Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation
Imagine: You’re at work and your office throws a themed event encouraging everyone to dress up in clothing inspired by another culture, calling it costumes. It may seem fun, at least at first—everyone loves a themed party, right?
But, how would you feel if that culture was inherently tied to your identity, your customs, and your life? What if these “costumes” are regalia that represent traditions and practices that are considered sacred and important to you?
What is Cultural Appropriation?
Cultural appropriation is when individuals from a majority culture adopt or exploit parts of a marginalized culture. This is typically done with permission or understanding of the context, reasons, or background of the minority culture and the importance of their traditions and elements.
When it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion this behavior perpetuates stereotypes and reinforces inequalities.
It also further oppresses communities by:
Making marginalized people feel like outsiders within their own culture.
Marginalized groups are no longer in control of their own narrative.
It perpetuates stereotypes by selectively picking fragments of a culture, allowing the majority group to define and highlight only certain aspects, distorting the culture.
Ignores contextual, significant elements of cultures.
Examples of Cultural Appropriation
❌ Using culture to create a costume. For example, in 2019 Dior tweeted a photo of their new perfume featuring Native American imagery called “Sauvage”. Not only were the visuals criticized, but the name itself was once used as a slur for Native Americans.
❌ Numerous fashion brands have taken imagery, clothing, regalia, hairstyles, and more to display their work.
❌ Using language or specific words from marginalized communities to express yourself. For example, using African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and popularizing it without the context in which it was created.
Cultural Appropriation and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Cultural appropriation threatens the “equity” in DEI by further marginalizing underrepresented groups. It removes the expression of culture and uses it outside of its context for personal or corporate gain.
This reinforces long-standing historic and cultural power imbalances and prevents equity by removing ownership of aspects of culture from the culture themselves.
Furthermore, by taking aspects and elements from marginalized cultures and popularizing them outside of their context, we remove the cultural meaning altogether. This leads to individuals finding themselves appropriating and utilizing cultural elements without even realizing it, and without the context.
How Cultural Appropriation Hurts Marginalized People in the Workplace
1. Creates a Negative Culture
When a workplace refuses to respectfully acknowledge cultural diversity within their organization, they encourage people from the dominant culture to create images of marginalized individuals based on stereotypes. Often, these are harmful, untrue, and open the door to create divides between employees.
2. Further Marginalization
Imagine going to work every day and having to reject your authentic self in order to fit in. Employees from marginalized backgrounds may feel the need to downplay their cultural differences and assimilate to match the majority at their workplace. This erodes an individual’s connection with their culture, creating a sense of isolation and shame, stripping minority groups of their individuality.
3. Excludes Marginalized Groups from Economic Benefits
When majority cultures commodify elements from marginalized people, they remove them from the financial and social benefits that could receive from their creations.
4. It Takes Power Away From Marginalized Groups
A CBC interview with Shain Jackson, a Coast Salish artist, described it aptly: “A lot of people don’t understand that when they are appropriating our artwork our history, our culture and even our laws are codified into this.”
If a company takes a marginalized group’s work without consultation or a partnership, it causes significant harm by disallowing minority groups to tell their stories. As Jackson rightly points out, the histories, cultural significance, and meaning are removed when a first-voice approach is not used.
What is Cultural Appreciation?
In contrast to cultural appropriation, cultural appreciation (also known as cultural exchange) refers to the respectful sharing of ideas, traditions, and practices between cultures in a way that considers all context and meaning. Within DEI frameworks, cultural appreciation promotes inclusion and respect by ensuring diverse cultures are given a voice when it comes to their culture. This way, underrepresented groups have control over how their culture is shared and represented.
Examples of Cultural Appreciation
👍🏾 Organizing and sharing cultural foods with a diverse potluck.
👍🏽 Creating space to honor a variety of observance days and months that specifically affect and refer to team members.
👍🏻 Organizing a cultural day for team members with educational elements.
👍🏿 Rather than co-opting culture without permission, corporations can partner with artisans. This way, artists can control designs specific to their traditions and practices, receive fair compensation, and ensure their culture is represented respectfully.
Intent vs. Impact
Cultural appropriation often prompts a variety of justifications when it is brought to attention.
However, the distinction between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, is the intent, approach, and the impact.
What is Intent?
In the case of cultural appropriation, intent describes the reason for displaying a marginalized culture.
Intent can be good, bad, and everything in between.
What is Impact?
On the other hand, impact describes how those within the appropriated culture respond to appropriation.
It is important to remember that impact cannot be controlled or dictated by those who cause harm. Instead, their role is to listen, understand and, ideally, change their approach so they move beyond cultural appropriation and into cultural appreciation and exchange.
Even when the intent behind adopting elements and symbols of another culture is not meant to offend, it can still be harmful.
For example:
An office is holding a Diwali Office Party in an effort to promote DEI by honoring the variety of cultures in their workplace. They decorate the office with lights, serve Indian-inspired food, and encourage employees to dress in saris or kurtas regardless of their background.
Here, we can see the intent is not to make a joke out of Diwali. Rather, they are attempting to show respect for their South Asian employees.
However, reducing Diwali to surface-level elements like clothing, food, and lights without acknowledging the historical and spiritual context of the holiday can be perceived as shallow and disrespectful. Regardless of the positive intent, the company has trivialized the importance of the festival overall.
Ultimately, the impact has alienated and disrespected the group of people it aimed to celebrate.
To avoid this scenario, collaborating with South Asian employees, cultural experts, or DEI consultants could have provided a core understanding of the holiday. This way, the company’s Diwali celebration would focus on understanding and education rather than aesthetics.
Remember: When incorporating DEI practices in the workplace, good intentions do not ultimately excuse harm.
Engaging in Cultural Appreciation
Cultural appreciation is guided by creating an exchange with marginalized cultures in a way that fosters respect and promotes inclusion by:
Education: One of the best ways to appreciate underrepresented cultures is by simply listening to the stories and histories behind celebrations, clothing, and art.
Seeking multiple perspectives: When learning about other cultures, it is important to seek a number of sources. This recognizes that other cultures are multifaceted and that different people have different outlooks on their cultures.
This also means that you can take some of the work of educating yourself on as well, as not to overburden minority communities.
Examining your culture: Sometimes, it helps to put yourself in the shoes of others. Look at your own cultural practices, clothes, art, and holidays. If another group of people was to take some of those practices and use them for aesthetic purposes without consultation, how would you feel?
Consent, Credit, and Collaboration: It is important to seek first-voice individuals for consent and giving credit whenever possible. By recognizing the source of your ideas from the start, you are giving minority groups the acknowledgement they deserve. Furthermore, if you are able to partner or collaborate with marginalized groups, you create space for a dialogue and mutual understanding.
Questions to Ask Yourself
✅Would I be offended if someone wore a religious symbol or traditional garb from my culture without understanding its meaning?
✅Have I given proper attribution and thanked individuals and groups who have helped me learn their traditions and cultures?
✅Am I assuming I know something about another culture, or have I been educated?
✅Am I honoring a culture, or copying it for aesthetic reasons?
✅Do I understand the significance of a tradition/symbol/custom?
✅Am I benefitting monetarily from another culture’s traditions/symbols/customs?
