Now I'm not going to lie to you, I've never really been one to care much about the concept of Cultural Appropriation". Often times, I ensure to scroll past pictures or posts about it as soon as possible in order to avoid reading pages of what I've always perceived as pointless arguments. So today I set this discussion out to show you in many circumstances it's truly not that easy to label something as appreciation or appropriation.
In order for any of this discussion to make sense, let us all take a few minutes out of our busy lives to watch the following video.
We'll begin with
The Appropriation argument:
Yes, you viewed correctly.
The Appreciation argument:
Let us begin with defining Cultural appropriation so we have a fine idea of what were truly working with. Using the definition given by law professor Susan Scafidi, cultural appropriation is where:
“Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects.”
Let us begin with defining Cultural appropriation so we have a fine idea of what were truly working with. Using the definition given by law professor Susan Scafidi, cultural appropriation is where:
“Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects.”
1. Beyonce's outfit was not a property forcefully taken by her team from some poor Indian designer.
It was a custom made outfit designed by Indian designers Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla, who yes, were paid their due in return for their creation. The mere fact many people criticize others for wearing something they have fairly paid for by designers of that ethnicity is troubling. Many of you may be sitting there ready to fire away with counter-arguments proposing, "what about the blatant exotic and eroticisation of Beyonce in that outfit? Isn't this something the western media always does with Indian women or Indian outfits" or "This is exactly what Edward Said talks about with the eroticisation of women in oriental cultures". Well... Yes but no.
You're correct to identify that this is an image Indian women deal with in western media constantly, However, the matter is more complex than that. Bollywood as an industry has always thrived on the exotic and eroticisation of Indian women in films, now this doesn't make it correct but Beyonce's style team is essentially playing into the stereotype of Indian women, WE Indian men and women have created in our own industry. When you're trying to portray an industry where almost every single mainstream heroine is nothing more than eye candy its difficult for an outsider to come and show it as anything more. I may sound harsh, but as an Indian woman I'm constantly ashamed at how sexualized and objectified us women are shown within our own media. We can't expect things to change, or outsiders to reflect us any better if were not picking up the slack and writing roles with substance for ourselves.
The Indian dress, sari, salwar kameez is not sacred nor is it of any true religious significance. Our outfit is not worn on particular occasions whereby wearing it outside of a particular setting will cause something sacrilegious. Our outfit is a commodity which can be purchased as any other on the markets, so please do not pretend like a western woman wearing my ethnic clothing for a video is the worst thing to happen to my people.
3. Beyonce is ALLOWED to play a Bollywood actress.
Little known fact, Bollywood is not a racially exclusive industry to people of Indian ethnic backgrounds only. Currently one of the most famous Bollywood actresses isn't even Indian, she is half Kashmiri and half British (Katrina Kaif). Not only this but Bollywood has always been open to ethnic diversity amongst females, predominantly because Bollywood actresses are given eye candy roles, and again this doesn't mean I think this attitude is correct, I'm just stating the facts here. With this being said there is just as much chance an African-American woman can become a mainstream Bollywood actress as any other ethnic identity.
4. India is a deeply religious nation and has substantial levels of poverty.
One of the main backlashes this video has gotten which I do understand is the depiction of India being a spiritually elite but poor nation. Let's get back to the facts and figures again, while in 1976 India passed legislation enabling for its recognition as a "secular" nation, the truth is somewhat misaligned with legislation. India is infact a pseudo-secular nation, till date religious leaders and politicians run the nation and its high bureaucratic education, health, marital, and health system are sourced directly from Hindu scriptures. To even comment on being offended that India is always shown as a religious nation is possibly one of the silliest things to get offended over. India is also a nation with one of the worst wealth divides in the world, while some of the richest men and women in the world are Indian, India is also home to some of the biggest slums in the world, and according to the 2014 McKinsey report almost 46% of Indians living in India are living under the poverty line. Yes, it angers alot of us Indians when we are faced with this reality, yes it hurts when people from the West come into our country under the assumption were a nation of illiterate illogical idiots, but this video in particular in no means degrades us to these stereotypes. Not a single slum was shown through out the video, the areas shown in the video were in fact working-middle class Indian homes and families in smaller cities of India. Not to forget, it is not the responsibility of the West to show us for who we are, it is our responsibility, and folks were not doing the best job at it either.
Watch the "Incredible India" ad launched by the Indian tourism industry and tell me exactly how is this any different from the recent Beyonce and Coldplay music video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9IFMtNrvvQ
So lets get back to the topic, is this video appropriation or appreciation?
This video is essentially appreciating India, Indian culture and Indian outfits to the limit we Indians provide Westerners with, and to be frankly honest to be imaged as a person who dances in colors, smiles and wears beautiful embroidery is something I can live it.
Good post, I agree with what you are saying, I think there is a line between the two. I believe that claiming everything as "cultural appropriation" can be harmful, it can create walls between people, saying you can't celebrate this or wear that ect. We live in a diverse world and racism comes from a lack of education of other cultures. But there is a side of appropriation that leads to stereotyping.
ReplyDeleteOfcourse, I would never deny that cultural appropriation does not exist, nor would I deny instances of it being sacrilegious or offensive. But I am a strong believer in the idea that not everything is cultural appropriation or needs to be called out inaccurately for being cultural appropriation, which is why I used this example to illustrate that, I'm happy you liked the post :)
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