More handpicked essays just for you.
Review of related literature about cultural diversity
The importance of cultural diversity research paper
Cultural appropriation and globalization
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
A great deal of people in America see America as a melting pot, meaning all cultures come in and melt into one culture. Others like me, view America as more of a salad bowl. Cultures come in and mix together, but they do not merge, everyone keeps their own culture. In reality, If we all are living together we are bound to influence each other's way of life. Things like our way of speaking and religious traditions are definitely going to rub off on each other. Although that wouldn't be cultural appropriation cultural appropriation has nothing to do with how familiar you are with another culture. So when does it become cultural appropriation? It becomes cultural appropriation when the culture is exploited for money, fame, praise for creativity, or self-expression. When you take other cultures dances, style of dress, music, way of speaking, food, religious symbols and use it for your personal game that is appropriation. In her article, “To the new culture cops, everything is appropriation” from The Washington Post author Cathy Young talks about the new culture cops and how they're limiting the ways in which people can express themselves artistically. In her world you can …show more content…
Many people of color take offense to seeing their culture used as creative inspiration in stereotypical and discourteous ways. Native Americans don't appreciate insensitive Americans using their likeness in a dehumanizing fashion and referring to it as paying homage. In the future, its critical that people in America today realize how wrong it is to use someone's culture as creative inspiration. The cultures of people of color are not trends. We also need to see the dehumanization that occurs when we use the likeness of a person the same way we would use an animal's. In order for us to all get along in this diverse country, we must be compelled to learn respect for each others
The author Justin Angle says how in a study the mascots and names were shown to people unfamiliar with Native American culture and the sport teams, in the end of the study most of the participants viewed Native American’s as “war like”, which can carry negative consequences in the real world affecting the views of some future employers, creating a view that though Native American’s can be seen as strong and bold they can also have been perceived as violent and irrational. The uses of Redskins also create the belief that it is culturally appropriate for the constant use of Native American culture this has led to thousands of schools and sports teams to have questionable mascots and names. Such as the Savages from Salmon High school and the baseball team the “Indians” whose mascot was a hooked nose red skinned Indian with bucked teeth. Comparing this to the now frowned upon depiction of African American as black red lipped stereotyped popular in the 1920s advertisements does it not show similarities in a cultures becoming a caricature. While one is view as racist the other is view and honorable due to it representing one of the greatest passtimes in America,
Lliu, K., and H. Zhang. "Self- and Counter-Representations of Native Americans: Stereotypical Images of and New Images by Native Americans in Popular Media." Ebscohost. University of Arkansas, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
Cultural appropriation has been a controversial subject of debate for decades; hence it is not something “new” as society likes to think. The issue of cultural appropriation seems to have recently emerged in the 21st century because technology has allowed information to be more widespread and easily accessed. The borrowing of cultural elements of minority cultures, particularly black culture and indigenous culture, (hairstyles, music, fashion, art, etc.) by fashion labels and designers, celebrities, and the dominant culture often elicits unforgiving backlash from liberals. For example, Kylie Jenner has frequently been called out by the black community for continuously
As people, like myself, who aren’t oppressed for their skin color, culture, or religion, it’s hard to sometimes understand what it feels like to have someone appropriate their livelihood, more specifically, someone who is appropriating someone else’s culture. I imagine it, on a much smaller scale, to be like doing a group project, but one is doing all the work and the others take all the credit. The result would be one not receiving any of the rewards. People would call them “creative” and “hard-working”, when in reality, they just showed up and didn’t contribute anything at all. Amy Stretten’s “Appropriating Native American Imagery Honors No One” provides a multitude of resources that go along with her main point of why appropriating the Native
It appears the caricature of Native Americans remains the same as first seen from the first settler’s eyes: savage-like people. Their culture and identity has become marginalized by popular culture. This is most evident in mainstream media. There exists a dearth of Native American presence in the mainstream media. There is a lack of Native American characters in different media mediums.
In the article “What is Cultural Appropriation and Why is it Wrong? By Nadra Kareem Nittle and article “The Difference between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” by Jarune Uwujaren. It talks about how cultural appropriation and about people wearing and using other cultural things such as the style of the clothes. It is usually known as borrowing but now it is not just borrowing since people who wear things/ objects with meaning and significance from other cultures do not even know the meaning. However, in cultural exchange it is much different when someone uses or does something that other cultures do for example, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the U.S, but it is the Latinos that live in the U.S who are celebrating and they are proud
Many races are unjustly victimized, but Native American cultures are more misunderstood and degraded than any other race. College and high school mascots sometimes depict images of Native Americans and have names loosely based on Native American descent, but these are often not based on actual Native American history, so instead of honoring Native Americans, they are being ridiculed. According to the article Warriors Survive Attack, by Cathy Murillo (2009) some “members of the Carpentaria community defended Native American mascot icons as honoring Chumash tradition and the spirit of American Indian Warriors in U.S. history and others claimed that the images were racist stereotypes” (Murillo, 2009). If people do not attempt to understand and respect Native American culture, then Native American stereotypes will become irreparable, discrimination will remain unresolved, and ethnocentrism will not be reprimanded.
Have you ever taken offense when you saw someone dressed in traditional garments from your culture? In America, this happens quite often. Some people may not recognize it and some refuse to acknowledge that it even exists. Cultural appropriation is a situation in which a dominant culture steals aspects of a minority culture’s, such as hair, clothing styles, and music.
For many years, black culture has been something that has repeatedly been looked down upon then mimicked. Cultural appropriation is defined as the act of a minority 's culture being paraded as someone else 's own without knowledge of the culture. This is not to be confused with culture appreciation, in which an individual chooses to obtain knowledge of a culture before they wear or become a part of it. The problem in this generation is that people see something they like, and simply copy it without knowing where it originated from and why. There is no attempt to learn more about it and that is the problem that most people have. Although cultural appropriation is something that can cause confusion as to why it 's offensive, most people blatantly
The most common type of cultural appropriation today however comes in a musical form. There is nothing wrong with an individual of a dominate group trying to learn a traditional Hispanic dance. The cultural appropriation problem comes into play however, when people like Dirty Dancing movie director Emile Aldolino used white actors as the main knowledgable source of a Hispanic cultural dance and labeled it “Dirty Dancing”. In doing so, Emile Aldolino tied the loss of innocence of the main character (a young white woman) to a cultural dance that was created to celebrate women. When one takes the dance customs of a culture and not only disregards the origination of that dance culture but even labels the dance as something filthy is one example as to why cultural appropriation should be frowned upon. It is during events like that one where dominate cultures rob minorities of not only acknowledgement and credit but above all, of the importance of great cultural value. In this same way, during the 1950s, because African Americans were still not widely accepted in American society, record executives would choose to sign with white recording artists over the discriminated black race in attempts to form a sort of replication of the musical styles that originated with black musicians. Regardless of
Cowboys and Indians is the popular game played by many children played as a game of heroes and villains. Natives are villainized in American pop culture due to the history being told by educational institutions across the nation. There are not many positive roles popular in the media about Native Americans. Many roles are even played by white people. The costume representation is not accurate either. The disrespect towards them is especially seem on Halloween, when people dress as Natives in cute and sexy ways that they think represent their culture. War paint, beads, feathers and headdresses are ceremonial accessories that represent their culture, it not a fun costume to wear. Only if they are being criticized and ridiculed, like they have been in the past. Racism has also been a huge problem when it comes to using creative names for sports teams, like the Redskins for example. Redskin is a derogatory and offensive term towards Native Americans and many white people do not see it as wrong due to the privilege they inherited throughout history. The disrespect towards them has grown and today it seems that if Natives were not getting ridiculed, they are for the most part ignored. The concerns that King describes in his book explains how the past has wired Americans to believing everything they have once learned. White people
Cultural appropriation should be understood that it is not the same as cultural appreciation and why it is so wrong. Taking someone else's culture and turning it to fashion or a trend is not just disrespectful but downright offensive. Cultural appropriation is defined as the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own. But then does that not mean we can not learn about other cultures other than our own? Sure we can, it is just how we decide to understand one's culture by the tradition and history.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines cultural appropriation as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture. This is evident through the taking of objects such as Native headdresses, dreamcatchers, costumes, etc. Often times when people take from cultures, they give the object its own meaning or disregard the true significance which is considered appropriation. This essay discusses two articles from authors, Donaldson and Nabhan-Warren that tackle the subject of cultural symbols and proper cultural interpretation versus cultural appropriation.
Popular culture can be defined as the general accepted culture in society. Anyone can learn about what is the generally accepted culture in America because it’s usually advertised in music, books, fashion, literature, schools and the mass media to name a few. In the book images of color, images of crime, chapter 1 shows how Indians have been negatively affected by popular culture throughout the years. However, I would say that many races have been affected by popular culture to the point in which the identity and the heritage of different culture is rapidly disappearing.
In todays society there are many different cultures that individuals identify with. Culture is very important to many people and is something that helps define who we are. When different cultures are respected and appreciated it is a beautiful thing, it can bring individuals in society closer to one another. Ideally this understanding of one another’s cultures can lead to multiculturalism. If the appreciation for different cultures is not done correctly it can seem to be cultural appropriation. Any piece of a culture can be stolen, mocked, and disrespected, from music, clothing, food, etc. As a society with such a vast amount of cultures it is important to know the difference between multiculturalism