Cultural Appropriation Quotes in So You Want to Talk About Race
But instead what I was standing in front of in that airport was a caricature of my culture. A caricature of the vibrant decorations and festive music. Everything I'd loved about African food had been skinned and draped around the shoulders of a glorified McDonalds.
We can broadly define the concept of cultural appropriation as the adoption or exploitation of another culture by a more dominant culture. This is not usually the wholesale adoption of an entire culture, but usually just attractive bits and pieces that are taken and used by the dominant culture.
Some modern and fairly well known examples of cultural appropriation by the dominant white culture in the West are things like the use of American Indian headdresses as casual fashion, the use of the bindi as an accessory, the adoption of belly-dancing into fitness routines, and basically every single “ethnic” Halloween costume.
Think of artists like Elvis Presley who have been canonized in the annals of music history for work that was lifted almost wholesale from the backs of black musicians whose names most Americans will never know.
That “legitimacy” bestowed by whiteness actually changes the definition of rap for the American culture.
Cultural appropriation is the product of a society that prefers its culture cloaked in whiteness.
“I’m glad it's not one of those weaves […] Those are so expensive and really bad for your hair.”
Cultural Appropriation Term Timeline in So You Want to Talk About Race
