A Reflection on Cultural Appropriation and Orientalism

Cultural appropriation as a term originated in discussions of Orientalism- it’s history helping to demonstrate the meaning. The adoption of traditions from other cultures has occurred from the beginning of time, but it’s important to distinguish appropriation from cross-cultural trade. Appropriation is when a dominant culture takes something of significance from a minority group and uses it purely for aesthetic value, discarding any importance it might have held and ignoring the hardships minority groups might face. Globally, cultural appropriation isn’t seen as much of an issue- with the discourse mostly taking place within North America.

Within the United States, minority groups, such as Asian Americans and African Americans have faced significant issues historically for participating in their own cultures. Being forced to assimilate and blend in with American culture. Because of this, often cultural practices are changed to be marketable to white people, examples of this being American Chinese food, the Cheongsam that was changed to fit within western beauty standards, and Black people being forced to wear their hair in certain ways. Because of this, these pieces of culture are not just historically significant, but emotionally as well.

Orientalism is the distorted and fetishized depiction of Asian countries, both South and East Asia. A popular example of Orientalism in our culture is the movie Aladdin. Often orientalist media depicts such areas as underdeveloped and “savage,” or as markedly cruel and terrifying. Orientalist media is meant to be contrasted against the idea of the “West” as a civilized, powerful, and clean place. With deep roots in racism, orientalism is still very common, however, over the years it has largely shifted. Modern orientalism often takes the form of a fear of East Asia as a dominant force in the world. This is showcased in modern aesthetics such as “techwear” and “cyberpunk” which take inspiration from a fear of an industrialized world where Japan (and/or China) becomes a large colonialist power. The genre and style are moving away from this, however, mainstream pieces of media (such as Cyberpunk 2077,) still contain significant amounts of this content. While techwear and cyberpunk aesthetics are not seen as cultural appropriation, many of the inspirations the aesthetics take from are rooted in colonialist beliefs and appropriation of Asian cultures. As Sophie McCallester puts it in her video essay Cyberpunk 2077: some cyber, no punk, “Under colonialism, White academics returning from Asia wrote orientalist texts about the East which became the only sources that were really allowed to be cited... so instead all following orientalism could only build off what they said. We can see something really similar happening with Cyberpunk 2077, where the fact that the game builds off of the Japan obsession of 80s cyberpunk means that it thoughtlessly replicates the same fear mongering. An important note here is that these representations of Japanese culture were largely not malicious in character. They played off on and spurred on this fear of Japanese economic dominance, sure, but they also represented an excitement about Japanese culture and multiculturalism. It sold the exotic and mystical East as a commodity the same way colonial orientalism did.”

Orientalism and appropriation are similar concepts- with orientalism centering on global cultural exchange and appropriation centering on local. This isn’t to say that appropriation cannot happen across borders- quite the opposite, in fact. In today’s modern society, geographic location matters less and less. However, appropriation as a conversation largely stems from local conflicts and history.

Appropriation and appreciation are difficult to detangle- often revolving around context. In today’s post-colonialist world, it is impossible to view multiculturalism as a purely appreciative act, something will always be lost, some cultural significance forgotten. That isn’t a bad thing, as ideas and traditions evolve over time, but trying to draw a hard line is difficult in these ever-changing shades of grey. As Hsia writes in their article- Cheongsam, Then and Now, “Appropriation exists not in the adaption and learning of the practice, but by how it's reproduced and re-marketed.” Because we live in an era defined by colonialism and capitalism, the way that something is created and the intent with which it is made is the identifiable trait of cultural appropriation. Intent is hard to tell in most cases. This is my main issue with the idea of cultural appropriation. Because we cannot tell the intention without asking a person directly, you must determine it for yourself, and often people will just listen to the loudest voices near them, rather than critically thinking. (Be that from liberals or republicans).

If you are to critique the idea of cultural appropriation, you must first distance yourself from right-wing media outlets farming outrage clicks, because while there are many good-faith arguments to be had about cultural appropriation, it can be considered a red flag to talk about it negatively. Bad faith arguments run rampant- due to a lack of understanding about the topic. This is why whenever you are to speak about it, you must first set the record straight- defining it clearly. I don’t consider myself a critic of cultural appropriation, but conceptually it was going to be stunted from the get-go. There was a reason why cultural appropriation was chosen as the buzzword- the term is abstract, yet brings to mind a very specific image for each person who reads it. It is easy to mislead the reader into thinking they understand the term without doing any research, telling them to lean into their inherent biases. On top of this, the concept is difficult to explain, as it requires knowledge of history and culture to be able to convey properly. In today's political discourse, terminology and first impressions are everything. This isn’t a call to lean into respectability politics, as no matter what you do, the terms will always fall into the favor of reactionaries and grifters, but rather an important aspect of current culture to keep in mind. We currently live in an era where appearances win above all else. While I am a pessimistic person, I do have hope for the future political landscape, and I do believe over time reason and logic will become fashionable again. Until then, reflecting on past movements, what worked and what didn’t- is our best way to prepare for the future.