"you can't outdo the doer": cultural appropriation vs appreciation

There is a misconstrued notion of what cultural appropriation means, and I believe this is why some individuals cannot understand this concept. Instead, their offensive actions towards certain cultures is precisely why there needs to be the enlightenment of some of the differences between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation.

Cultural appreciation is when there is a strong understanding of what a cultural article of clothing, hairstyle, style of speech, food, music, and the overall cultural significance of traditional cultural aspects means a culture you do not identify with. For example, suppose I went to Japan, rather than wearing a Kimono bought off of Romwe (this brand has a history of sexualizing Asian cultural wear.) I would only wear a Kimono made in Japan (and only told by Japanese people that it was ok), and if I fully understood the cultural significance of this traditional dress and wearing it to a cultural event. I appreciate their culture and the importance of particular cultural aspects. In that case, I will not disrespect any of their traditions and culture, but rather enjoy the differences between cultures I identify with and with their cultural identity. (If you’re more interested in the history of the kimono, Emi Ito does a wonderful job on how fashion “kimonos,” misrepresent what the kimono stands for and erases the Japanese-American experience by erasing the garments particular history here)

While the antithesis of cultural appreciation is the cultural misappropriation and taking it as your own. Cultural appropriation is defined as taking elements from another culture that isn't your own without understanding or respecting the history or significance. The most evident example of cultural appropriation is when a non-black person gets their hair braided, specifically box braids, and wears that hairstyle without understanding the historical and cultural significance of what this hairstyle means to black people, specifically black women.

Cultural appropriation in fashion, often styles, accessories, and garments that people have been discriminated against for wearing, is taken as something cool and trendy without any thought or respect for that style's origin. We have to think critically about how fashion items are perceived when on different people. At least my generation (Gen-Z) was demonized, criminalized, and seen as "ghetto" on black and Latinx girls when they were younger and through to adulthood, but seen as trendy on a white girl now, is another ironic example of the marginalized POC experience. This gen-Z idea of "y2k" and streetwear fashion is a fashion style created by black and Latinx women in the 2000s and has been "white-washed" and completely changed. Y2K fashion and Streetwear icons include Aaliyah, Destiny's Child, TLC, etc.

This is not Y2K (found on Pinterest when I looked up 'Y2K'):

This is the original Y2K styling:

Along with the skewed perception of cultural clothing when it's on a person of that culture and when it is not, the same thing goes for speech. The misappropriation of the language used by black people in America amongst each other and denoting it as "Gen-Z lingo," when it's merely just African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is an appropriation and disservice to the black community. AAVE was a way for slaves to speak to one another, using words picked up from their masters. But because African slaves were not in the education system like white Americans during slavery, they were stripped of their original languages and struggled to learn English. Prompting the dialect that we know today. AAVE is also commonly known as Ebonics and is seen as controversial. Why? Because Ebonics is seen as unprofessional, improper, and ghetto. Ebonics has been tried to be banned from the school system, thus probing Black children to learn how to code-switch and use General American English. The blatant misuse of AAVE on social media platforms such as Tik-Tok and Instagram, flooding the comments with a "chile," "period/purr," "capping," "deadass," and statements like "period sis they finna catch these hands," is a direct appropriation of AAVE if said by a non-black person.

And when someone of a culture you have culturally appropriated points out that what you have done offends them. Do not get defensive; this invalidates their valid feelings. It is their culture that you disrespected, and we all need to be mindful of this. Someone’s cultural garments are not costumes that you can just wear anytime you want. They have significance and deeper historical meanings behind them.

- rhi <3