Why is cultural appropriation offensive to the minority from which an element of their culture is imitated?
With regards to modern controversies over cultural appropriation, I think it's really an issue of superficiality. Minorities seem to get offended by cultural appropriation because the appropriators often only take the superficial aspects of the culture, like clothing or exotic-sounding words, without a real respect or understand of what those clothing and words really mean.
Cultural appropriation in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. Cultures have been doing it to each other since ancient times. The Romans appropriated from the Greeks, who appropriated from Egypt and Asia Minor. Japan appropriated from China, and that's why they have kanji and pagodas. You could even say that Osamu Tezuka appropriated googly eyes from Disney cartoons, and now Westerners are appropriating googly-eyed cartoons from Japanese cartoons.
Cultural appropriation is essentially the adoption of ideas and customs from other cultures, and that's generally a good thing. It's also inevitable in a global world. So just try not be superficial about it, or disrespectful towards the original culture. It's a complicated issue of course, but as always, dialogue and respect are important for working out these issues.
Cultural appropriation in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. Cultures have been doing it to each other since ancient times. The Romans appropriated from the Greeks, who appropriated from Egypt and Asia Minor. Japan appropriated from China, and that's why they have kanji and pagodas. You could even say that Osamu Tezuka appropriated googly eyes from Disney cartoons, and now Westerners are appropriating googly-eyed cartoons from Japanese cartoons.
Cultural appropriation is essentially the adoption of ideas and customs from other cultures, and that's generally a good thing. It's also inevitable in a global world. So just try not be superficial about it, or disrespectful towards the original culture. It's a complicated issue of course, but as always, dialogue and respect are important for working out these issues.
