Native American Heritage Month: What Is Cultural Appropriation?

What is cultural appropriation?

Fordham University Law professor Susan Scafidi defines cultural appropriation as "Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission...

This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects."

So, how do I respectfully appreciate other cultures?

Consider the 3 S's:

Source - Did the source community invite you to share this bit of culture? Do they have a history of oppression?

Significance (or Sacredness) - Is this piece of culture an everyday object? Or is it something sacred and worthy of greater respect?

Similarity - How similar is the object to the appropriated culture? Is it a literal knock-off or was it inspired by the culture?

And when in doubt, buy Native!

Much of this page is adapted from "A Much Needed Primer on Cultural Appropriation" by Katie Baker for Jezebel.com. Visit the original article for more information.

You can also visit these sources:

The Do's and Don'ts of Cultural Apropriation from The Atlantic

Amandla Stenberg: Don't Cash Crop On My Cornrows

Cultural Appropriation: Why Your Pocahontas Costume Isn't Okay: Aaliyah Jihad at TEDxYouth@AnnArbor

What's the big deal?

Dr. Jessica Metcalfe explains, "When people know of us only as a 'costume,' or something you dress up as for Halloween or for a music video, then you stop thinking of us as people, and this is incredibly dangerous because everyday we fight for the basic human right to live our own lives without outsiders determining our fate or defining our identities."