Cultural Appropriation?

[Burgoo]

I've just stumbled across a few articles that make reference to mindfulness/medication and yoga.

Both articles argue that the Westernisation of both activities is "cultural appropriation" and that white folk in the West should think about how they are using these activities in every-day life. The key themes seem to be:

1. We need to acknowledge the concepts and where they originated
2. We must bring attention to the oppression that has been meted out onto minorities and other cultures if we are to use "their" concepts/activities
3. We should never benefit financially from activities that are stolen from other cultures (e.g. white-middle-class women shouldn't teach yoga if they are getting money from it because it is stolen from another culture)
4. We shouldn't just take the bits that are "relevant" to our culture - for example, using yoga for physical exercise and ignore the spiritual aspects of yoga.

So... what are people's thoughts on this?

TABU (they are being unreasonable, people who argue this)
TANBU (they aren't being unreasonable, we need to stop taking aspects of other people's cultures and respect all aspects of them)

I say they because I am undecided and wonder if I am missing something!

Yes, it drives me nuts.

my mum was absolutely baffled when I told her about it. It never ends. I'm a woman of colour but with fairer skin than is a "norm" and those people would get themselves in a right muddle trying to work out what I should or shouldn't be allowed to do, based on what they think they know about me.

But I imagine your staying true to the grammar, pronunciation etc, and using it as a gateway to appreciation of Spanish literature?
or do you profit from a teaching a mangled form of words loosely based on what people of Spanish origin speak ?

It's another phrase used to indicate racism that only works one way. I never hear anyone complaining that it's cultural appropriation when people from other cultural backgrounds use/incorporate/adopt British cultural ideas/ways of living etc .

This.

I believe the idea of cultural appropriation negatively affects people with mixed heritages/ethnicities.

Eh? How are they making money off this, at the expense of British people though?

I do appreciate there are areas of cultural appropriation where it matters a lot - that people shouldn't 'dress up' as other cultures or use accessories/makeup/clothes that may have deep spiritual significance to another culture, eg wearing 'Native American' headdresses clubbing or dressing up as a 'Mexican' or 'Japanese girl' at a party when you're not from those backgrounds.

I think other things have become intertwined to an extent they can't really be 'taken out'. I don't think it's realistic for people to expect yoga only to be taught by Indian people, for example. I have seen it said online that yoga was 'banned by the Empire' and while that's certainly plausible, I can't see any reliable evidence of that having happened, it's just people saying that it did online, which is not the same thing. I'd agree with the view that as long as one tries to understand the context, appreciates its origins from India and that it wasn't invented in California in the 90s, that's fine and sufficiently respectful. I'd see there being a problem if everyone was practicing it but concealing it's origins and pretending white people invented it but I've always been taught it contexts where people are respectful to its roots.

God, let someone start a thread about how other cultures are appropriating European culture. I'm sure it won't be long before that gets taken down because 'racism'.
I'm sure the yoga gurus and others that profited off teaching and certifying white people to teach yoga are being held accountable for this cultural appropriation, are they?

I love the fact people can enjoy and adapt different aspects from my cultural background (Indian) be it related to food, music, art, clothing etc
However the way yoga is seen in the West is so devoid of the cultural and spiritual context, that is shameful.

Christmas is « enjoyed » by lots of non practising Christians, but imagine going to India as a Christian and the only people telling you how you should celebrate Christmas were non Christians

Echobelly "I do appreciate there are areas of cultural appropriation where it matters a lot - that people shouldn't 'dress up' as other cultures or use accessories/makeup/clothes that may have deep spiritual significance to another culture, eg wearing 'Native American' headdresses clubbing or dressing up as a 'Mexican' or 'Japanese girl' at a party when you're not from those backgrounds."

who decides? I would then be annoyed with people wearing certain goddess symbols, or a cross, or a pentagram - all of which I have worn at some point.

Presuming you have ever seen a white person with an Afro type hair have you?

Um, well I have. I personally know a handful of white people with type 4 hair, one of them in my son's class. She and her mum both have what would be described as Afro type hair.

I think it negatively affects everyone but I have been lucky and hardly see it IRL.

re yoga, I very much appreciate the physical benefits, but don't know anything about the spiritual. I mostly learned it from my uncle, who was a great believer in a bunch of a spiritual stuff that I am not linked to. He was fine with me taking the health benefits.

What is 'European' culture and how would one appropriate it?

Let's carry this nonsense about yoga to its logical conclusion, we shouldn't do Mathematics, it's 'appropriated' being historically from eastern countries, don't let your teens find out, they can refuse to do Algebra. Japan and China can't play football, tell New Zealand they can't play Rugby Union if you dare! At some point someone needs to stand up and say Enough is enough.

🙄

Mountain out of a molehill.

@JudgeJ
but there are no religious or cultural aspects to the practice of maths, which if ignored reduces the concept of what maths is

Why is it "white folk?" Don't other races participate in yoga in the west or is this another white bashing thread?

You mean 'yt'

Just be respectful of practices that carry significance to others. Anything else is nonsense.

The conductor Leopold Stokowski who was London born and raised, affected a Germanic persona and accent throughout his US career. On a visit home to London, he was observed to gesture at Big Ben with a questioning expression: ‘Big clock: please, she is called?’

Was he appropriating German culture?

Perhaps you should read some Indian religious texts such as the Upanishads to appreciate the beauty and heritage behind Eastern spirituality and how it’s a shame Yoga is stripped of this.

it’s enlightening! Which is what yoga is about? 😉

So that’s a random mom and her son in your DC class… kind of proves my point.

Interesting
I don't know his background but if I fake an accent from my mother or father's country of origin, am I appropriating?

Happy I'm sure the Upanishads are fascinating but I don't need to study them to do yoga. Maybe one day I'll read them, maybe not. It doesn't matter.

I'm not interested in yoga or it's background.

So that’s a random mom and her son in your DC class… kind of proves my point.

Aye, because they'll be the only ones in the world, won't they? I mean, if there were any more, I would have met them ALL, wouldn't I? What exactly IS your point?