(Warning: Strong languages and rants ahead)
Let me establish one thing to open this piece. When it comes to appreciating other cultures, if you are an anthropologist like me, it means that understanding its history, heritage, and core values are critically important, otherwise some easily offended bunch would brand you as a racist. And in this time where a small remark would easily upset someone, I suggest that you have to get up to speed with your cultural knowledge.
First of all, what in the living hell is cultural appropriation anyway? According to Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, it can be described as "the act of copying or using the customs and traditions of a particular group or culture, by someone from a more dominant group in society." On Lexico Powered by Oxford Dictionaries, it is defined as "the unacknowledged or inappropriate of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society." In a nutshell, this can be described as someone or a group belonging to a more dominant ethnicity that take one or more elements from another culture group (mainly the oppressed one), and use it for their personal gain, without having the sufficient knowledge of the significance, core values, or the history behind it. In short, it's like that one asshole (for the sake of the writing, let's call this person "Karen") who wears a clothing element or adopting a specific piece of another culture, but at the same time knows absolutely jack shit about its history, and only wears them because they look "cool". This alone can be described as "culturally insensitive". Hell, every individual from every race or ethnicity can be involved in this type of self-embarrassment, if you are ignorant enough to do it.
But is it the same as cultural appreciation or assimilation? No, it's plain and simple, no. Assimilation is in effect if that same people group have to adopt the other cultural values as a means of survival (in colonial times, most of the time with force). It can also mean that someone willingly assimilate other cultural values to broaden their cultural knowledge (Kind of like acculturation). Whilst appreciation can be applied for someone who has enough knowledge of the subject at hand, understands the significance and the core values of that cultural element. Someone who genuinely appreciative of that culture are highly sensitive about the context in which it was applied. Whilst someone can be considered appropriating a cultural element if that person is unaware of its significance, or with the intention of pure mockery.
But some individuals are just too thick-headed or too ignorant to realize that appropriating a cultural element just to play out a stereotype or (even worse) mocking them is plain stupid, and a step further when it comes to human idiocy. K-Pop industry has a TON of scandals of this caliber. from Mamamoo's blackface scandal to (G)I-IDLE's Jeon So-yeon's "African Hip" remarks, the K-Pop industry has been accused countless times for racial insensitivity and cultural appropriation. Hell, the industry's first (and only) African American idol, Alex Reid of BP Rania was treated like a big hunk of horse shit just because of her skin color. Another example of this is when BLACKPINK (Yes, BLACK-fucking-PINK) released their music video for the song How You Like That. In the video, during Lalisa Manoban's rap part, some eagle-eyed viewers noticed a statue of Ganesha, The Hindu deity of knowledge, intellect and wisdom placed on the floor. Unsurprisingly, both the band and the agency (YG Entertainment) were met with lots of backlash, especially coming from fans that adhere to the Hindu faith. The backlash is mainly how the statue of Lord Ganesha is used only as a prop for aesthetic purpose, and Manoban being a Thai-born idol although can be justified, doesn't help the case either. The original video has since deleted, and the scene was re-edited.
And this is not limited to K-Pop. Modern Pop Music artists have a fair share of cultural appropriation gone absolutely wrong. Katy Perry once performed at the 2013 American Music Awards dressed as a Japanese Geisha. What went wrong was the dress that she wore doesn't even originated from Japan, but a variation of a dress from China. The performance can also be viewed as a blatant stereotyping of East Asian women, based on the fact that although she was accompanied by few Japanese backup dancers, some elements of the pop fanbase accused her as such. Avril Lavinge made it even worse when she released the song Hello Kitty. This is where it gets from bad to worse. She (perhaps deliberately) butchered the Japanese language, dressed appropriating the Harajuku culture, and most importantly, playing to the general stereotype of said culture. The music video was also a cringefest. Another instance (although this is more like a mockery) was when Donald Glover, under his rap name Childish Gambino released This is America, a song that tackles police brutality, racism, gun violence, and ignorance. Somehow, Canadian comedian Nicole Arbour managed to take that amazing song, and proceeded to tear it limb-to limb, and present it in a more sexist way (no, really, she even named that atrocity as the "Women's Edit").
But perhaps it is the fashion world that always involved in some form of appropriation. A Vice article from 2019 detailed when Kim Kardashian (yep, that same woman from the infamous Kardashian-Jenner clan who got her fame from making a fucking sex tape) released her lingerie line called "Kimono", taken from his name. Unsurprisingly, the name also bears similarity with THE Japanese national dress with important significances. The dress is mainly worn for special occasions and important events. Either a wedding or a funeral, the kimono is always worn for those events. Even someone like Yuka Onishi took that as an insult as told to the BBC. On The Atlantic's article titled The Dos and Don'ts of Cultural Appropriation, One instance of a cultural element being used only as an accessory for aesthetics was when Victoria's Secret model Karlie Kloss walked down the runway modelling the new bikini collection while at the same time donning a Native American head dress, the one that symbolizes leadership among Native American tribes. From what I understand, the head dress is passed from one leader to another, and only those who are appointed as the leader of the respective tribe that are allowed to wear one. On this instance, it's taken way out of the context.
But when does cultural appropriation not a cultural appropriation? This seems like the million-dollar question. Although it might seem unlikely, but there are some easily offended individuals that can judge someone of appropriating a culture just because of the accused party enjoys food (no, really!) from another country. Comedian and MMA commentator Joe Rogan once ranted about this on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, about a white chef named Rick Bayliss who learned how to properly mastered Mexican cuisine by travelling all over Mexico in order to understand more about its history and its authenticity, but accused of cultural appropriating the Mexican culture, just because of the poor guy opening a Mexican restaurant. English comedian Jonathan Pie also ranted about this when he told a story of some individuals walking around confiscating sombrero hats given by a local Mexican restaurant as a means of promoting said restaurant. Now, accusing someone of cultural appropriation on the basis that the accused party enjoys eating, cooking and understanding food from another country or ethnicity is just plain idiocy. One time I was surfing on a social media platform named Quora, and most of the time on my timeline, there is this one white girl who likes to wear saree and bindi, both are India's traditional dress. It's easy to accuse her for appropriating the Indian culture, but she is actually married to someone from India (after a brief research, and some of her post that also has her husband in the photo). So, on that fact alone, it can be justified for her to do such thing. She might be already aware of the significance of the dress, since her husband is from the country, or have enough knowledge of the Indian culture. Either way, that is the case of cultural appreciation.
It's safe to say that cultural appropriation is an instance where you take some elements of one society or ethnicity, without any awareness of the significance, or its history, and using it just for others' personal gain or simply for aesthetics. Those guys are either unaware of this, or just plain ignorant to the point of mocking those elements. But some people can also accuse others of this behavior, even though the one they accuse have enough knowledge and appreciation of the matters at hand. In short, if you want to adopt a cultural element from other people, make sure you are well informed about its context, history, and the norms behind it. Don't be a dick and take it all for granted. You only embarrass yourself. As always, stay safe, wear the mask, wash your hands, and two meters apart at all times.
