What is [Cultural Appropriation]?

Over the past several months I have begun to educate myself on Feminist issues and opinions thanks to the various threads related to sexism on Penny-Arcade. In the process I have also become aware of several other social justice issues. I'd like to focus on one of them in this thread: cultural appropriation.

I think this was my first exposure to the idea:

Solidarity is for Miley Cyrus: The Racial Implications of her VMA Performance

Okay.... but can we talk about the problematic and racist nature of her performance? Her literal use of people as props? Her association of her newfound sexuality with the traditional codifiers of black female culture, thereby perpetuating the Jezebel stereotype that black women are lewd, lascivious and uncontrollably sexualized? Can we talk about the straight up minstrelsy of that performance? Can we talk about how not a single black person won an award last night even though the people who did win awards have been mining black music and culture for years?

No? Ok... I'll just sit at the back of the bus then.

First, to make sure everyone understands the concept, Wikipedia's description of cultural appropriation:

Cultural appropriation is the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group. It describes acculturation or assimilation, but can imply a negative view towards acculturation from a minority culture by a dominant culture. It can include the introduction of forms of dress or personal adornment, music and art, religion, language, or social behavior. These elements, once removed from their indigenous cultural contexts, can take on meanings that are significantly divergent from, or merely less nuanced than, those they originally held.

Appropriation practice involves the 'appropriation' of ideas, symbols, artifacts, image, sound, objects, forms or styles from other cultures, from art history, from popular culture or other aspects of man made visual or non visual culture. Anthropologists have studied the process of cultural appropriation, or cultural borrowing (which includes art and urbanism), as part of cultural change and contact between different cultures.

Second, examples of media depicting a person from one culture wearing things associated with another culture:



















Third, selections related to the condemnation of cultural appropriation:

With Native American culture in particular (each culture has its own rules about these things,) if you weren’t raised in the tribe then you aren’t considered one of their own. So if my father was hypothetically native but then he died before I was born and my mother raised me in a white area and I never learned about the tribe I was from, it would not be okay for me to use things from that tribe.

I don’t think it’s wrong at all to learn another culture’s dance style, but only if you’re learning from a native. Performing is a little more iffy and context definitely comes into it, but as a rule if you’re a public figure you shouldn’t do that. Baghra is a lovely dance style and as long as you recognize that you have to be responsible about your use of another culture, you’ll likely be okay.

You say appropriation of the Japanese language is offensive. You say there is no problem with appropriating English because it is a colonial language. Is Japanese, which was forced upon millions of Chinese and Korean individuals by Japanese imperialism, somehow not a colonial language?

You’re right in stating that Japan was an imperialist nation, but the Japanese language is only really spoken in Japan. English, on the other hand, is often the first foreign language learned by people. If two people with different mother tongues meet and have a foreign language in common, it’s a hell of a lot more likely to be English than Japanese.

Can we just make a disclaimer, once and for all that Western Civilization/Culture/Eurocentric Ideals and Christianity (for the most part) CANNOT be appropriated because so much of it is oppressive and has historically sought to replace and destroy various other cultures AND succeeded to do so. Especially with regards to Christian holidays and iconography because Christianity as an institution has for a LONG time tried to force itself on other people and cultures.

At first I thought the general idea was that white people did/continue to do things that both intentionally and unintentionally marginalize people of color, meaning that it is in poor taste for a white person to, say, wear an imitation Native American headdress. However, I've also seen a lot of criticism directed towards people of color who emulate a different culture (such as K-Pop artists wearing fake afros and throwing gang signs or Nicki Minaj wearing a geisha outfit). This really makes me wonder what is and isn't considered cultural appropriation. Is the Pokemon Cofagrigus an example of Japanese people appropriating Egyptian culture? Is Huey dressing as a samurai in The Boondocks an example of African-Americans appropriating Japanese culture? Is Avatar: The Last Airbender an example of cultural appropriation? What about the generically-European fantasy settings in many JRPGs (or even Western RPGs)?

As an artist myself I have to admit that I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea that, as a white person, I should be limited to only creating characters and concepts derived from a generically white heritage, especially as many of these concepts are already overdone. If I were to create a character or creature or something that is inspired by, say, Indian mythology, should I be criticized for using another culture as a novelty? Would this criticism still be valid if I melded elements from Indian mythology with Aztec and Norse mythology to come up with something more original, or could this be considered cultural erasure as I'm using elements from other cultures without depicting the original cultures themselves?

I also see claims that cultural appropriation helps to label the culture being appropriated as being clearly different from the default (supposedly superior) culture. However, doesn't marking certain practices, foods, art styles, clothing, etc as only being acceptable for a person from that culture to use also help to label it as "the other"?

So, thoughts? When is it okay to use something from another culture? When is it problematic?