Examples Of Cultural Appropriation Of African American Culture

In this paper I discuss the African-American culture in regards to values, norms and beliefs.

Cultural appropriation is not seen exclusively in dance but rather a multitude of pop culture. For example in fashion. Fashion is a huge part of today's culture, and many designers created their clothing through the inspiration of other objects and or culture. Appropriation begins to

Racial and cultural appropriation has become increasingly significant in society within the past 30 years. “The idea of “cultural appropriation” has recently entered mainstream

In Randa Jarrar’s essay Why I can’t stand white belly dancers she bluntly addresses the predicament of cultural appropriation. Jarrar’s main purpose is to inform her audience on appropriation, whether it’s done oblivious or uncaring of the situation. There are many ways she presents the situation, the tone she takes on to convey the problem is unsympathetic and transparent.

You cant steal a culture was written by John McWorter. He is writing this paper to a general audience, or anyone interested about culture appropriation. Jon McWorter is an american studies teacher at Columbia University. McWorter connected with the topic because he sees the problem everyday. His arguments strongly written, and he is trying to explain that everyone thinks culture appropriations wrong, but its just a normal thing. His opinion is clearly stated that culture appropriation is fine. People are jus taking it the wrong way. It should be flattery not offending. McWorter states his thesis statement in the first sentence. He uses logos to explain his essay. He gives a lot of examples of where culture appropriation is used in the wrong way, or taken the wrong way. Like when he references Harlem and Miley Cyrus. The main one was when White gay men imitate black women. I thought the essay was very convincing, not just because I agree that culture appropriation isn 't a bad thing but,because of the great references.

In (E)"The Color of Water" by James McBride, he talks about why caring about cultural appropriation matters. He tells his own story of growing up in a family with different racial backgrounds and dealing with prejudice. Through his mom's experiences as a white Jewish woman married to a black man, McBride shows how important it is to understand and respect different cultures. He says that cultural appropriation isn't just about grabbing cool stuff from other cultures for ourselves; it's about knowing the deep meaning behind those things. E. McBride's book reminds us to be respectful and caring when we interact with other

As our country evolves with different cultures from around the world, people are unaware of the fine-line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. So, what is cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation is when members of a dominate culture, mainly white, borrow from the cultures of minority groups without their input. While there are many people who feel disrespected by others using their culture, there are still people who appreciate and value ones culture.

When a person thinks of culture, they do not typically think of ‘white American’ culture. That is, of course, because very few things in American culture were created here originally, even the language. White American culture is based off of appropriation. For many American people, culture is what they see of another race or ethnicity. Many times, the conclusions they come to based off of their observations is the only knowledge they have of another culture and, at times, this is used to belittle the minority’s culture. In Leslie Savan’s essay, “What’s Black, Then White, and Said All Over?”, she explores the impact African American vernacular, or black English, has had on modern American English. As she states, “It’s a black thang has become everybody’s thing” (Savan 435). While she discusses black English’s growing popularity and its daily usage by white people, specifically in pop culture, she also highlights the fact that, when used by black people, it is used as a way to demean them. This is the ignorance within white culture. Like black Americans, Muslim women are being degraded due to the lack of knowledge on the significance of their traditional headdresses which leads to

It is a term that has dominated the media; from Halloween costumes to NFL mascots, headlines across the nation blare the words: “cultural appropriation.” Yet, many still are not quite sure what the term means. To put it simply, cultural appropriation is the exploitation of a culture that is not one’s own.

Yet, Michael Arceneaux attacks white culture because he believes it is known for stealing, or cultural appropriating elements from African American culture, such as slang and traditions. A writer for the website Ebony calls white people “culture vultures” and lists all the cultural elements white people have stolen when he says, “In the last year white people have discovered and therefore invented … cornrows; baby hair; Bantu knots; trap music; big booties. …clueless White people who continue to “create” trends that have already existed and lay claim to other people’s cultures with no receipt in sight” (Arceneaux). He argues that whites cultural appropriate, intentionally or unintentionally, all the time and act dumbfounded when someone exposes

According to Oxford Dictionary, cultural appropriation is defined as the inappropriate adoption of the customs of one people by members of a more dominant people. This can be especially dangerous due to the distortion and disconnection of a culture’s custom from its roots. However, at the same time, cultural appropriation can lead to cultural exchange which is beneficial to the overall development of the world because different cultural groups can connect to others through cultural similarities. An example of this is when former President Barack Obama, in 2016, held the first ever Diwali celebration in the White House. Although this was an attempt for America to appropriate Indian culture, at no point did I feel offended or mocked. As an American Indian, this made me garner a feeling of great pride for both my country (USA) and for my ethnic background. Therefore, cultural exchange/appreciation is the act of sharing cultural practices between different groups of people. Nonetheless, there is a fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. The issue of this boundary can be explored in the rap industry which is dealing with an influx of multicultural attention. Rap, historically, was an artform founded and pioneered by the African American community. Recently, there has been a surge in the participation of whites in rap. Robert Clift's 2010 documentary, Blacking Up, investigates the issues of cultural exchange and appropriation in the hip hop

Appropriation allows those people who are appropriating to remain prejudice and/or ignore the racism the black community is dealing with. Maisha

To begin to analyze the issue of appropriation, it is important to first precisely define exactly what appropriation entails. In order to define appropriation, I used the definition given in an academic journal from Florida State University. The article defines appropriation as either “representation of cultural practices by cultural outsiders” or “the use of artistic styles distinctive of cultural groups by nonmembers” (Matthes 7). This introduces a complicated conversation regarding appropriation in the Kwaito genre. On one hand, South African citizens clearly used components of an American art form without having membership in the American cultural group.

During my research titled, Cultural Appropriation of African American Culture a dominant social class were the recurring factors that influenced and affected African American culture. This group is called white supremacist, who belief that members of the Caucasian race is superior to all other races. White supremacist fears the mixing of races; which has lead to the genocides of the following races: Indians, Hispanics, and African Americans. The men responsible for these heinous crimes are honored in American History; they have schools streets, and buildings displaying their names.

Cultural appropriation is a huge topic, within today’s society, many question what is cultural appropriation and what is not. The definition of cultural appropriation is, “....the use of ideas, symbols, artifacts, images, objects, etc., derived from contact between different cultures. It often implies a negative view towards the minority culture by the dominant one and is often culturally insensitive”(Biron). Examples of cultural appropriation would be portraying a culture through stereotypical depictions of them or wearing a culture as a ‘trend’. Another example would be wearing a headdress to portray a Native American or wearing a sombrero and a poncho to depict a Mexican. Just those words sound degrading and racist each of these ethnicities. Many think it is socially acceptable to be insensitive to a culture, because they classify the appropriation as them appreciating the culture. Cultural appropriation shows only the stereotypical view of culture and has no regards to the actual culture. Many look at the cultures as inspiration for ideas, but that does not mean to steal the ideas completely. Cultural appropriation is not only insensitive, but also racist. Blackface, for example, was used to portray an African American by painting the face of an non-black actor black. The NFL team Redskins uses an offensive and racist word to label their team; their mascot is a “Native American” wearing headdress. First and foremost, not all Native American cultures wear headdresses, these depictions of Native culture show natives as all the same. Minorities have faced appropriation for decades, but why did this problem only recently come about?