by John Stevenson
I guess the scourge of “cultural
appropriation” has been around a while, but I first learned of it three years
ago, and wrote about it in my June 25, 2014, column. Two fraternities had been disciplined by
their respective universities. One for
holding a Cinco de Mayo themed charitable fundraiser. The other for holding a Fiji Islander
charitable fundraiser (grass skirts, coconut bras---like in that racist musical
“South Pacific”). In the first case the
event was canceled; in the other, fraternity leaders were required to undergo cultural
sensitivity re-education.
Cultural appropriation is defined by Nadra
Kareem Nittle, an expert in the field:
“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.” Nittle goes on
to say that it is worse if the source community is a minority group or when the
thing appropriated is particularly sensitive (like a religious symbol).
There are other similar definitions,
but key to their application is that there’s no actual rule book. Whether a particular act or event is or is
not really cultural appropriation is up to the offended individual or
community. Non-negotiable.
I actually was hoping sanity had
prevailed and this issue had gone away.
Alas, Michael Barone’s May 5, 2017, column on cultural appropriation
brought me back to reality. So I
rummaged around on line and quickly found writings by Nittle, Jenni Avins,
Kovie Biakolo---cultural appropriation experts all. Google cultural appropriation and you’ll find
those writers along with many others.
Apparently there’s a cultural appropriation industry out there, taking
offense, writing, lecturing, re-educating miscreants and, of course, making up
the rules as they go along.
So my vain hope was that the stink
about the Cinco de Mayo party and the South Pacific-style event had blown over Barone brought me back to reality. The offense of cultural appropriation is now more
offensive than ever.
Barone postulated that only the
culturally pure should be able to partake of that culture. For example, that only Italian-Americans with
proof of ancestry should be able to buy pizza in the school cafeteria, panini
at Panera, or pasta at Olive Garden. He
says “Fortunately, modern technology makes this possible. [Prospective
purchasers] could display their ancestry.com profiles on their
smartphones…” The non-qualified “would
have to be politely but firmly informed that their ancestry bars them from
partaking of cuisine their ancestors had no part in concocting.”
Of course Italian cuisine is just an
example. The right to purchase and drink
a Guinness, to listen to Chuck Berry’s
“Maybelline” or dance to Chubby Checker’s twist, to wear a sari or a barong, to
attend a Greek festival or an Oktoberfest, even to watch a movie such as
“Hidden Figures” or “Coming to America.”
All would be subject to proof of membership in the matching culture.
Again, appropriating from my June 2014
column: “America, by its very nature, is a potpourri of cultural foods, music, behaviors,
dress, and language. Borrowing from each
other’s cultures has been standard practice in our society. Unless it is done to mock or ridicule,
where’s the offense?”
The culture warriors believe cultural
appropriation, a class one felony, wreaks havoc from sea to shining sea. Me? I
think I’ll put on my aloha shirt, have a gyro sandwich, drink a cerveza---maybe
even polka.
