Cultural appropriation

[Londonerlove]

AIBU to be totally annoyed by cultural appropriation.
I read this today and though wtf!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/newsbeat-44572555

I’m not a fan of kim but if she wants her hair in braids she can have her hair in braids?

Shouldn’t this be praised rather than attacked?
Is eating pasta cultural appropriation?

London I was asking the questions because I didn’t know what you meant by adopt. I was trying to understand but I know what you mean now.

Strongmummy - was that your Sephardic Jewish heritage that was offended? Where in Portugal are you from? I know the country very well

Yes it was. I am not sure exactly where in Portugal she was born but my mums mums mum (great Grandma) was a Sephardic Jew.

@lost, interesting. So due to the upset you felt, you know exactly what I mean by cultural appropriation.

I understand what you mean about the food @Strongmummy, I have been told by white people that curry was invented by a Scottish person because of the surname Curry. Whereas curry is a specific dish pronounced 'karrhi' basically means to boil, the dish is yoghurt and milk with spices. Yet every pakistani, Punjabi, Kashmiri, food is Indian food and called curry!!!!

I'm not saying food shouldn't be eaten, made or adapted, sold in supermarkets etc - but just acknowledge that not everything was invented by Europeans.

is it CA that the English national dish is chicken tikka masala?

@animaginative I’ve never known Europeans to claim they invented everything?

@animaginative, exactly! Everything was invented by Arabs !!!! 🤣🤣 I’m joking of course

@london, just because you don’t do it, it doesn’t mean other people haven’t experienced Europeans claiming they know more about everything than anyone else. It’s like you’re dismissing people’s experiences and it’s really tedious and pretty hurtful. Trust me, the colonial attitude of the Brit’s is very much alive and well and is felt very acutely by many from countries that were formally part of the Empire

@Londonerlove I don't think it is CA for the national dish to be chicken tikka, it's eaten by most of the population. The fact that it is the just shows how accepting society can become - by learning about other cultures. So yes to one of your earlier posts, food really can bring communities together

but just acknowledge that not everything was invented by Europeans.

Isn't that mostly window dressing? A nice but potentially absolutely hollow gesture?

When someone else (for example a big company? With primarily white upper management and shareholders?) are the ones that use and profit from intellectual "property" (food? Music? Patterns?) from an oppressed group?

Or, to use previous examples:

"Yes, yoga was not invented by European people."
Proceeds to have a "yoga class", saying namaste and talking about the spiritual side of things when their class is ultimately just an exercise class?

Or... "Curry is not a European invention". Proceeds to build curry chain restaurants that drive out the smaller shops (owned by people from the Indian subcontinent)?

@maria - very interesting points

Which leads me to my point. Where do we draw the line?

I think this is more really to do with integration into a host society. Ex pats in Spain like to band together, speak English and shop at English shops. They cling to their English culture.

Obviously some here are quite rightly proud of their culture and prefer to dress and socialise in their culture. They cling to their own culture.

Surely that’s natural especially if people feel their culture is seen as a negative one compared to the host country.

The truth is people like their own kind of what ever race and that’s why you get predominantly white/Asian/black areas.

If we had true multiculturalism this wouldn’t be an issue but we don’t and no where in the world really does. Just lots of different cultures living precariously side by side

@MariaMadita I've actually learnt something, thank you.

Completely agree @Ohmydayslove

@tacolover in my eyes when people are told to integrate more it means don’t give up your cultures inc clothing, it means learn and adopt the cultures of the country that you have decided to live in.
So do you agree with people telling me I need to integrate more into British society?

I've never met anyone who said that immigrant communities need to integrate more into British society who wasn't a massive racist. But there's always A first time.

@tacolover not a question I can answer. I don’t know you at all. But considering your on MN having a discussion with people from many different cultures I’d say no.

I've never met anyone who said that immigrant communities need to integrate more into British society who wasn't a massive racist. But there's always A first time.
This. Like what the fuck constitutes telling someone they need to integrate more? What exactly would someone need to do to be told this?

Can we leave out the racist slurs please? There’s no need as clearly no one is racist on this thread just have different pespectives.

No one is telling anyone they need to integrate more as we are all strangers and have no idea how integrated anyone is in RL but surely the sensible way forward is to look outward in any culture or society and not inward.

You keep the bits of your culture that you value and you adopt host countries laws and values too. You are ok to share your culture and you are equally ok adopting the best bits of another host culture.

How can it be that problematic and difficult?

Ohmydayslove
Where are the racist slurs? Where has anyone accused people of telling others they need to integrate more? I asked a question because I wasn't sure of the implication.

And
For. The. Last. Time.
Nobody has been against sharing cultures! What we have asked (before you suggest we're vilifying, patronising and controlling women) is that people are respectful of somebody else's culture by not making assumptions/generalisations about it e.g. assuming a garment is Indian because you saw a brown person wearing it, or calling it vintage or exotic when describing it. Does this sound difficult or problematic to you?

strong thanks :). They might have already been made (I didn't keep up with all the comments on this thread...)

@animaginativeusername
Oh? Cool :) I found this thread rather thought-provoking tbh...

No it sounds perfectly sane but it’s not going to happen en masse because people are people and generally just getting on with their lives.

It would be nice if everyone was culturally aware and sensitive and some will be and others mean well, some don’t care and some are downright stupid.

That’s the same with any issue and this is no different.

And I don’t think British people are the worst in the world st this I think I it’s a global
Phenomenon as in general people only really understand their own cultures and neither know or care greatly for others. Unless it’s your interest in life.

taco none of that sounds hard or unreasonable, it wasn't my understanding of what CA meant but I happy to try and not mislabel my clothing.