#grsj230

[fashasianness-blog]

Cultural Appropriation Done Right

I found this video in a blog post done by a fellow GRSJ230 blogger, tied to her critic of an article that featured the video and then made claims that “cultural appropriation can be done right in the everyday”, which Tania points out, is a largely problematic thought. While the video doesn’t have anything to do with Asianess, I feel like it can add to our conversation about cultural appropriation.

The title of this video alone makes me tense, bracing myself for ignorant cultural appropriators trying to absolve themselves of their wrong doing, but in watching the video I was pleasantly surprised. If you analyze the video separate from the article Tania was deconstructing (Tania’s focus was more on the article itself) it provides a refreshing take on how one can Culturally Appropriate correctly. 

The thing is, I don’t really see this as culture appropriation, or even cultural borrowing. As they said in the video itself, the designer is not really taking anything from the culture directly rather being inspired by the geometry and colours of the culture (like Prabal Gurung with Tibetan Monks), and the beauty of the natural surrounding. Inspiration is vastly different in my mind from appropriation, because it infused with personal creativity without any obvious copying. 

I also think the fact that the designer had a relationship with these people before he decided to launch a campaign inspired by their culture is important. Through this he obtained consent to share their culture, something which they encouraged and enjoyed, and did so in collaboration with them, having them as an active part of the process.

Finally, the economic structuring is promising. By sharing the profits with the people he took inspiration from the designer is recognizing their ownership of the culture. I am just a bit wary in the fact that the portion shared is undisclosed, so as far as we know the people may be making a pitiful sum. Still, its a nice contrast to the nothing that other appropriated groups always receive. I also worry slightly about the way this line may be marketed, for I feel that the agreement could be abused as a selling factor, therefore removing the feeling of sincerity of it.

None the less, I find this video is an interesting take on how we can globalize culture ethically.

You can take a look at the full collection here.

[theasiaofbrazil]

But, where are you reeeeaalllly from?

In a settler colonial nation, like Brazil, no one is really ‘ethnically’* Brazilian. This is not to say that there is no ‘Brazilian’ identity or culture, as there obviously is, but rather that ethnicity/heritage are not the same as identity/culture/nationalism, although these concepts are often connected. The Indigenous people who owned the land that is now Brazil are not even technically Brazilian, because that name was given to the land by the European colonizers.

I say this as a Canadian, which is a fellow settler colonial nation, where no one from Canada can be ‘ethnically’ considered Canadian for the same reasons as mentioned above in the case of Brazil.

Nationalism seems to get mixed up with ethnicity and allows certain groups to claim that they are truly from a nation, and others are not. Of course, this claim comes from the construct of races, and then racilaizing certain groups, and then claiming that because of their visible physical differences they are “different” from the dominant group. 

The use of power and privilege of the original colonizers situates them as the archetype for what a citizen of a nation must look like. This marginalizes the groups that may not look like the dominant group. 

I want to argue that in settler colonial nations, no group really has any more claim to the nation than any other group (except the Indigenous people who actually deserve ALL the claim to the land..). In a settler colonial nation like Brazil and Canada, nationalism and the feeling of belonging and a home within a nation should not be exclusive. 

People of Japanese heritage in Brazil arguably are just as “Brazilian” as anyone else in the nation. Nationalism in settler colonial nations is constructed by/defined by the cultural of the people in the nation, it does not define who is allowed to make up the nation.

This video really reminds me of this tension within nations settled by colonizers: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWynJkN5HbQ

* Even though the term “ethnicity” can be controversial, it was the best term that I could think of for this context.

[fashasianness-blog]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iBv0pLiP7s)

With Halloween coming up I think it’s a good time to discuss Cultural Appropriation and costumes. It’s really pretty simple, a culture is not a costume. It’s not funny or creative to dress up as someone else’s culture for Halloween. Often, when done by a white person it invokes a history of colonialism and subjection that has been done to various cultural/ethnic groups throughout history. 

As these women point out, there is a complete lack of cultural understanding by those who produce the costume. They are quick to point out it’s inaccuracies and the homogenization of Asian motifs within the costume. 

It is important to add that this does not mean you cannot dress as character of another race (i.e. just simply that you play the character, not the race) so to say that if you’re going as the Charlies Angel’s with your friend for Halloween, there should be no need to go in yellow face to convey Lucy Lui’s character. If you do, you’re not only racist, but your costume sucks because you can’t get across your idea without being offensive.

Here’s a useful list to see if your costume is racist.

So please, keep Halloween fun for everyone, and don’t culturally appropriate. Non-Asian Note: This year, to my shock and disgust, there is a wide variety of Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costumes. There are incredibly transphobic. While apparently Caitlyn has said that she is okay with it, this is a one of few times when the overall community needs to be considered over the individual. Caitlyn Jenner costumes reinforce the misconception that a trans* persons existence is a costume and pretend. DO NOT USE TRANS* IDENTITY AS A COSTUME.

[theasiaofbrazil]

Why Brazil?

[theasiaofbrazil]

About the blogger: (and a quick disclaimer)

This summer I had the amazing opportunity to visit South America for the first time. I went to Brazil for a Study Abroad course, and at the risk of sounding cliché and completely unoriginal, as one often does when it comes to speaking on travelling to knew and wonderful places, it blew my mind!

One of the most memorable things that I learnt in Brazil was that there is a large population of Japanese people living within Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo. 

For those of you who have never really heard much about the geography of Brazil, São Paulo is located in the South of Brazil, a little west of Rio de Janeiro, as indicated by the above map (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/south-america/brazil/).

Why this blog/topic? 

For some reason, I was very surprised to learn that there was a large Japanese population in Brazil. The Japanese in Brazil even have their own neighbourhood known as “Liberdade”, meaning ‘freedom’ in Brazilian Portuguese.  According to Wikipedia, this neighbourhood happens to be the largest Japanese community (outside Japan) in the entire world!!! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberdade_(district_of_S%C3%A3o_Paulo) 

I wasn’t sure why this fact in particular surprised me, until I recently began thinking about it in more depth when I created this blog. This blog has been created for an assignment to study any aspect of “Asianness” for a course I’m currently taking. This topic of “Asianness” is very broad and open to interpretation, so I wasn’t sure what to write on. Being a white/caucasian woman, I was concerned about speaking on any aspect of “Asianness”, but especially a topic that I was not familiar with. I didn’t want to run the risk of not staying in my lane*... Since I actually visited Liberdade, I felt like that was perhaps my best connection/knowledge of “Asianness”. I hope to do the community justice with this blog. 

Where do I want (hope) this to go? 

I’ve started to realize that perhaps my surprise with the Japanese diaspora stems from a question of why people from a “developed” nation (Japan) would move to a “developing” nation (Brazil)? (I understand that the concept of “developing” and “develop” are problematic at times, but in this context it is the best description I have for my thought process) Clearly this question contains my own biases of growing up in North America/ a “developed” country. I am looking forward to unpacking this question further. Regardless of my own bias, I still think the question of “why?” is very valid and one worth exploring.

I would like my blog to delve deeper into how the Japanese diaspora in São Paulo see their identity, and how the Brazilians see the Japanese diaspora in their country. The concept of identity is important when situated in São Paulo because it is an extremely diverse city with immigrants from all over the world. Still, there’s clearly something to be said about the Japanese in São Paulo, as they have their very own neighbourhood (Liberdade) that, according to Wikipedia, happens to be the largest Japanese community (outside Japan) in the entire world!!!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberdade_(district_of_S%C3%A3o_Paulo) 

*Disclaimer: I would like to recognize my position of power and privilege in writing this blog. I am not Asian; I am a caucasian cis female. In my identity, I am very much an outsider to the concept of “Asianness”. Furthermore, even though I have visited Liberdade, I am in no way an expert on it, or Brazil altogether for that matter. I would like to take this blogging opportunity to learn, as I’m still learning about these concepts and many others. That means that I am very open to constructive criticism. 

I look forward to learning more about Brazil, a country that I’ve fallen in love with, by looking at how “Asianness” is expressed within it.  I will do my very best to incorporate the voices of the people and communities I’m researching in this blog, and I hope to at least do them justice. :)