Just a few of my aseasonal (for the Northern Hemisphere) cultural hats: Arsenal (adopted from husband), Switzerland (current denizen), Parisian beret (forever Francophile), Maine/Minnesota moose (extended family, university home & winter lover)
Hello readers,
We talk a lot about internationalism and intersections of cultures in this publication. Do you consider yourself to have a dominant culture? What cultures are you a part of? Have you always been?
This summer, I’m bringing you a Summer Travel series. It’s travel writing, yes, but also questioning or noticing the way we encounter culture as we travel. Sometimes a culture I know very little about feels in harmony with my inner being; other times completely perplexed or at odds. I don’t mean this in a negative way. Likely with more understanding and time spent, I would feel more in harmony, or maybe I wouldn’t and that’s ok. I can still appreciate its positive qualities that just aren’t me.
I’m interested in the ways culture can enhance one’s identity, perhaps allowing one to access their authenticity rather than necessarily performing (although this is possible, too). Living in other countries has made me greatly aware of this; there’s no way to keep from picking up other cultures as a part of yourself (not that I’d want to reject them anyway). My son is decidedly a ‘third culture kid’, which has many benefits but perhaps also difficulty later when thinking about home and identity. I know that some of you also live in places you didn’t grow up, immersed in different cultures. Additionally, there are of course many cultures at play within any place and many other ‘subcultures’ that often transcend place.
I’m interested this week if you think you borrow from other cultures and in what ways? Is this something you have picked up through travel, reading, friendships…? How is it not cultural appropriation (or is it)? When does it become harmful or inappropriate? I’ve included some examples and opinions below, including Kim Kardashian’s grill and wearing Kimonos in honor of Monet at Boston’s MFA. Last month, we went back to the 80s to look at Voguing in this context.
I welcome any related thoughts, questions, or links here!
The concept of cultural appropriation perplexes me. Engaging with other cultures is surely a good thing. We already have words for exploitation of other people and theft - exploitation and theft - so I think those will suffice. I have a friend who is of the Muslim faith and she once told me I would suit a salwar kameez, and that she would take me to a store in her local area to buy one. We never got around to it but clearly she would not have considered it cultural appropriation for me to wear an outfit pertaining to her culture. (Should have found the time - I love them!). I prefer to call it cultural appreciation. I love the hats, Kate. My favourite is the moose one. I can't say the Gunners one as my husband is a West Ham fan.
Haven't made it through all of the links yet but I did an internal facepalm when I thought Kim's "grill" meant she had splashed out $18k on an opal-encrusted bbq!! 🤦♂️🤦♂️😅
Enjoying reading the comments here. I like the term "cultural appreciation".
Part of the joy of travel is being immersed in other cultures. Never have I felt that so strongly as in Japan and it's always left me wondering what I would feel if I lived there as a non-native. Would I always feel like being in another world there?
Having lived in Aus since 2009, I do feel that sense of shifted identity. I've lost some of my connection to the UK whilst gaining a lot with Australia. Am I still British? Yes. Do I also feel Australian? Yes. Did my life shift to appreciating coffee and fine wine more and more and desiring a constant level of vitamin D induction? Yes. 😆
Oh the coffee and wine and ☀️ of Melbourne! Lovely. And yes they are such an important part of the culture, right? It’s funny how we can be parts of several cultures and perhaps not lose, but only gain. Also interesting to me is how others see you. For example, all the British relatives see my son as “so American” and talking with a “twang” (I am from Boston so no idea about the southern twang...) and the Americans hear a “sophisticated English boy.” It’s just accents, but I think it’s metaphor for it all.
Japan is so dreamy! I hope you get to immerse yourself more. I’m enamoured with many East Asian cultures after my time in HK (which I left out here for simplicity but that culture is a huge part of me still).
(And LOL re Kim’s grill) thanks for the wonderful message.
Ah yes, excellent points about how others see you. I've also felt this upon returning home to see friends and family. "You're so Aussie now..." 🙄
Sounds amazing re: HK. Haven't ever been. Less inclined in recent years with all the turmoil, but I'd still like to visit one day. I did get to go to parts of China for a conference many years ago, including Beijing, which was fantastic but I was lucky to have a local guide of a friend showing me around.
Yeah, I left HK just before (I was there 2008-2016) and it's changed a lot even since my two visits in 2018 and '19. I think it's still worth a visit as long as things are 'calm' (on the surface). If interested, I would check out the films of Fruit Chan and Ann Hui. I only made it to Beijing once but was also lucky to have a local tour guide; makes such a big difference!
Unless someone lives under a rock or in a physically huge cultural milieu, it's difficult to live in our world today and not be affected by other cultures. Everywhere we look, the food available in our communities, fusion music, films, THE NEWS for pete's sake, is always blasting us with other cultures to the point where the term "mainstream" takes on an expanded meaning. As for appropriation, that's baloney. The concept is ludicrous and reminds me of a man who ran a Burlington store in old town Santa Fe. He sold lovely shawls, rugs, and other merchandise made at Burlington. He told us a wonderful story about when Burlington first entered the indigenous communities. The traders wanted to buy and sell Native arts, etc. When they showed the women the floral designs that Burlington made during that era, they had to have them. Up to that time, Native women wore the traditional abstract designs of their tribes. These brilliantly colored flowers on shawls stole their hearts and they bought them for their own use. Was that cultural appropriation?
What a great story, Sue. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and the great anecdote. I think there are so many examples of this kind of sharing and appreciation. Often the seemingly small stories really say it all. Of course there has been huge pin for native populations in the US including the purposeful erasure of cultures at times. But that doesn’t mean there can’t also be positive cultural exchange in both directions.
You bring up a point I have been thinking about a lot: Home and Identity, especially for kids who grow up in a multicultural home/environment. A German/Indonesian child, growing up in France, with English as first language, where does that leave the "mother tongue"? Which one is it? German? Indonesian? English? French? Home after all is defined in part by language. Not speaking the language of one's "home country," does that lead to loss of identity? What does "country" mean?
I think about this so much in terms of a lot of the students I’ve had. Firstly I’ve had students with up to 3 languages they consider mother tongue, not just native. Like you I think it is connected to home. I didn’t know about your Indonesian background as well. I think a lot of us would be jealous of such a multicultural background but I can see how it could feel confusing or disorienting. Sounds like good writing material. Also interesting to think of our kids in their (third culture) environment and what that means both for them and us as parents. Thanks for the reflection and questions.
Indeed, so much to consider! Fast forward 1000 years from now, what will it mean in terms of "citizen" vs e.g. "netizen", so much will change. Asgardia is the first Space Nation today, certainly not the last.
Loved this. As a teacher I have children from different countries and cultures in my class and I try to let everyone explain a little about this (this might only be food etc). Children are always interested in how a culture, different to theirs looks which is always interesting as children widen their cultural horizons.
Great topic, Kate! As a person who is a third culture kid, raising a third culture kid, half-'black half' 'white', from a multi-lingual, multi-passport, multi-national family of origin and family I've created through marriage...the idea of cultural appropriation and the conversation around it generally makes my blood boil ;-D, particularly the American versions of the conversation which seems to be the origin of much of the conversation. Basically I wholeheartedly agree with John McWhorter's viewpoint - your second link - "Borrowing From Other Cultures Is Human Nature".
Yes, sometimes practices that have grown within one group of people are exploited in what feels like distasteful ways and sometimes this lays bare the different positions of power one "culture" has vs another. But being inspired from the world around us is what we do as humans - it is an expression of our common humanity. To say that one "culture" gets to hold the patent on a practice that has evolved over time and has no doubt been inspired by interaction with cultures over time...to me just increases a false boundary between groups of people. And the definition of who belongs to one "culture" and how one becomes part of a "culture" is nebulous and will be increasingly nebulous as more people mix and travel and move to new places.
Yes, certain groups of people have less power and rights and protection than others. But othering different groups of people makes the problem worse, not better. Borrowing from other "cultures" is how progress happens - we build on the good ideas we see around us, and that's how we move forward as a species. It seems to me that the fundamental assumption of cultural appropriation is based on otherness - that different groups of humans are different from each other in irrevocable ways, that those boundaries should remain, and that there are certain ways in which these groups should not mix. - From my humble but blood-boiled perspective, that assumption of otherness is repugnant and false.
Thanks for sharing all the links and bringing up the topic! 👍🏾
Wonderful points and ideas here. So great to hear your perspective, Vanessa! I agree about the American nature of this conflict and wonder if it has to do with less exposure to other cultures through foreign travel (although America is made of many cultures itself...). Or it could be because of oppression and/or racism. Not sure, could be many factors.
In any case, thanks for such a compelling look. And agree that playing with and borrowing culture are very different from mocking or ridiculing cultures.
I wonder: do you play with different cultures in your creative design projects?
Thanks, Kate, I have played a bit with showing a variety of cultures in the people, stories, rooms, and furniture I create using artificial intelligence, but I actually have been treading very lightly because I didn't want to portray things stereotypically and because people get so easily offended on these issues. I have multiple drafts that I was excited about, but that haven't seen the light of day because I wasn't sure how to handle it in a way that felt good and fun. BUT, your post and my thinking as I responded to it have given me some motivation and ideas on how to do it in a way that feels right to me!!
And then, as fate would have it, an hour ago I bumped into my son's very white hairdresser with her hair braided in platinum blond cornrow braids - and we were chatting about her next hairstyle (neon green cornrow braids down to her ankles ;-)). She is a ray of sunshine with an interesting story angle, and it sparked a very specific idea for my next design idea and article. SO, THANK YOU :-)!
Also I wanted to add: all publications (and writers!) are different, but I’ve found those posts I was most worried about were the most well received :) for what it’s worth!
The concept of cultural appropriation perplexes me. Engaging with other cultures is surely a good thing. We already have words for exploitation of other people and theft - exploitation and theft - so I think those will suffice. I have a friend who is of the Muslim faith and she once told me I would suit a salwar kameez, and that she would take me to a store in her local area to buy one. We never got around to it but clearly she would not have considered it cultural appropriation for me to wear an outfit pertaining to her culture. (Should have found the time - I love them!). I prefer to call it cultural appreciation. I love the hats, Kate. My favourite is the moose one. I can't say the Gunners one as my husband is a West Ham fan.
Cultural appreciation :) nice.
It’s lovely when people want to share parts of their cultures with you if you are “outside” of it. Sharing their joy. Sounds like a good friend.
I get it re football; my husband’s brother supports West Ham (following the opposite grandfather), so this causes some fun rivalry.
(And very different cultures!)
Good read and thought provoking as always, Kate.
Haven't made it through all of the links yet but I did an internal facepalm when I thought Kim's "grill" meant she had splashed out $18k on an opal-encrusted bbq!! 🤦♂️🤦♂️😅
Enjoying reading the comments here. I like the term "cultural appreciation".
Part of the joy of travel is being immersed in other cultures. Never have I felt that so strongly as in Japan and it's always left me wondering what I would feel if I lived there as a non-native. Would I always feel like being in another world there?
Having lived in Aus since 2009, I do feel that sense of shifted identity. I've lost some of my connection to the UK whilst gaining a lot with Australia. Am I still British? Yes. Do I also feel Australian? Yes. Did my life shift to appreciating coffee and fine wine more and more and desiring a constant level of vitamin D induction? Yes. 😆
Oh the coffee and wine and ☀️ of Melbourne! Lovely. And yes they are such an important part of the culture, right? It’s funny how we can be parts of several cultures and perhaps not lose, but only gain. Also interesting to me is how others see you. For example, all the British relatives see my son as “so American” and talking with a “twang” (I am from Boston so no idea about the southern twang...) and the Americans hear a “sophisticated English boy.” It’s just accents, but I think it’s metaphor for it all.
Japan is so dreamy! I hope you get to immerse yourself more. I’m enamoured with many East Asian cultures after my time in HK (which I left out here for simplicity but that culture is a huge part of me still).
(And LOL re Kim’s grill) thanks for the wonderful message.
Ah yes, excellent points about how others see you. I've also felt this upon returning home to see friends and family. "You're so Aussie now..." 🙄
Sounds amazing re: HK. Haven't ever been. Less inclined in recent years with all the turmoil, but I'd still like to visit one day. I did get to go to parts of China for a conference many years ago, including Beijing, which was fantastic but I was lucky to have a local guide of a friend showing me around.
Yeah, I left HK just before (I was there 2008-2016) and it's changed a lot even since my two visits in 2018 and '19. I think it's still worth a visit as long as things are 'calm' (on the surface). If interested, I would check out the films of Fruit Chan and Ann Hui. I only made it to Beijing once but was also lucky to have a local tour guide; makes such a big difference!
Thanks, good to know re: those films!
Unless someone lives under a rock or in a physically huge cultural milieu, it's difficult to live in our world today and not be affected by other cultures. Everywhere we look, the food available in our communities, fusion music, films, THE NEWS for pete's sake, is always blasting us with other cultures to the point where the term "mainstream" takes on an expanded meaning. As for appropriation, that's baloney. The concept is ludicrous and reminds me of a man who ran a Burlington store in old town Santa Fe. He sold lovely shawls, rugs, and other merchandise made at Burlington. He told us a wonderful story about when Burlington first entered the indigenous communities. The traders wanted to buy and sell Native arts, etc. When they showed the women the floral designs that Burlington made during that era, they had to have them. Up to that time, Native women wore the traditional abstract designs of their tribes. These brilliantly colored flowers on shawls stole their hearts and they bought them for their own use. Was that cultural appropriation?
What a great story, Sue. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and the great anecdote. I think there are so many examples of this kind of sharing and appreciation. Often the seemingly small stories really say it all. Of course there has been huge pin for native populations in the US including the purposeful erasure of cultures at times. But that doesn’t mean there can’t also be positive cultural exchange in both directions.
You bring up a point I have been thinking about a lot: Home and Identity, especially for kids who grow up in a multicultural home/environment. A German/Indonesian child, growing up in France, with English as first language, where does that leave the "mother tongue"? Which one is it? German? Indonesian? English? French? Home after all is defined in part by language. Not speaking the language of one's "home country," does that lead to loss of identity? What does "country" mean?
I think about this so much in terms of a lot of the students I’ve had. Firstly I’ve had students with up to 3 languages they consider mother tongue, not just native. Like you I think it is connected to home. I didn’t know about your Indonesian background as well. I think a lot of us would be jealous of such a multicultural background but I can see how it could feel confusing or disorienting. Sounds like good writing material. Also interesting to think of our kids in their (third culture) environment and what that means both for them and us as parents. Thanks for the reflection and questions.
Indeed, so much to consider! Fast forward 1000 years from now, what will it mean in terms of "citizen" vs e.g. "netizen", so much will change. Asgardia is the first Space Nation today, certainly not the last.
Fantastic 💕👌🏽☺️
Loved this. As a teacher I have children from different countries and cultures in my class and I try to let everyone explain a little about this (this might only be food etc). Children are always interested in how a culture, different to theirs looks which is always interesting as children widen their cultural horizons.
Between this response and your writing, I imagine your classroom is a wonderful space! Thanks for the great comment.
Great topic, Kate! As a person who is a third culture kid, raising a third culture kid, half-'black half' 'white', from a multi-lingual, multi-passport, multi-national family of origin and family I've created through marriage...the idea of cultural appropriation and the conversation around it generally makes my blood boil ;-D, particularly the American versions of the conversation which seems to be the origin of much of the conversation. Basically I wholeheartedly agree with John McWhorter's viewpoint - your second link - "Borrowing From Other Cultures Is Human Nature".
Yes, sometimes practices that have grown within one group of people are exploited in what feels like distasteful ways and sometimes this lays bare the different positions of power one "culture" has vs another. But being inspired from the world around us is what we do as humans - it is an expression of our common humanity. To say that one "culture" gets to hold the patent on a practice that has evolved over time and has no doubt been inspired by interaction with cultures over time...to me just increases a false boundary between groups of people. And the definition of who belongs to one "culture" and how one becomes part of a "culture" is nebulous and will be increasingly nebulous as more people mix and travel and move to new places.
Yes, certain groups of people have less power and rights and protection than others. But othering different groups of people makes the problem worse, not better. Borrowing from other "cultures" is how progress happens - we build on the good ideas we see around us, and that's how we move forward as a species. It seems to me that the fundamental assumption of cultural appropriation is based on otherness - that different groups of humans are different from each other in irrevocable ways, that those boundaries should remain, and that there are certain ways in which these groups should not mix. - From my humble but blood-boiled perspective, that assumption of otherness is repugnant and false.
Thanks for sharing all the links and bringing up the topic! 👍🏾
Wonderful points and ideas here. So great to hear your perspective, Vanessa! I agree about the American nature of this conflict and wonder if it has to do with less exposure to other cultures through foreign travel (although America is made of many cultures itself...). Or it could be because of oppression and/or racism. Not sure, could be many factors.
In any case, thanks for such a compelling look. And agree that playing with and borrowing culture are very different from mocking or ridiculing cultures.
I wonder: do you play with different cultures in your creative design projects?
Thanks, Kate, I have played a bit with showing a variety of cultures in the people, stories, rooms, and furniture I create using artificial intelligence, but I actually have been treading very lightly because I didn't want to portray things stereotypically and because people get so easily offended on these issues. I have multiple drafts that I was excited about, but that haven't seen the light of day because I wasn't sure how to handle it in a way that felt good and fun. BUT, your post and my thinking as I responded to it have given me some motivation and ideas on how to do it in a way that feels right to me!!
And then, as fate would have it, an hour ago I bumped into my son's very white hairdresser with her hair braided in platinum blond cornrow braids - and we were chatting about her next hairstyle (neon green cornrow braids down to her ankles ;-)). She is a ray of sunshine with an interesting story angle, and it sparked a very specific idea for my next design idea and article. SO, THANK YOU :-)!
Also I wanted to add: all publications (and writers!) are different, but I’ve found those posts I was most worried about were the most well received :) for what it’s worth!
Thank you for adding that, appreciated! :-)
Oh wow! I’m so excited to see it! It’s funny all the juxtapositions of life :)