Synthesis Essay: A Cultural Appropriation Of American Culture

With a new wave of music, art, and design redefining the melting pot of diversity in America, contemporary cultural appropriation is taking the national limelight in the generation of millennials. Cultural appropriation originated from a scholarly exposition on colonialism in the 1970s-1980s, yet the term is still being widely used by the culture cops of today. So what is cultural appropriation? Culture is the customs, arts, and achievements of a nation, race, or ethnicity whereas appropriation is the action of acquiring something for one’s own use without the owner’s consent. Because of America’s increasingly globalized nature, it strengthened cultural singularity resulting in cultural appropriation as the everyday norm. The thin line between cultural sharing and unintentional racism is blurred as there is no standard for censuring something that can not be measured. But underneath all the debate, cultural appropriation serves as a lethal weapon by instigating racial stereotypes, trivializing historical oppression, and allowing others to profit for the same things the creators never received credit for.

Another point Weiss made in defense of cultural appropriation is that “so long as the impulse is one of homage and not derision, we should encourage borrowing”, but what if the so-called borrowing results in spreading unintentional racism and stereotypes? Borrowing different aspects of cultures without researching the origin or meaning behind it can be deeply offensive regardless of whether or not it was meant to honor the said