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In his book Hyperculturality (2005), the Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han distinguishes between "cultural appropriation" and "cultural exploitation." He
by jboynyc 11y ago
In his book Hyperculturality (2005), the Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han distinguishes between "cultural appropriation" and "cultural exploitation." He argues that appropriation per se is not a problem (because culture, after all, is generally not diminished by being appropriated), but exploitation is. Exploitation occurs when there is a clear power differential between appropriator and expropriated (think whites poking fun at blacks in a society that used to be based on the slave labor of black people), but there are plenty of examples where processes of appropriation do in fact lead to "new creativity" (think Korean tacos).
- vlehto 11y agoIn your example, cultural appropriation is bad when it happens to be racism at the same time. (Not to mention that making fun of someone can be asshole thing to do in it's own right.) Could you give example when cultural appropriation is bad without something obviously bad shit being bundled with it?
- vidarh 11y agoI think you're right, but sometimes it becomes easier for people to complain about cultural appropriation because of the context. E.g. consider how black women often get criticised for styles that are then praised on white celebrities. Things like hairstyles that have been common in black culture for a long time, like corn-rows, for example. In those cases, it's easy for people to dismiss criticism of this as not having anything to do with racism by saying that "oh, no we really didn't like them, but now someone has shown it can be cool, and it has nothing to do with race" or something similar. Fashions change. It's a plausible excuse. Sometimes. Talking about cultural appropriation then becomes a way of criticising that practice in a way where you make the "oh no it's not racism" excuse moot by re-framing the debate. In that way, it could be a useful way of attacking hidden racism. The problem, of course, is that it works exactly because it ignores the intentions of the people involved and becomes a weapon that hits equally hard against people intentionally or unintentionally perpetuating hidden racism as against people who are genuinely appreciative of something.
- vlehto 11y agoI see your point. If you allow dishonest stuff to pass because it combats racism, then there is a risk that you just paint SWJ crowd dishonest. If racism is well enough hidden, I don't see the point opposing it anymore. I don't think people should be burned because of thoughtcrime. We can agree that it's not cool behaviour to run around with plastick indian headress while high. Or dunkenly sing Elvis songs in karaoke. But I don't think it is immoral, and I don't think who does it matters too much.
- viraptor 11y agoJust to confuse the naming, some people who say they care about the distinction call those culture- "appropriation" (bad) and "appreciation" (good).