Defining Appropriation: the differences between exploitation and transculturation
By Kasidi Gorneau
Kylie Jenner wearing braids received a lot of flack because it was seen as her “appropriating” African American culture. This was definitely not the first time someone has been called out for appropriating styles from a different culture, but it is definitely the one that caught my attention. There are a lot of stigmas that surround the word in the media; however, the word itself shouldn’t be seen as negative. In my opinion, appropriation, especially in the United States, is a necessity for our nation to thrive because we aren’t defined with just one type of style, religion, or culture. We all share our heritage and that is what is supposed to make the U.S. great! There are multiple forms of appropriation and it would do good to remember to distinguish between them before surrounding the word itself with negativity.
Cultural Exchange is the trading of different symbols, genres, or technologies between two cultures. This type of appropriation is usually beneficial for both cultures and is necessary in our society to keep the people enlightened about the world around them. I believe that this type of appropriation is necessary in most countries because we all use it to a certain degree. According to Rogers, “Its function is twofold: As an ideal, it establishes ethical standards by which other types of appropriation should be judged (i.e., reciprocal, balanced, and voluntary). I like to apply this way of thinking in our countries foreign policies. We exchange goods like oil, technology, and clothing with various other countries and in some part we are getting some of their culture, as they get ours with the trade.
Transculturation, my favorite, would be a way to blend cultures together respectively. It’s an excellent way for there to be no subordinate or dominant culture (ideally), and to take the best and most sacred qualities from each culture to share with the entire community. In the United States this is especially important because according to Clifford, a researcher that was interviewed for this article said, “expectations of wholeness, continuity, and essence have long been built into the linked Western ideas of culture and art.”
Cultural dominance would have a more negative effect on subordinated cultures because the dominant culture in the area will usually take over the entire area booting out smaller cultural traditions. When the pilgrims came to America, there was a transition from having a dominant Native American culture to the English taking over. The more people from Britain that came to the States the more prominent their culture became and the Native Americans became a subordinate culture.
Exploitation would be the most negative type of appropriation -in my opinion. It takes subordinated culture without any permission or reciprocity and abuses cultural values. Exploitation is the most common form of appropriation that is talked about in today’s media, but isn’t always referenced with its specific name, which gives appropriation, as a whole, a negative image. I believe this one to be kind of controversial especially in our fashion and music today. It’s mainly heard that white people exploit black culture for fashion, like braids, dreads and whatnot. However, I don’t think that this can be exactly pinned down as exploitation considering that the United States is almost like a melting pot of all cultures.
Our ideas of what exploitation and transculturation tend to be slightly mixed in America. We’re in a place where each ethnicity wants to keep some of its culture for itself, but at the same time we all want to be accepted and seen as equals so it is definitely a breeding ground for some controversy on which parts of each culture can be used by other people. It’s hard to try to tread lightly when you aren’t exactly sure where the bombs are located. Creating a negative image of appropriation based on our mix up of two of its parts is a bad idea. Without some part of appropriation the United States wouldn’t be what it is today. I believe that we live in a country that was completely founded on the idea of transculturation, a give and take on which parts of culture to mold into the one we created, that we have, today. Appropriation is vital to our understanding of the different cultures around us, it gives us knowledge, and makes us aware.
Citation:
Rogers , R. A. (2006) ‘From cultural exchange to transculturation ’, Communication Theory , 16(4), pp. 474–503.
