The problem with cultural appropriation is that it replaces the original with a copy created by the dominant culture. It dilutes the original, removes all symbolic value from it and replaces it with a ready to consume product devoid of context and meaning.
Cultural appropriation, at its most extreme, is a violent form of colonization because it removes the original group behind the culture and reinforces stereotypes about that group (i.e. ALL First Nation folks are reduced to “war bonnets”, whether their culture uses them or not; all Latin@s are reduced to a stylized version of Catholicism regardless of their spirituality; etc.). The mechanism of commodifying a culture ends up being a tool to re-inforce [sic] racism as it reduces the people behind those cultures to a mere cartoon like representation of their realities. It’s a great way to ultimately Other and objectify entire groups of people by taking something that is dynamic and ever evolving and freezing it for a marketing photo opportunity.
Flavia Dzodan (via comingonstrong)
Holly green gnocci! 320+ notes on something I wrote as a comment to Garland’s post about Gaga?! I didn’t even know Tumblr had lifted that one.
Anyways, India Woewityml, editor of Crooked Teeth Magazine sent me an email the other day because she was planning to use this very quote on something she is writing. However, she edited it and made it so much better. So, in the interest of improvement, here’s her edit:
“The problem with cultural appropriation is that it replaces the original with a copy created by the dominant culture. It dilutes the original, removes all symbolic value from it and replaces it with a ready to consume product devoid of context and meaning.
Cultural appropriation, at its most extreme, is a violent form of colonization. It removes the original group behind the culture and reinforces stereotypes about that group. The mechanism of commodifying a culture ends up being a tool to reinforce racism, as it reduces the people behind those cultures to a mere cartoon-like representation of their realities. It’s a great way to ultimately ‘other’ and objectify entire groups of people by taking something that is dynamic and ever evolving and freezing it for a marketing photo opportunity.”
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