{"id":32658,"date":"2021-04-09T12:28:11","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T16:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=32658"},"modified":"2021-04-23T21:54:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T01:54:56","slug":"define-cultural-appropriation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/","title":{"rendered":"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It’s Problematic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How do you define cultural appropriation? Why is cultural appropriation problematic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s considerable disagreement about what constitutes cultural appropriation even among people of the same culture.\u00a0But, how do you define cultural appropriation? Simply put, it is when someone adopts an element of culture that isn’t their own (e.g. a hairstyle or a piece of clothing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we will define cultural appropriation, highlight some examples, and explain why cultural appropriation is problematic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How Do You Define Cultural Appropriation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cultural appropriation occurs when members of a dominant culture adopt selected aspects of another culture without respect, background knowledge, or proper attribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we look closely at instances of cultural appropriation, we can see that at their heart is always the same thing: the rights to ownership of a culture. <\/strong>If you can take selected elements of a culture and manipulate them for my own benefit, you\u2019re claiming ownership of pieces of that culture. This is a form of theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say a white person wears a sacred Native American war bonnet to a music festival. By doing this, that person is trivializing and overriding whole social structures\u2014he\u2019s bypassing the traditional process for choosing a leader to wear these bonnets and claiming the right for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or let\u2019s say a white person wears dreadlocks because she thinks they look \u201ccool.\u201d By doing this, she\u2019s ignoring the long history of pain and protest that this hairstyle has for communities of color. If she\u2019s complimented on her new hairstyle while a black person is denied a job for the same hairstyle, this highlights the problems with cultural appropriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do I Know if Something Is Cultural Appropriation? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To work out whether or not something is cultural appropriation, you can start with the difference between \u201cappreciation\u201d and \u201cappropriation.\u201d <\/strong>Appreciation is learning all you can about the aspects of a culture that interest you and participating respectfully. Appropriation is perpetuating the exploitative power dynamics that characterize White Supremacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take rap music as an example. Rap can be traced back to the royal griot oral history traditions of West Africa. This musical storytelling style came over with the slaves and influenced blues and jazz before evolving into the style we now know as rap. Rap, along with other black music styles, was originally marginalized by the white mainstream. Black artists who performed in segregated clubs weren\u2019t allowed to use the main entrance and were paid far less than white musicians in the same club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, white people associated rap with crime and blamed it for social problems.<\/strong> Then white people started imitating rap. They immediately became more famous and more financially successful than their black counterparts, even if they were far less skilled. This white overlay has changed the understanding of what constitutes \u201cgood rap,\u201d pushing out talented black artists and making it increasingly difficult for them to succeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you define cultural appropriation? Why is cultural appropriation problematic? There\u2019s considerable disagreement about what constitutes cultural appropriation even among people of the same culture.\u00a0But, how do you define cultural appropriation? Simply put, it is when someone adopts an element of culture that isn’t their own (e.g. a hairstyle or a piece of clothing). In this article, we will define cultural appropriation, highlight some examples, and explain why cultural appropriation is problematic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":32718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,39,24],"tags":[266],"class_list":["post-32658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-history","category-society","tag-so-you-want-to-talk-about-race","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nDefine Cultural Appropriation: Why It's Problematic - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cultural appropriation is a controversial topic. In this article, we will define cultural appropriation and explain why it is problematic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It's Problematic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cultural appropriation is a controversial topic. In this article, we will define cultural appropriation and explain why it is problematic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-09T16:28:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-24T01:54:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It’s Problematic\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-09T16:28:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-24T01:54:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"So You Want to Talk About Race\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\",\"History\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/\",\"name\":\"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It's Problematic - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-09T16:28:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-24T01:54:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"Cultural appropriation is a controversial topic. In this article, we will define cultural appropriation and explain why it is problematic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It’s Problematic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\",\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"caption\":\"Darya Sinusoid\"},\"description\":\"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It's Problematic - Shortform Books","description":"Cultural appropriation is a controversial topic. In this article, we will define cultural appropriation and explain why it is problematic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It's Problematic","og_description":"Cultural appropriation is a controversial topic. In this article, we will define cultural appropriation and explain why it is problematic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-04-09T16:28:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-24T01:54:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Darya Sinusoid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darya Sinusoid","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/"},"author":{"name":"Darya Sinusoid","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46"},"headline":"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It’s Problematic","datePublished":"2021-04-09T16:28:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-24T01:54:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/"},"wordCount":500,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg","keywords":["So You Want to Talk About Race"],"articleSection":["Ethics","History","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/","name":"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It's Problematic - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-09T16:28:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-24T01:54:56+00:00","description":"Cultural appropriation is a controversial topic. In this article, we will define cultural appropriation and explain why it is problematic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-cultural-appropriation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Define Cultural Appropriation: Why It’s Problematic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46","name":"Darya Sinusoid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","caption":"Darya Sinusoid"},"description":"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dreadlocks-girl-style-culture.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32658"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33443,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32658\/revisions\/33443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}