maybe part of the reason why white ppl (mostly Americans) appropriate non-European cultures is bc they’re told that “wHiTe PeOpLe HaVe nO CuLtUrE!!!1!11!!” and apparently everyone else does have culture and since they’re shamed and ridiculed for “lacking a culture,” they tend to look to others.
*insert break line since tumblr got rid of it*
also, about 30% of the alleged “cultural appropriation” instances aren’t actually cultural appropriation, since the word “appropriation” implies that one’s culture was stolen from them, and claimed by someone else to be theirs and doesn’t give credit.
i.e. that girl (i forgot her name, but she was verified on twitter) who wore a qipao as her prom dress and posed with her hands together like in a prayer with her friends on that staircase, yeah that wasn’t cultural appropriation, it was more like cultural appreciation, since many people like to see others wearing their traditional garments in a respectful manner that does not have any intention to shame, mock, ridicule, take advantage of, or otherwise insult the culture to which that garment belongs. this is different from wearing cornrows or box-braids, which have different meanings regarding their history.
another issue i want to vent about is the whole “WhO wOrE BrAiDs FiRsT???” debate. the style of braids has been seen in many cultures in many time periods. sometimes cultures and groups that were geographically near each other would intermingle and exchange styles and practices, which led to the spread of a particular style or practice. people trying to claim braids as theirs and only theirs is just petty, tbh. you can’t claim a fucking hairstyle as your own and try to prohibit others from wearing braids.
the whole point of cultural interactions is to learn from the other and adopt some aspects, to share with one another. that’s what the original idea of america was (im not trying to be patriotic, ill go over my opinions about this country in another post), to be a “melting pot” of different cultures. this increase in cultural possessiveness and growth in the “us vs. them” mindset of poc regarding white people is just undoing everyone’s hard work to try to help different races coexist out here. it’s segregation all over again, in the early stages, of course.
an example of “white” (European) culture being appropriated is St. Patrick’s Day. an originally Irish (cultural and religious) holiday meant to commemorate a very important saint of Ireland has now become altered so much, with people wearing green, waving shamrocks around, and the fucking leprechauns and pots of gold at the end of a rainbow, that it’s barely even recognizable. leprechauns have become these caricatures that look like very stereotypical Irishmen and who run around making rainbows and shit is pretty bad. that is an example of cultural appropriation. *CURSING HERE* i just needed to vent about the fucking “leprechauns” that are so fucking far from what they originally were - in Irish culture and lore, they were the offspring of fairies who were mischievous and neutral (neither benign nor malign). but now they’re these little shits that are somehow associated with a day denoted to a saint???? idk.
