The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as an intermediate stage between the band society of the Paleolithic stage and civilization with centralized, super-regional government based in cities. Anthropologist Elman Service
distinguishes two stages of tribal societies: simple societies
organized by limited instances of social rank and prestige, and more stratified societies led by chieftains or tribal kings (chiefdoms). Stratified tribal societies led by tribal kings are thought to have flourished from the Neolithic stage into the Iron Age, albeit in competition with urban civilisations and empires beginning in the Bronze Age.
In the case of tribal societies of Indigenous Peoples existing within larger colonial and post-colonial states, tribal chiefs may represent their tribe or ethnicity in a form of self-government.
The most common types are the chairman of a council (usually of "elders") and/or a broader popular assembly
in "parliamentary" cultures, the war chief (may be an alternative or
additional post in war time), the hereditary chief, and the politically
dominant medicineman.
The term is usually distinct from chiefs at lower levels, such as village chief (geographically defined) or clan chief
(an essentially genealogical notion). The descriptive "tribal" requires
an ethno-cultural identity (racial, linguistic, religious etc.) as well
as some political (representative, legislative, executive and/or
judicial) expression. In certain situations, and especially in a colonial context, the most powerful member of either a confederation or a federation of such tribal, clan or village chiefs would be referred to as a paramount chief. This term has largely fallen out of use, however, and such personages are now often called kings.
A woman who holds a chieftaincy in her own right or who derives
one from her marriage to a male chief has been referred to alternatively
as a chieftainess, a chieftess or, especially in the case of the former, a chief.
Classical sources of information about tribal societies are external descriptions such as from Greco-Roman ethnography, which identified societies, surrounding the societies of the ethnographers, as tribal.
States and colonialism, particularly in the last centuries, forced their central governments onto many remaining tribal societies.
In some instances tribes have retained or regained partial self-government and their lifestyles, with Indigenous peoples rights having been fought for and some being secured on state or international levels.
Terms of specific tribal chiefdoms
Americas
Lonco (mapudungun: longko, "head") among the Mapuche
Maga'låhi and maga'håga, the first-borne male and female, respectively, joint heads of a Chamorro clan, through the maternal line, of the Mariana Islands
Modern states or regions providing an organized form of tribal chiefships
Arabia
Arabs, in particular peninsular Arabs,
nomadic Bedouins and many Iraqis and Syrians, are largely organized in
tribes, many of whom have official representatives in governments.
Tribal chiefs are known as sheikhs, though this term is also sometimes applied as an honorific title to spiritual leaders of Sufism.
Bolivia
The Afro-Bolivian people, a recognized ethnic constituency of Bolivia, are led by a
king whose title is also recognized by the Bolivian government.
Botswana
In Botswana, the reigning kgosis of the various tribes are legally empowered to serve as advisers to the government as members of the Ntlo ya Dikgosi, the national House of Chiefs. In addition to this, they also serve as the ex officio chairs of the tribal kgotlas, meetings of all of the members of the tribes, where political and social matters are discussed.
The band is the fundamental unit of governance among the First Nations in Canada
(formerly called "Indians"). Most bands have elected chiefs, either
directly elected by all members of the band, or indirectly by the band
council, these chiefs are recognized by the Canadian state under the
terms of the Indian Act.
As well, there may be traditional hereditary or charismatic chiefs,
who are usually not part of the Indian Act-sanctioned formal government.
There were 614 bands in Canada in 2012. There is also a national organization, the Assembly of First Nations, which elects a "national chief" to act as spokesperson of all First Nations bands in Canada.
Ghana
The offices and traditional realms of the nanas
of Ghana are constitutionally protected by the republican constitution
of the country. The chiefs serve as custodians of all traditional lands
and the cultures of the traditional areas. They also serve as members of
the Ghanaian National House of Chiefs.
The Solomon Islands
have a Local Court Act which empowers chiefs to deal with crimes in
their communities, thus assuring them of considerable effective
authority.
Philippines
Apo Rodolfo Aguilar (Kudol I) serves as the chieftain of the Tagbanwa
tribes people living in Banuang Daan and Cabugao settlements in Coron
Island, Palawan, Philippines. His position is recognized by the Filipino
government.
South Africa
Such figures as the king of the Zulu Nation and the rain queen
are politically recognized in South Africa because they derive their
status, not only from tribal custom, but also from the Traditional
Leadership Clause of the country's current constitution.
Uganda
The pre-colonial states that existed in what is today Uganda were summarily abolished following independence from Great Britain.
However, following constitutional reforms in 1993, a number of them
were restored as politically neutral constituencies of the state by the
government of Yoweri Museveni. Such figures as the kabaka of Buganda and the omukama of Toro typify the Ugandan chieftaincy class.
Generally, a tribe or nation is considered to be part of an ethnic group, usually sharing cultural values.
For example, the forest-dwelling Chippewa historically built dwellings from the bark of trees, as opposed to the Great Plains-dwelling tribes, who would not have access to trees, except by trade, for example for lodgepoles. Thus, the tribes of the Great Plains might have typically dwelt in skin-covered tipis rather than bark lodges. But some Plains tribes built their lodges of earth, as for example the Pawnee. The Pueblo people, meanwhile, built their dwellings of stone and earth.
Political power in a tribe
A
chief might be considered to hold all political power, say by oratory
or by example. But on the North American continent, it was historically
possible to evade the political power of another by migration. The Mingos, for example, were Iroquois who migrated further west to the sparsely populated Ohio Country during the 18th century. Two Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, Hiawatha and the Great Peacemaker, formulated a constitution for the Iroquois Confederation.
The tribes were pacified
by units of the United States Army in the nineteenth century, and were
also subject to forced schooling in the decades afterward. Thus, it is
uncommon for today's tribes to have a purely Native American cultural
background, and today Native Americans are in many ways simply another
ethnicity of the secular American people. Because formal education is
now respected, some like Peter MacDonald,
a Navajo, left their jobs in the mainstream U.S. economy to become
chairpeople of their tribal councils or similar self-government
institutions.
Not all tribal leaders need be men; Wilma Mankiller
was a well-known Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Also, though the fount
of power might be the chief, he or she is typically not free to wield
power without the consent of a council of elders of some kind. For
example: Cherokee men were not permitted to go to war without the consent of the council of women.
Tribal government is an official form of government in the United States, as it is in a number of countries around the world.
Historically, the U.S. government treated tribes as seats of
political power, and made treaties with the tribes as legal entities. Be
that as it may, the territory of these tribes fell under the authority
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
as reservations held in trust for the tribes. Citizenship was formerly
considered a tribal matter. For example, it was not until 1924 that the Pueblo people
were granted U.S. citizenship, and it was not until 1948 that the
Puebloans were granted the right to vote in state elections in New
Mexico. In Wisconsin, the Menominee Nation has its own county Menominee County, Wisconsin with special car license plates; 87% of the county's population is Native American.
Mainstream Americans often find pride and comfort in realizing
that at least part of their ethnic ancestry is Native American, although
the connection is usually only sentimental and not economic or
cultural. Thus, there is some political power in one's ability to claim a
Native American connection (as in the Black Seminole).
Economic power in a tribe
Because the Nations were sovereign, with treaty rights and obligations, the Wisconsin tribes innovated Indian gaming in 1988, that is, on-reservation gambling casinos, which have since become a US$14 billion
industry nationwide. This has been imitated in many of the respective
states that still have indigenous American tribes. The money that this
generates has engendered some political scandal. For example, the Tigua tribe, which fled their ancestral lands in New Mexico during the Pueblo revolt of 1680, and who then settled on land in El Paso County, Texas, has paid for a low probable return to the tribe because of the Jack Abramoff publicity.
Many of the tribes use professional management for their money. Thus, the Mescalero Apache
renovated their Inn of the Mountain Gods to include gambling as well as
the previous tourism, lodging, and skiing in the older Inn.
The Navajo nation defeated bids to open casinos in 1994, but by 2004 the Shiprock casino was a fait accompli.
Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures.
According to critics of the practice, cultural appropriation differs from acculturation, assimilation, or equal cultural exchange in that this appropriation is a form of colonialism.
When cultural elements are copied from a minority culture by members of
a dominant culture, and these elements are used outside of their
original cultural context ─ sometimes even against the expressly stated
wishes of members of the originating culture – the practice is often
received negatively.
Cultural appropriation is considered harmful by various groups and individuals, including Indigenous people working for cultural preservation, those who advocate for collective intellectual property rights of the originating, minority cultures, and those who have lived or are living under colonial rule.
Cultural appropriation can include exploitation of another culture's
religious and cultural traditions, dance steps, fashion, symbols,
language, and music.
Those who see this appropriation as exploitative state that
cultural elements are lost or distorted when they are removed from their
originating cultural contexts, and that such displays are disrespectful
or even a form of desecration. Cultural elements that may have deep meaning to the original culture may be reduced to "exotic" fashion or toys by those from the dominant culture.
Kjerstin Johnson has written that, when this is done, the imitator,
"who does not experience that oppression is able to 'play', temporarily,
an 'exotic' other, without experiencing any of the daily
discriminations faced by other cultures". The academic, musician and journalist Greg Tate argues that appropriation and the "fetishising" of cultures, in fact, alienates those whose culture is being appropriated.
The concept of cultural appropriation has also been heavily criticized.
Critics note that the concept is often misunderstood or misapplied by
the general public, and that charges of "cultural appropriation" are at
times misapplied to situations such as trying food from a different
culture or learning about different cultures.
Others state that the act of cultural appropriation as it is usually
defined does not meaningfully constitute social harm, or the term lacks
conceptual coherence.
Additionally, the term can set arbitrary limits on intellectual
freedom, artists' self-expression, reinforce group divisions, or promote
a feeling of enmity or grievance rather than of liberation.
Overview
Cossack man wearing the chokha, a clothing the Cossacks appropriated from the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus along with other cultural traits
Cultural appropriation can involve the use of ideas, symbols,
artifacts, or other aspects of human-made visual or non-visual culture.
As a concept that is controversial in its applications, the propriety
of cultural appropriation has been the subject of much debate. Opponents
of cultural appropriation view many instances as wrongful appropriation
when the subject culture is a minority culture or is subordinated in
social, political, economic, or military status to the dominant culture or when there are other issues involved, such as a history of ethnic or racial conflict. Linda Martín Alcoff
writes that this is often seen in cultural outsiders' use of an
oppressed culture's symbols or other cultural elements, such as music,
dance, spiritual ceremonies, modes of dress, speech, and social
behaviour when these elements are trivialized and used for fashion,
rather than respected within their original cultural context.
Opponents view the issues of colonialism, context, and the difference
between appropriation and mutual exchange as central to analyzing
cultural appropriation. They argue that mutual exchange happens on an
"even playing field", whereas appropriation involves pieces of an
oppressed culture being taken out of context by a people who have
historically oppressed those they are taking from, and who lack the
cultural context to properly understand, respect, or utilize these
elements.
Another view of cultural appropriation is that calling upon it to
criticise is "a deeply conservative project", despite progressive
roots, that "first seeks to preserve in formaldehyde the content of an
established culture and second tries [to] prevent others from
interacting with that culture". Blogger Noah Smith
characterizes cultural appropriation as often benign or mutually
beneficial, citing mutation, product diversity, technological diffusion,
and cultural empathy among its benefits. For example, the film Star Wars used elements from Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, which itself used elements from Shakespeare;
culture in the aggregate is arguably better off for each instance of
appropriation. Fusion between cultures has produced such foods as American Chinese cuisine, modern Japanese sushi, and bánh mì, each of which is sometimes argued to reflect part of its respective culture's identity.
Academic study
Cultural appropriation is a relatively recent subject of academic study.
The term emerged in the 1980s, in discussions of post-colonial critiques of Western expansionism,
though the concept had been explored earlier, such as in "Some General
Observations on the Problems of Cultural Colonialism" by Kenneth
Coutts‐Smith in 1976.
Cultural and racial theorist George Lipsitz
has used the term "strategic anti-essentialism" to refer to the
calculated use of a cultural form, outside of one's own, to define
oneself or one's group. Strategic anti-essentialism can be seen in both
minority cultures and majority cultures, and is not confined only to the
use of the other. However, Lipsitz argues, when the majority culture
attempts to strategically anti-essentialize itself by appropriating a
minority culture, it must take great care to recognize the specific
socio-historical circumstances and significance of these cultural forms
so as not to perpetuate the already existing majority vs. minority
unequal power relations.
Examples
Non-Native person wearing Native American war bonnet
Art, literature, iconography, and adornment
A common example of cultural appropriation is the adoption of the iconography of another culture, and using it for purposes that are unintended by the original culture or even offensive to that culture's mores. Examples include sports teams using Native American tribal names or images as mascots; people not from the originating culture wearing jewelry or fashion that incorporates religious symbols such as the medicine wheel,
or cross without any belief in the religion behind them, or wearing
items of deep cultural significance and status that must be earned, such
as a war bonnet, without having earned the right. Copying iconography from another culture's history such as Polynesian tribal tattoos, Chinese characters, or Celtic art
worn without regard to their original cultural significance may also be
considered appropriation. Critics of the practice of cultural
appropriation contend that divorcing this iconography from its cultural
context or treating it as kitsch risks offending people who venerate and wish to preserve their cultural traditions.
In Australia, Aboriginal artists have discussed an "authenticity brand" to ensure consumers are aware of artworks claiming false Aboriginal significance.
The movement for such a measure gained momentum after the 1999
conviction of John O'Loughlin for selling paintings that he falsely
described as the work of Aboriginal artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. In Canada, visual artist Sue Coleman
has garnered negative attention for appropriating and amalgamating
styles of Indigenous art into her work. Coleman, who has been accused of
"copying and selling Indigenous-style artwork" has described herself as
a "translator" of Indigenous art forms, which drew further criticism.
In his open letter to Coleman, Kwakwak'awakw/Salish
Artist Carey Newman stressed the importance of artists being
accountable within the Indigenous communities as the antidote to
appropriation.
Historically, some of the most hotly debated cases of cultural
appropriation have occurred in places where cultural exchange is the
highest, such as along the trade routes in southwestern Asia and
southeastern Europe. Some scholars of the Ottoman Empire and ancient Egypt argue that Ottoman and Egyptian architectural traditions have long been falsely claimed and praised as Persian or Arab.
Religion and spirituality
Native American religion and ceremonies
Many Native Americans have criticized what they deem to be cultural appropriation of their sweat lodge and vision quest
ceremonies by non-Natives, and even by tribes who have not
traditionally had these ceremonies. They contend that there are serious
safety risks whenever these events are conducted by those who lack the
many years of training and cultural immersion required to lead them
safely, mentioning the deaths or injuries in 1996, 2002, 2004, and several high-profile deaths in 2009.
J.K. Rowling in her web series History of Magic in North America,
was accused of misappropriating Native American spiritual beliefs,
symbolism and traditions from different living cultures, and turning
them into stereotypes and fantasy games without recognising or
respecting that they are sacred to, and the intellectual property of,
contemporary Native American communities. She was charged with reducing
the religious figures and sacred symbols of multiple Native American
cultures to mascots.
The swastika and Celtic cross
The swastika
has been important in very many cultures as a religious symbol for
fertility and good luck for many thousands of years. When the Nazis
took it over as a political symbol this was cultural appropriation. The Celtic cross has been similarly taken over by white supremacists. Not all people who use the Celtic cross are racists.
Cultural appropriation is controversial in the fashion industry due to the belief that some trends commercialise and cheapen the ancient heritage of indigenous cultures.
There is debate about whether designers and fashion houses understand
the history behind the clothing they are taking from different cultures,
besides the ethical issues of using these cultures' shared intellectual property without consent, acknowledgement, or compensation. According to Minh-Ha T. Pham writing for The Atlantic, accusations of cultural appropriation are often defended as cultural appreciation, instead.
During the Victorian era, the British aristocracy appropriated traditional Highland dress. Tartan was given spurious association with specific Highland clans after publications such as James Logan's romanticised work The Scottish Gael (1831) led the Scottish tartan industry to invent clan tartans and tartan became a desirable material for dresses, waistcoats and cravats. In America, plaid flannel had become workwear by the time of Westward expansion, and was widely worn by Old Westpioneers and cowboys who were not of Scottish descent. In the 21st century, tartan remains ubiquitous in mainstream fashion.
By the 19th century the fascination had shifted to Asian culture. English Regency eradandies adapted the Indian churidars into slim fittingpantaloons, and frequently wore turbans within their own houses. Later, Victorian gentlemen wore smoking caps based on the Islamic fez, and fashionable turn of the century ladies wore Orientalist Japanese inspired kimono dresses. During the tiki culture fad of the 1950s, white women frequently donned the qipao to give the impression that they had visited Hong Kong, although the dresses were frequently made by seamstresses in America using rayon rather than genuine silk. At the same time, teenage British Teddy Girls wore Chinese coolie hats due to their exotic connotations.
In Mexico, the sombrero associated with the mestizo peasant class was adapted from an earlier hat introduced by the Spanish colonials during the 18th century. This, in turn, was adapted into the cowboy hat worn by American cowboys after the US Civil War. In 2016, the University of East Anglia prohibited the wearing of sombreros to parties on campus, in the belief that these could offend Mexican students, a move that was widely criticized.
In Britain, the rough tweed cloth clothing of the Irish, English and Scottish peasantry, including the flat cap and Irish hat were appropriated by the upper classes as the British country clothing worn for sports such as hunting or fishing, in imitation of the then Prince of Wales. The country clothing, in turn, was appropriated by the wealthy American Ivy League and later preppy subcultures during the 1950s and 1980s due to both its practicality and its association with the English elite. During the same period the British comedian Tommy Cooper was known for wearing a Fez throughout his performances.
When keffiyehs became popular in the late 2000s, experts made a clear distinction between the wearing of a genuine scarf, and a fake made in China. Palestinian independence
activists and socialists denounced the wearing of scarves not made in
Palestine as a form of cultural appropriation, but encouraged fellow Muslims and progressively minded non-Muslim students to buy shemaghs made in the Herbawi factory to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people and improve the economy of the West Bank. In 2017, Topshop caused controversy by selling Chinese-made playsuits that imitated the pattern of the keffiyeh.
For the [Native American] communities that wear these
headdresses, they represent respect, power and responsibility. The
headdress has to be earned, gifted to a leader in whom the community has
placed their trust. When it becomes a cheap commodity anyone can buy
and wear to a party, that meaning is erased and disrespected, and Native
peoples are reminded that our cultures are still seen as something of
the past, as unimportant in contemporary society, and unworthy of
respect.
Both Victoria's Secret and Kloss issued apologies stating that they had no intentions of offending anyone.
The culturally significant Hindu festival, Holi, has been imitated and incorporated in fashion globally. For example, pop artist Pharrell Williams and Adidas
collaborated in 2018 to create the Holi-inspired apparel and shoe line,
"Hu Holi." The collection was stated to be a, "trivialization of
traditions-concepts-symbols-beliefs of Hinduism," according to Raja Zed,
president of the Universal Society of Hinduism. The collection included
many items which contained leather, a violation of Hindu beliefs.
Archbishop Justin Welby of the Anglican Church said that the crucifix is "now just a fashion statement and has lost its religious meaning". Crucifixes have been incorporated into Japanese lolita fashion by non-Christians in a cultural context that is distinct from its original meaning as a Christian religious symbol.
In 2018, Gucci designers were criticised for sending white models for a catwalk at Milan fashion week wearing a Sikhreligious headpiece. Thousands of members from the Sikh community shared anger and disappointment that the brand had used Sikh scared religious symbol for profit. Traditionally in Sikhism, a turban is worn by both men and women as a symbol of piety, honour and spirituality, however, many people from Sikh community, including Avan Jogia, found it "offensive" and "irresponsible" for a white model wearing a turban.
Hairstyles, makeup and body modifications
The leaders of ancient Israel
condemned the adoption of Egyptian and Canaanite practices, especially
cutting the hair short or shaving the beard. At the same time, the Old
Testament distinguishes the religious circumcision of the Hebrews from cultures, such as the Egyptians, where the practice had aesthetic or practical purposes.
During the early 16th century, European men imitated the short regular haircuts and beards on rediscovered Ancient Greek and Roman statues. The curled hair favoured by the Regency eradandyBeau Brummel was also inspired by the classical era.
During the 17th century, Louis XIV began wearing wigs to conceal his baldness. Like many other French fashions, these were quickly appropriated by baroque era courtiers in England and the rest of Europe, to the extent that men often shaved their heads to ensure their wig fitted properly.
During the early 2000s, it was popular in the West to get tribal tattoos appropriated from African and Polynesian culture, as well as earlobe piercings known as plugs, famously associated with the Buddha.
There is debate about non-black people wearing dreadlocks – a hairstyle most associate with African and African diaspora cultures such as JamaicanRastafari – and whether them doing so is cultural appropriation.
In 2016 a viral video was published of a young black student arguing
with a white student and accusing him of cultural appropriation. In 2018, white actor Zac Efron was accused of cultural appropriation, when he posted a picture of himself in dreadlocks.
While the history of colonization and marginalization
is not unique to the Americas, the practice of non-Native sports teams
deriving team names, imagery, and mascots from indigenous peoples is
still common in the United States and Canada, and has persisted to some
extent despite protests from Indigenous groups. Cornel Pewewardy,
Professor and Director of Indigenous Nations Studies at Portland State University,
cites indigenous mascots as an example of dysconscious racism which, by
placing images of Native American or First Nations people into an
invented media context, continues to maintain the superiority of the
dominant culture.
It is argued that such practices maintain the power relationship
between the dominant culture and the indigenous culture, and can be seen
as a form of cultural imperialism.
Such practices may be seen as particularly harmful in schools and
universities that have a stated purpose of promoting ethnic diversity
and inclusion.
In recognition of the responsibility of higher education to eliminate
behaviors that create a hostile environment for education, in 2005 the NCAA initiated a policy
against "hostile and abusive" names and mascots that led to the change
of many derived from Native American culture, with the exception of
those that established an agreement with particular tribes for the use
of their specific names. Other schools retain their names because they
were founded for the education of Native Americans, and continue to have
a significant number of indigenous students. The trend towards the
elimination of indigenous names and mascots in local schools has been
steady, with two thirds having been eliminated over the past 50 years
according to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).
In contrast, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, in what the Washington Post calls an unusual move, has approved of the Florida State Seminoles use of their historical leader, Osceola, and his Appaloosa horse as the mascots Osceola and Renegade. After the NCAA attempted to ban the use of Native American names and iconography in college sports in 2005, the Seminole Tribe of Florida
passed a resolution offering explicit support for FSU's depiction of
aspects of Florida Seminole culture and Osceola as a mascot. The
university was granted a waiver, citing the close relationship with, and
ongoing consultation between, the team and the Florida tribe.
In 2013, the tribe's chairman objected to outsiders meddling in tribal
approval, stating that the FSU mascot and use of Florida State Seminole
iconography "represents the courage of the people who were here and are
still here, known as the Unconquered Seminoles". Conversely, in 2013, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
expressed disapproval of "the use of all American Indian sports-team
mascots in the public school system, by college and university level and
by professional sports teams". Additionally, not all members of the
Florida State Seminoles are supportive of the stance taken by their
leadership on this issue.
In other former colonies in Asia, Africa, and South America, the
adoption of indigenous names for majority indigenous teams is also
found. There are also ethnically-related team names derived from
prominent immigrant populations in the area, such as the Boston Celtics, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the Minnesota Vikings.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games to be held on the Gold Coast in Australia from 4 April 2018 has named its mascot Borobi, the local Yugambeh word for "koala", and has sought to trademark the word through IP Australia.
The application is being opposed by a Yugambeh cultural heritage
organisation, which argues that the Games organising committee used the
word without proper consultation with the Yugambeh people.
African-American culture
The term wigger (common spelling "wigga") is a slang term for a white person who adopts the mannerisms, language, and fashions associated with African-American culture, particularly hip hop, and, in Britain, the grime scene, often implying the imitation is being done badly, although usually with sincerity rather than mocking intent. Wigger is a portmanteau of white and nigger or nigga, and the related term wangsta is a mashup of wannabe or white, and gangsta.
Among black hip-hop fans, the word "nigga" can sometimes be considered a
friendly greeting, but when used by white people as well as non-black people of color, it is usually viewed as offensive. "Wigger" may be derogatory, reflecting stereotypes of African-American, black British, and white culture (when used as synonym of white trash).
The term is sometimes used by other white people to belittle the person
perceived as "acting black", but it is widely used by African Americans
like 50 Cent offended by the wigga's perceived demeaning of black people and culture.
The phenomenon of white people adopting elements of black culture has been prevalent at least since slavery was abolished in the Western world.
The concept has been documented in the United States, Canada, the
United Kingdom, Australia, and other white-majority countries. An early
form of this was the white negro in the jazz and swing music scenes of the 1920s and 1930s, as examined in the 1957 Norman Mailer essay "The White Negro". It was later seen in the zoot suiter of the 1930s and 1940s, the hipster of the 1940s, the beatnik of the 1950s–1960s, the blue-eyed soul of the 1970s, and the hip hop of the 1980s and 1990s. In 1993, an article in the UK newspaper The Independent described the phenomenon of white, middle-class kids who were "wannabe Blacks". 2005 saw the publication of Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America by Bakari Kitwana, "a culture critic who's been tracking American hip hop for years".
Robert A. Clift's documentary Blacking Up: Hip-Hop's Remix of Race and Identity
questions white enthusiasts of black hip-hop culture. Clift's
documentary examines "racial and cultural ownership and authenticity – a
path that begins with the stolen blackness seen in the success of Stephen Foster, Al Jolson, Benny Goodman, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones – all the way up to Vanilla Ice ... and Eminem". A review of the documentary refers to the wiggers as "white poseurs", and states that the term wigger "is used both proudly and derisively to describe white enthusiasts of black hip-hop culture".
African Americans have been accused of cultural appropriation by
people from Africa. This has been disputed as members of the diaspora
have claimed a link to Africa, but those from Africa have disputed it.
The term "blackfishing" was popularised in 2018 by writer Wanna Thompson, describing female white social media influencers who adopt a look perceived to be African
including braided hair, dark skin from tanning or make-up, full lips,
and large thighs. Critics argue they take attention and opportunities
from black influencers by appropriating their aesthetic and have likened
the trend to blackface. Florida State University's Alisha Gaines, author of Black for a Day:Fantasies of Race and Empathy,
said blackfishing allowed non-Black people to appropriate what is
commonly considered "cool" about Blackness while still avoiding the
negative consequences, such as "racism and state violence". According to Health.com it is related to but an 'inverse form' of passing.
White people dressing in Native American outfits (1909)
Among critics, the misuse and misrepresentation of indigenous culture is seen as an exploitative form of colonialism, and one step in the destruction of indigenous cultures.
The results of this use of indigenous knowledge have led some tribes, and the United Nations General Assembly, to issue several declarations on the subject. The Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality includes the passage:
We assert a posture of
zero-tolerance for any "white man's shaman" who rises from within our
own communities to "authorize" the expropriation of our ceremonial ways
by non-Indians; all such "plastic medicine men" are enemies of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people.
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions,
as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and
cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines,
knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions,
literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and
performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect
and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage,
traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.
In 2015, a group of Native American academics and writers issued a statement against the Rainbow Family
members whose acts of "cultural exploitation... dehumanize us as an
indigenous Nation because they imply our culture and humanity, like our
land, is anyone's for the taking".
The long-term goal is to actually have a legal system,
and certainly a treaty could do that, that acknowledges two things.
Number one, it acknowledges that indigenous peoples are peoples with a
right to self-determination that includes governance rights over all
property belonging to the indigenous people. And, number two, it
acknowledges that indigenous cultural expressions are a form of
intellectual property and that traditional knowledge is a form of
intellectual property, but they are collective resources – so not any
one individual can give away the rights to those resources. The tribal
nations actually own them collectively.
Minority languages
Use of minority languages is also cited as cultural appropriation when non-speakers of Scottish Gaelic or Irish get tattoos in those languages. Likewise, the use of incorrect Scottish Gaelic in a tokenistic fashion aimed at non-Gaelic speakers on signage and announcements has been criticizedas disrespectful to fluent speakers of the language.
As of the 2010 census, Asian-Americans made up 4.8 percent of the U.S. population.
According to a study by the University of Southern California Annenberg
School for Communication and Journalism in 2016, one out of 20 (which
corresponds to 5 percent) speaking roles go to Asian-Americans. However,
they are given only one percent of lead roles in film. White actors
account for 76.2 percent of lead roles, while representing 72.4 percent
of the population according to the last US census.
During Halloween, some people buy, wear, and sell Halloween costumes based on cultural or racial stereotypes.
Costumes that depict cultural stereotypes, like "Indian Warrior" or
"Pocahottie" are sometimes worn by people who do not belong to the
cultural group being stereotyped. These costumes have been criticized as being in poor taste at best and, at worst, blatantly racist and dehumanizing.
There have been public protests calling for the end to the manufacture
and sales of these costumes and connecting their "degrading" portrayals
of Indigenous women to the missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis.
In some cases, theme parties have been held where attendees are
encouraged to dress up as stereotypes of a certain racial group. A number of these parties have been held at colleges, and at times other than Halloween, including Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month.
Boy Scouts of America-associated dance teams
In chapter four of his book Playing Indian, Native American historian Philip J. Deloria refers to the Koshare Indian Museum and Dancers
as an example of "object hobbyists" who adopt the material culture of
indigenous peoples of the past ("the vanishing Indian") while failing to
engage with contemporary native peoples or acknowledge the history of
conquest and dispossession.
In the 1950s, the head councilman of the Zuni Pueblo saw a performance
and said: "We know your hearts are good, but even with good hearts you
have done a bad thing." In Zuni culture, religious object and practices
are only for those that have earned the right to participate, following
techniques and prayers that have been handed down for generations.
In 2015, the Koshare's Winter Night dances were canceled after a late
request was received from Cultural Preservation Office (CPO) of the Hopi Nation asking that the troop discontinue their interpretation of the dances of the Hopi and Pueblo Native Americans.
Director of the CPO Leigh Kuwanwisiwma saw video of the performances
online, and said the performers were "mimicking our dances, but they
were insensitive, as far as I'm concerned".
In both instances, unable to satisfy the concerns of the tribes and out
of respect for the Native Americans, the Koshare Dance Team complied
with the requests, removed dances found to be objectionable, and even
went so far as to give items deemed culturally significant to the
tribes.
The objections from some Native Americans towards such dance
teams center on the idea that the dance performances are a form of
cultural appropriation which place dance and costumes in inappropriate
contexts devoid of their true meaning, sometimes mixing elements from
different tribes.
In contrast, the dance teams state that "[their] goal is to preserve
Native American dance and heritage through the creation of dance
regalia, dancing, and teaching others about the Native American
culture".
Gender and sexuality
Some people in the transgender community have protested against the casting of straight, cisgender actors in trans acting roles, such as when Eddie Redmayne played the role of artist Lili Elbe in the film The Danish Girl and when Jared Leto played the role of a trans woman named Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club.
Some in the gay community have expressed concerns about the use of
straight actors to play gay characters; this occurs in films such as Call Me by Your Name (straight actors Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet), Brokeback Mountain (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal), Philadelphia (Tom Hanks), Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Milk (with Sean Penn playing the role of the real-life gay rights activist, Harvey Milk).
In the other direction, gay actors playing straight roles, Andrew
Haigh, the writer-director, said, "You rarely see a gay actor applauded
for playing straight."
Jay Caruso calls these controversies "wholly manufactured", on the
grounds that the actors "are playing a role" using the "art of acting".
Some heterosexual individuals controversially self-identify by the oxymoron, "Queer heterosexual". As queer is generally defined either as a synonym for LGBT, or defined as "non-heterosexual", this appropriation of queer by cisgender, heterosexual individuals has been highly contested by LGBT people. One reason is because the term has a long history of use as a slur to oppress LGBT people. LGBT people who consider this use of the term "queer"
by heterosexual people to be inappropriate say that it is patently
offensive because it involves members of the dominant culture, who do
not experience oppression for their sexual orientation or gender
identity, appropriating what they see as the fashionable parts of the
terminology and identities of those who actually are oppressed for their
sexuality.
For someone who is homosexual and
queer, a straight person identifying as queer can feel like choosing to
appropriate the good bits, the cultural and political cache, the clothes
and the sound of gay culture, without the laugh riot of gay-bashing,
teen shame, adult shame, shame-shame, and the internalized homophobia of
lived gay experience.
Other uses
Costume of Saint Patrick (left)
The government of Ghana has been accused of cultural appropriation in adopting the Caribbean Emancipation Day and marketing it to African American tourists as an "African festival".
For some members of the South-Asian community, the wearing of a bindi dot as a decorative item by a non-Hindu can be seen as cultural appropriation.
A term among Irish people for someone who imitates or misrepresents Irish culture is Plastic Paddy.
Responses
Bindi
In 2011, a group of students at Ohio University
started a poster campaign denouncing the use of cultural stereotypes as
costumes. The campaign features people of color alongside their
respective stereotypes with slogans such as "This is not who I am and
this is not okay."
The goal of the movement was to raise awareness around racism during
Halloween in the university and the surrounding community, but the
images also circulated online.
"Reclaim the Bindi" has become a hashtag
used by some people of South Asian descent who wear traditional garb,
and object to its use by people not of their culture. At the 2014 Coachella festival one of the most noted fashion trends was the bindi, a traditional Hindu head mark.
As pictures of the festival surfaced online there was public
controversy over the casual wearing of the bindi by non-Hindu
individuals who did not understand the meaning behind it.
Reclaim the Bindi Week is an event which seeks to promote the
traditional cultural significance of the bindi and combat its use as a
fashion statement.
Criticism of the concept
John McWhorter, a professor at Columbia University,
criticized the concept in 2014, arguing that cultural borrowing and
cross-fertilization is a generally positive thing and is something which
is usually done out of admiration, and with no intent to harm the
cultures being imitated; he also argued that the specific term
"appropriation", which can mean theft, is misleading when applied to
something like culture that is not seen by all as a limited resource. In 2018, conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg
described cultural appropriation as a positive thing and dismissed
opposition to it as a product of some people's desire to be offended. Kwame Anthony Appiah, ethics columnist for the New York Times, said that the term cultural appropriation incorrectly labels contemptuous behavior as a property crime.
According to Appiah, "The key question in the use of symbols or regalia
associated with another identity group is not: What are my rights of
ownership? Rather it's: Are my actions disrespectful?"
In 2016, author Lionel Shriver
said that authors from a cultural majority have a right to write in the
voice of someone from a cultural minority, attacking the idea that this
constitutes cultural appropriation. Referring to a case in which U.S.
college students were facing disciplinary action for wearing sombreros to a "tequila party", she said: "The moral of the sombrero scandals is clear: you're not supposed to try on other people's hats. Yet that's what we're paid to do, isn't it? Step into other people's shoes, and try on their hats." Upon winning the 2019 Booker Prize, Bernardine Evaristo
dismissed the concept of cultural appropriation, stating that it is
ridiculous to demand of writers that they not "write beyond [their] own
culture".
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