Cultural Appropriation: No Big Deal

Stephen Kershnar

Cultural Appropriation: Appropriate Away

Dunkirk-Fredonia Observer

September 23, 2019

Cultural appropriation occurs when an individual from one culture uses another culture’s ideas. Often the ideas relate to artifacts, clothes, food, and symbols. Many academics and activists think that appropriation is theft. They claim that it disrespects minorities and smacks of colonialism.

The anti-appropriators decry the Florida State Seminoles’ and Washington Redskins’ use of Native American images. They get very upset over Halloween costumes involving Mexican sombreros, ponchos, and bandoliers and even more upset at Native American war bonnets and war paint. At Yale, debate over Halloween costumes caused massive turmoil. Some cultural critics take personal offense when white women wear Japanese-style kimonos and Chinese-style form-fitting dresses.

Two years ago in progressive Portland, two non-Hispanic white women were pressured into shutting down their burrito food cart because it was alleged that they culturally appropriated the type of food and stole the recipe from the Mexican people. It is unclear why Portlanders, including Hispanic ones, would be better off with inauthentic burritos. White people who allegedly pretend to be black or Native American (NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezal, Black Lives Matter leader Shaun King, and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren) are criticized for appropriating a racial identity.

In art, many of history’s most important painters (Paul Gaugin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Rousseau created primitivist art, which tries to recreate primitive experience. Other artists (for example, Amedeo Modigliani) drew inspiration for his sculpture from African art. Many art historians insist that such art is wrong or bad. In Canada in 2017, indigenous activists pressured an art gallery into shutting down a white woman’s show because her art was inspired by indigenous art.

Cultural appropriation is neither wrong nor bad. First, there is no one who is victimized when a person from one culture uses ideas, symbols, clothes, etc. from another culture. No individual owns a widespread cultural element, such as the archetype for a Central or West African mask, gaucho pants, Native American headdress, or sombrero. Specifically, no one has intellectual property rights to them (copyright, patent, or trademark rights). Nor does anyone have a moral right that is analogous to such legal rights. Just as no individual owns the archetype, nor does any group own it. There is no one, for example, who could sell, whether morally or legally, the rights to make and use gaucho pants. Nor could any person or group grant permission to others to make such pants or destroy all such pants. If an act does not wrong anyone, it’s not wrong.

Second, critics of appropriation inconsistently focus on context. No one would object to black teens in a Harlem drama club performing Fiddler on the Roof, Macbeth, or West Side Story. Some art is too good or enjoyable to be limited to just one people. Yet, if such cultural crossover is acceptable, then it’s unclear why white people may not play Asian characters. Consider, for example, David Carradine in the 1970’s show Kung Fu and Scarlett Johansson in the remake of an anime classic: Ghost in the Shell. If the concern is for ridicule or insult, then most of the above appropriation is fine. The Redskins and Seminoles adopt their symbol because they think their team namesake is dignified and full of fighting spirit. Gaugin, Modigliani, and Picasso thought that the African masks and Tahitian colors and people were aesthetically impressive. The white women selling burritos likely thought authentic burritos are outstanding.      

Third, the alleged wrongness of cultural appropriation is a one-way street. No one thinks African people wrong Western people when they use Western ideas (for example, rights protecting assembly, free speech, and the press), political structures (for example, separation of powers, parliaments, and congresses), medical discoveries (for example, polio vaccines), or religions and religious symbols (for example, Catholicism and Catholic iconography). If appropriation is wrong because it involves theft of ideas, it would be wrong in these cases. Theft does not become permissible merely because the victim is wealthy. If appropriation of political and medical ideas is good, the same is likely true for aesthetic ideas. In general, the free market with unlimited entry of people and products almost always benefits consumers.  

Also, no one objects to Notre Dame and the Boston Celtics appropriating Irish symbols or the Minnesota Vikings appropriating a Nordic symbol. Just as Notre Dame’s fans see the Leprechaun mascot as a positive celebration of Irish fighting spirit, Redskins fans similarly view their mascot. The Redskins’ fans view is bolstered by the fact that three predominantly Native American high schools name their sports teams “Redskins.”

Fourth, the boundaries of appropriation are unclear. Imagine a bunch of orthodox Jewish teens from Brooklyn who want to dress up in dreadlocks and play Reggae music. Are they appropriating? Intuitively, it seems so. Yet Bob Marley’s father was a white Reggae musician and, arguably, Jewish. There is an amusing picture of Marley wearing a chi while smoking a doobie. Here things get strange. On the one hand, history intuitively seems to make no difference here. No one cares about Marley’s lineage. On the other hand, it is odd that a group may not claim ownership over an art form when its most famous artist is from their group. The teens may wear Woody Allen costumes. The history-based permission gets murky though. May a Haitian teen dress up as Bob Marley? Perhaps it’s okay so long as he has 12.5% aggregate Jamaican and Jewish genes or heritage.

Similarly, imagine a group of Catholic white teens from Iowa having watched Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury, decide to wear his character’s Chinese outfit and show off his famous moves. Is this objectionable appropriation? Lee is probably one-quarter white and attended Catholic schools. To make things more confusing there is a good chance that kung fu originated in India, not China. In any case, Bruce Lee’s preferred style was his own Jeet Kune Do, not kung fu, and he developed it when living in the U.S. It is hard to believe that any of these facts determine whether the teens may wear such an outfit.  

In general, it is mysterious as to why people may not display their enjoyment of art or other accomplishment by someone from another group. Many Asian, Hispanic, and white guys from the New York City area took pride in Lawrence Taylor’s relentless play for the Giants, especially those who played linebacker. No one blinked an eye when they wore his jersey.  

Cultural appropriation is neither wrong nor bad. No one owns cultural symbols and the unfettered free market in them makes the world a much better place. Rather than spending time denouncing cultural appropriation, cultural critics’ and academics’ would be better served by wearing a chi and smoking a doobie.