Cultural appropriation surrounds us each day, distorting our perceptions of marginalized cultures. Read how this impacts the girls represented by Malala Fund.
Cultural appropriation surrounds world media today, negatively impacting the lives of already marginalized individuals. White culture, specifically, serves as the dominating culture that distorts colonized cultures of less power and wrongfully exploits them, often as a means of entertainment and fashion.
Before I continue - what is “cultural appropriation” and why is it’s acknowledgment and discussion crucial to the protection of individual populations worldwide?
Richard Rogers defines this term loosely by stating that it is the use of any aspect of a culture (including language, symbols, clothing, etc.) by another culture, often without permission or compensation. In other words, I like to think of it as the stealing or theft from one’s culture, often by a dominating culture, and generally resulting in the distortion or misrepresentation of marginalized peoples.
There’s four ways in which cultural appropriation can be displayed, as presented by Rogers: cultural exchange, cultural dominance, cultural exploitation, and transculturation. Cultural exchange is reciprocal and between cultures with “roughly equal levels of power,” cultural dominance is the use of elements of dominant culture by a subordinated one, cultural exploitation is the appropriation of elements of a subordinated culture by a dominant culture without permission, and transculturation refers to elements created by multiple cultures (not just belonging to one). These four mechanisms for the exhibition of cultural appropriation display the role of dominance versus subordination interrelated, as well as the distinction between the presence and lack of presence of reciprocity.
Google/ Selena Gomez Pictures
So - why is this important to know?
Let’s look into one contemporary example of cultural appropriation discussed in Himanshi Nagpal’s article, which shines light upon the appropriation of Indian culture by Selena Gomez in her 2013 music video, “Come & Get It.” In this performance, Gomez wears a red dress and red bindi, referring to her costume as “glam tribal.” Wearing a bindi on one’s forehead, as explained by Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, is an “ancient tradition in Hinduism” and serves as a “religious and spiritual symbol.” He further goes on to express the disrespectfulness and ignorance provided in its use for “seductive acts” by Gomez, and as a “fashion accessory.” This would fall under the mechanism of cultural exploitation, as Gomez appropriates the Indian culture without permission or compensation.
Now let’s put this into the lens of the millions of girls represented by Malala Fund, living in India, who are being deprived of receiving their education, battling gender inequality and cultural norms. Is this reflective of “glam tribal” as portrayed by Gomez? Are fans of Gomez getting the true image of these young girls or are they being misguided into assuming Indian adolescent girls are wearing high-up fashion and doing financially well?
I mean, what is the effect of cultural appropriation on the lack of worldwide recognition for what these young girls are suffering from? Perhaps this falls into one of the many reasonings behind why these marginalized girls are being neglected worldwide and why their lack of education is not being noticed to a vaster extent. Americans hold the capability to distort cultures such as these in a way that enhances our misconceptions and results in our lack of intervention.
For one, Gomez’s appropriation of their culture not only serves as disrespectful towards an important religious symbol, but transcends beyond that into creating a harmful generalization in fans’ perceptions of Indian culture. A glamorized view of the fashionably dressed Gomez, completely undermines any notion of poverty and struggle for a means to an education by American fans. Thus, this appropriation likely feeds into the worldwide negligence of Indian girls’ suffering. Rather than celebrities like Gomez focusing their time and energy upon conducting charity, raising awareness, or helping these young girls with their excruciating large amount of wealth, they are choosing to glamorize the culture with their own selfish motivations in mind.
This is not the only culture represented by Malala Fund that Americans appropriate either. Other cultures around the world, such as in Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Pakistan similarly suffer from the effects. The idea that White is equal to beauty and that White culture also holds the power of making other aspects of different cultures “cool” or “trendy” asserts cultural dominance and allows for cultural appropriation to take place on a wide scale.
That being said, it is extremely important to remain aware of cultural appropriation in our own lives, making sure not to allow it to distort our truth. It is vital to know what the accurate story is and utilize our resources to help where it is needed. Remaining blind-sighted by celebrity glamorized portrayal and appropriation of these cultures will restrict us from realizing the true narrative of these girls. Rather than utilize our time watching media that misrepresents the truth, it is better to spend our time seeking accurate portrayal and information. For instance, Malala Fund would be a great place to start, as it expresses accounts and stories ranging over a wide variety of cultures, which are written by people of first-hand experience.
These are the types of media provided that we must strive to go by, avoiding cultural appropriation at all costs.