I used to think that culture was the heritage of all mankind. That the bestartists from all disciplines were inspired by their colleagues all over theworld. Think of Dutch poets who have embraced the haiku or painters likePicasso who became indebted to African art more than a century ago. That hasturned out to be a terrible misconception. What appears to be a demonstrationof the essential unity of humanity is in reality nothing more than robbery.This idea has been popular in the United States for some time, but has nowfinally reached the most enlightened minds in the Netherlands. Better latethan never. Lisa Djasmadi explains the real situation on the KnowledgePlatform Inclusive Society. She does this mainly with examples from fashion:white girls who appropriate Afro-American hairstyles, Dutch textilemanufacturers who conquered the West African textile market with batik motifstaken from Java, all money making, all theft of cultural elements for theirown gain. According to Djasmani great restraint is appropriate if one wants tobe inspired by other people’s cultural traditions. You’re so over the limit.The Asian Raisins site takes a more radical stance on this issue. The visionsof Alyssa Lepage are not bad either.
A good example of such cultural appropriation is Anne-Fay Kops, who, accordingto the NRC, has a black mother but white skin. She is therefore white, but hasnevertheless used the black and African part of her family past for aperformance, supposedly to ask for accountability for the colonial past. In aninterview with NRC, she tries to defend herself against the waves of criticismshe received for appropriating black history as a white woman. It even led toloss of friendships. That’s how bean gets his paycheck. Again: I used to thinkthat a performance like Anne-Fay Kops was a great enrichment, but now I knowbetter.
We must all do our part to purify the world’s cultures. It is not too late tosmoke out anyone and everyone who engages in cultural appropriation. Takejazz, for example, which has been spreading around the world with impunity formore than a century now. Or the salsa. Or other forms of world music. Or hip-hop. They are based on cultural appropriation. At the time, African Americanstook musical instruments and musical styles from Europe and mixed them withtheir own rhythms. Initially it was mainly military marches that theyappropriated, but as their dexterity increased, much more was added, evensymphonic music. In the Caribbean this is how rumba, merengue and other stylescame about plus the mix of all of these, salsa. For example, European musicand European instruments were appropriated in order to become rich. And nowlook: this musical cultural appropriation now dominates music in many parts ofthe world. This stealing work has even pushed the original European music anddance completely to the background. Who still does the hakketone and the clogdance in the Netherlands? See how Beyoncé’s outfits, in terms of shape, colorand style, are pulled entirely from Parisian, Roman and London catwalks.
Cultural appropriation drowns out all the original with shrill cries andintense colours. To think I was once tempted to learn salsa steps.
It won’t be easy, but we have to persevere and throw a lot in the culturalgarbage can. A few examples:
That’s the way it’s supposed to be. This is clean. This is the future:
Get rid of the lie that the world’s cultures inspire and enrich each other.For the cultural identity. We were warned just in time.
Postscript: Some people may think that the theorists of culturalappropriation have discovered a new, hitherto unnoticed element of oppressionand subversion. Nothing is less true. Rather, they reinvent a previouslyconstructed wheel, albeit with a variant. In the first half of the lastcentury, extensive warnings were already issued against this phenomenon, oftenwith similar arguments. However, the analysis was partly different: theopponents of cultural appropriation at the time believed that it underminedone’s own culture. The fruits, however, are the same: cultural apartheid. Andit’s about the fruits. For the enthusiasts this fascinating dissertation:Unwanted music