The Culture Swap — Appreciation vs. Appropriation
Shown in the image above is my first exposure to cultural appropriation and what it means. 18-year old Keziah Daum wore a traditional Chinese garment called a qipao, a clothing representative of women’s liberation efforts in China. Surprisingly, Daum is not of Chinese descent.
So what’s the issue? She’s just wearing a prom dress, borrowed from Chinese cultural. Indeed, it is a beautiful dress, and that is the reason why she decided to wear it for prom. She even seems to celebrate it as seen in the image above, with the women throwing up the prayer poses and the guys are displaying an array of peace signs.
But that’s exactly the problem with it.
Maisha M. Johnson describes cultural appropriation as one’s adoption of some aspects of culture that isn’t theirs. From this description alone, there doesn’t seem to be much of a problem; actually, this seems to be what cultural exchange is all about. But there is a clear distinction between appreciation and appropriation.
Cultural appreciation is a meaningful gesture–one that is historically informed, driven by respect, and founded on the basis of understanding of power relations between cultures. The complete opposite is cultural appropriation, which falls in line with the following description: “power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group,” as wonderfully quoted by Johnson.
So where does this fall in the scope of Daum’s prom scandal? Her lack of understanding and respect for the qipao’s cultural importance, and her failure to recognize the deep-rooted systemic power structures associated with her actions. To have this meaningful, cultural importance reduced to the context of prom and the act of appreciation displayed through stereotypical Asian poses is simply embarrassing and a sign of disrespect to the Chinese culture.
Throughout college, I have learned so much about what it means to be an Asian-American, especially in the context of a predominantly white country. Through studying the model minority myth, I have realized the struggles that Asian-Americans face, like the lack of Asian-American representation in film and media, yellow face, xenophobia amidst the coronavirus, a seemingly widespread acceptance of Asian stereotypes of the weak Asian man or the timid, seductive Asian woman, etc.
These problems are only the tip of the iceberg, and they are hidden when people like Daum rip an aspect of Asian culture. It reflects the willingness to accept the surface-level aesthetics and romanticized visuals of Asian culture without acknowledging the culture for its entirety. It shows her, and many others, turning a blind eye to the important history and identity of Asians, and more blatantly, it shows her white privilege that allows her to do so. It is the very power dynamics that define cultural appropriation and deem her actions as ignorant, uninformed, privileged, etc. The list goes on and on. It’s more than just a dress. It’s more than just prayers and peace signs. It’s a problem that she and many others will never realize until they open their eyes to the colonial attitudes of the dominant white culture towards other cultures.
And that is the difference between appreciation and appropriation.
