriate" forms of cultural exchange and more damaging patterns of cultural appropriation?
To be honest, I don't know that there is a thin, straight line between them.

But even if the line between exchange and appropriation bends, twists, and loop-de-loops in ways it would take decades of academic thought to unpack, it has a definite starting point: Respect.

What Cultural Exchange Is Not

One of the reasons that cultural appropriation is a hard concept to grasp for so many is that Westerners are used to pressing their own culture onto others and taking what they want in return.

We tend to think of this as cultural exchange when really, it's no more an exchange than pressuring your neighbors to adopt your ideals while stealing their family heirlooms.

True cultural exchange is not the process of "Here's my culture, I'll have some of yours" that we sometimes think it is. It's something that should be mutual.

Just because Indian Americans wear business suits doesn't mean all Americans own bindis and saris. Just because some black Americans straighten their hair doesn't mean all Americans own dreadlocks.

The fact is, Western culture invites and, at times, demands assimilation. Not every culture has chosen to open itself up to being adopted by outsiders in the same way.

And there's good reason for that.

"Ethnic" clothes and hairstyles are still stigmatized as unprofessional, "cultural" foods are treated as exotic past times, and the vernacular of people of color is ridiculed and demeaned.

So there is an unequal exchange between Western culture - an all-consuming mishmash of over-simplified and sellable foreign influences with a dash each of Coke and Pepsi - and marginalized cultures.

People of all cultures wear business suits and collared shirts to survive. But when one is of the dominant culture, adopting the clothing, food, or slang of other cultures has nothing to do with survival.

So as free as people should be to wear whatever hair and clothing they enjoy, using someone else's cultural symbols to satisfy a personal need for self-expression is an exercise in privilege.

Because for those of us who have felt forced and pressured to change the way we look, behave, and speak just to earn enough respect to stay employed and safe, our modes of self-expression are still limited.

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is consistently treated as lesser than Standard English, but people whitewash black slang and use expressions they barely understand as punch lines, or to make themselves seem cool.

People shirk "ethnic" clothes in corporate culture, but wear bastardized versions of them on Halloween.

There is no exchange, understanding, or respect in such cases - only taking.

What Cultural Exchange Can Look Like

That doesn't mean that cultural exchange never happens, or that we can never partake in one another's cultures. But there needs to be some element of mutual understanding, equality, and respect for it to be a true exchange.

I remember that at my sister's wedding, the groom - who happened to be white - changed midway through the ceremony along with my sister into modern, but fairly traditional, Nigerian clothes.

Even though some family members found it amusing, there was never any undertone of the clothes being treated as a costume or "experience" for a white person to enjoy for a little bit and discard later. He was invited - both as a new family member and a guest - to engage our culture in this way.

If he had been obnoxious about it - treated it as exotic or weird or pretended he now understood what it means to be Nigerian and refused to wear Western clothes ever again - the experience would have been more appropriative.

But instead, he wore them from a place of respect.
That's what cultural exchange can look like - engaging with a culture as a respectful and humble guest, invitation only.
Don't overstay your welcome. Don't pretend to be a part of the household. Don't make yourself out to be an honored guest whom the householders should be grateful to entertain and educate for hours on end.

Don't ask a bunch of personal questions or make light of something that's clearly a sore spot. Just act like any polite house guest would by being attentive and knowing your boundaries.

If, instead, you try to approach another culture as a mooch, busybody, or interloper, you will be shown the door. It's that simple.

Well, maybe not as simple when you move beyond the metaphor and into the real world. If you're from a so-called melting pot nation, you know what's it's like to be a perpetual couch surfer moving through the domains of many cultures.

Where Defining Cultural Appropriation Gets Messy

Is the Asian fusion takeout I order every week culturally appropriative? Even though I'm Black, is wearing dreadlocks appropriating forms of religious expression that really don't belong to me?

Is meditating cultural appropriation? Is Western yoga appropriation? Is eating a burrito, cosplaying, being truly fascinated by another culture, decorating with Shoji screens, or wearing a headscarf cultural appropriation?
There are so many things that have been chopped up, recolored, and tossed together to make up Western culture that even when we know things are appropriative in some way, we find them hard to let go of.
And then there are the things that have been freely shared by other cultures - Buddhism for example - that have been both respected and bastardized at different turns in the process of exchange.

At times, well-meaning people who struggle with their own appropriative behavior turn to textbooks, online comment boards, Google, and Tumblr ask boxes in search of a clear cut answer to the question, "Is this [insert pop culture thing, hairstyle, tattoo, or personal behavior here] cultural appropriation?"

That's a question we have to educate ourselves enough to, if not answer, think critically about.
We have a responsibility to listen to people of marginalized cultures, understand as much as possible the blatant and subtle ways in which their cultures have been appropriated and exploited, and educate ourselves enough to make informed choices when it comes to engaging with people of other cultures.
So if you're reading this and you're tired of people giving white women wearing bindis crap for appropriating because "freedom of speech," recognize that pointing out cultural appropriation is not personal.

This isn't a matter of telling people what to wear. It's a matter of telling people that they don't wear things in a vacuum and there are many social and historical implications to treating marginalized cultures like costumes.

***

Filed Under: Tagged With: Articles, Race & Ethnicity Featured Posts, Posts

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The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation - Everyday Feminism

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Cultural appropriation is a term that isn't often heard in daily conversation, which means it's inevitably misunderstood by those who feel attacked by feminists, sociologically-informed bloggers, and others who use the term. Many a white person sporting dreadlocks or a bindi online has taken cultural appropriation to mean the policing of what white people can or can't wear and enjoy.

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Urban Outfiters

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http://aeon.co/magazine/culture/why-cultures-shouldnt-just-steal-from-one-another/

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By: Emily Yakashiro

I have a background in non-profit work, specifically focused on raising awareness about violence against women. In the 5 years I worked in that particular sector, I observed that the rhetoric and teaching tools we used to raise awareness were constantly changing. For example, "No Means No," embraced the addition of "Yes Means Yes". Instead of telling women to watch their drinks, campaigns from rape crisis centres transitioned to putting the blame where it belongs-on perpetrators and bystanders. I have witnessed these changes occur, and I'm only 24. I have yet to see such changes in the fashion world when discussing cultural appropriation.

Above: American Apparel's infamous"Afrika" print, which was designed by Landon Metz.

I'm ready for the conversation to change when it comes to discussing fashion and cultural appropriation. I think we have reached a place where the words, rhetoric, and tools we have to teach people about it and engage people in conversations about fashion and cultural appropriation is at a bit of a stand-still.

Don't get me wrong, I still think the Chanel Pre-Fall show (pictured above) was a f****** disaster, and Miley Cyrus ' ongoing tendencies to "borrow" from black cultures for her tour performances/musical awards ceremonies is truly offensive. I also realize that I have a great deal of white privilege, which is no doubt informing this post.

I will say though that while I feel I can offer many different anecdotes, examples, and teaching tools to have conversations on several different levels about violence against women, I cannot say the same for fashion and cultural appropriation. When my friends ask me why it would be inappropriate for them to wear feather headresses to Sasquatch or bindis for a night out, my arguments are always the same-I have a very limited amount of anecdotes and ways to explain why cultural appropriation in fashion is inappropriate. When I emerge the victor in such conversations, I know it is because of my own personal disapproval or judgemental attitude that prevents bindis and bandage dresses from happening, not because I explained things well or in an accessible manner.

Above: Gwen Stefani-I love her, but she is a serial offender of cultural appropriation. Image found inarticle about cultural appropriation x fashion.

I find that a lot of the arguments against cultural appropriation in fashion occupy a curious space between highly personal experiences (which often 'out' the explainer in some way) and very academic concepts and terminology.

Above: Katy Perry's performance at the American Music Awards November 2013.

When I say 'outing' the explainer, I refer to situations where we say it doesn't mean the same thing when we see a racilazied minority wearing something (say, a turban) versus a white person wearing a turban. In my own personal experience, I might say something like "Japanese people can't wear kimonos for fun the way white people wear kimonos for fun." At this point it is highly likely that the person I am talking to (if I don't know them) will inquire of my own ethnic background, and I will feel obligated to say why yes, I am of Asian descent. In contrast to my other 'area of expertise' I have noticed, however, that I never, ever had to identify as a survivor of violence to explain or discuss violence against women.

The second stumbling block I experience when discussing fashion and cultural appropriation is that a lot of the conversation tends to be highly academic and intellectualized. I can say "colonialism" and "capitalism" all I want, but those concepts are hard to explain and throw around-even in Canada where we are taught via our public school curriculum roughly what colonialism and capitalism mean. Hell, when I was 20 and in my third year of university and busily working away for the support centre I worked for on campus, I used my paycheque earned from my (which was cemented on feminist and anti-oppressive principles) to run out and buy the infamous "Afrika" print American Apparel leggings (see the first picture in this post). I, of all people, should have known better. But I didn't.

Above: Karlie Kloss in one of the most heinous examples of cultural appropriation in recent fashion history during the Victoria's Secret fashion show.

I have no doubt that I have some blind spots when it comes to explaining cultural appropriation and fashion, but I also have a pretty darn solid background in workshop facilitation and public speaking (if I may toot my own horn for a second)-if half of what we say is not what we say but how we say it, my 'toolkit' to discuss or explain cultural appropriation should be pretty darn good, yet I find myself constantly fumbling through arguments against cultural appropriation in fashion.

Unfortunately, I don't have the gift for coming up with snappy metaphors or eye-opening anecdotes that might make a difference in how I explain things (like "Yes means Yes," etc) with regards to fashion and cultural appropriation. I can rehash the statements well enough, and back them up once I know them, but for now I am certainly lacking. I am ready for a new conversation about fashion and cultural appropriation, and I think the fashion world is ready as well. I'm looking looking for more conversations, more ideas on how to approach this issue-will you help me out?

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I'm Ready for a New Conversation on Fashion & Cultural Appropriation.

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By: Emily Yakashiro I have a background in non-profit work, specifically focused on raising awareness about violence against women. In the 5 years I worked in that particular sector, I observed that the rhetoric and teaching tools we used to raise awareness were constantly changing.

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for anyone who likes Wikipedia

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Cultural appropriation is 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.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/12/new-zealand-haka-maoris

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Evan "In Defense of Cultural Appropriation

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Evan "In Defense of Cultural Appropriation

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/15/you-can-t-steal-a-culture-in-defense-of-cultural-appropriation.html

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Haley "Karlie Kloss at Victoria's Secret Runway 2012"

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Haley "Karlie Kloss at Victoria's Secret Runway 2012"

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"For example, the American band Redbone, comprised of founding members of Mexican heritage, essentialized their group as belonging to the
Native American tradition, and are known for their famous songs in support of the American Indian Movement “We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee” and “Custer Had It Coming”. However, as Lipsitz argues, when the majority culture attempts to strategically anti-essentialize themselves by appropriating a minority culture, they must take great care to recognize the specific socio-historical circumstances and significance of these cultural forms so as not the perpetuate the already existing, majority vs. minority, unequal power relations."

Link: http://www.racialicious.com/2008/09/18/cultural-appropriation-homage-or-insult/

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Cultural Appropriation and How it Affects Others
www.the-peak.ca/2014/09/stealing-culture/

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http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/5-things-white-people-cultural-appropriation/

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Marianne "CULTURAL APPROPRIATION YES OR NO?"

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Marianne "CULTURAL APPROPRIATION YES OR NO?"

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http://jezebel.com/avril-lavignes-new-video-is-a-monstrosity-1566182297

http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/23vsz0/cmv_theres_nothing_wrong_with_cultural/

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Declan/ CULTURAL APPROPRIATION: HOMAGE OR INSULT?

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Declan/ CULTURAL APPROPRIATION: HOMAGE OR INSULT?

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http://www.racialicious.com/2008/09/18/cultural-appropriation-homage-or-insult/

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Evan "2013 was the year of cultural Appropriation"

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Evan "2013 was the year of cultural Appropriation"

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http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4468583

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Cassie "Top 10 Instances of Open and Unapologetic Celebrity Cultural Appropriation in 2013!"

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Cassie "Top 10 Instances of Open and Unapologetic Celebrity Cultural Appropriation in 2013!"

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www.autostraddle.com/top-ten-instances-of-open-and-unapologetic-celebrity-cultural-appropriation-in-2013-210371/

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Ben "Challenging Stereotypes in Peter Pan"

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Ben "Challenging Stereotypes in Peter Pan"

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http://www.tolerance.org/blog/challenging-stereotypes-peter-pan

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I dunno

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What is this about?