Category: Cultural Appropriation

‘’If you don’t understand cultural appropriation, imagine working on a project and getting an F and then somebody copies you and gets an A and credit for your work’’

Cultural appropriation is defined as the ignorant adoption of the styles, patterns or designs of a minority group or society, by a majority society, (e.g. the West). For hundreds of years multiple cultures have been exploited for their native designs and styling while the fashion and media industry have remained ignorant of the historical value and meanings of these designs etc precisely in order to gain monetary success.

One of the main issues in cultural appropriation is that such industries fail to credit these cultures. Cultural appreciation in the arts, e.g.in fashion or textiles, is essential for finding inspiration with our own work, however it is vital for us all to honour the origins of these concepts by both acknowledging the source and respecting their original values.

Throughout history, cultural appropriation is linked to colonization, imperialism and white supremacy. When the international slave trade started in the 15th century, Western colonial powers not only took natural resources but also acquired cultural trophies. These ‘cultural trophies’ would range from artefact designs, body painting and even the people themselves. The West took these trophies by force, whether it be from stealing or unfair trade and exchanges. Cultural trophies were, at first, studied then copied to be sold as new work. For example, the work of William De Morgan (see below) used the method and design of ceramics, which was taken from the Middle East. De Morgan proceeded to create a company, called ‘Morris’, to co-sell design tiles that had been influenced by the Middle East without crediting them.

Much more disturbing than William De Morgan’s tiles, is the example of Saartjie Baartman, also known as ‘The Hottest Venus’. This is an appalling example of cultural appropriation that illustrates how the colonial West viewed people from minority groups as objects to be studied for their own need or pleasure and not as equal human beings. Saartjie Baartman was born in 1789 in South Africa, she was stolen and sold as a slave. In 1810, she was brought to London where she was exhibited as a circus freak due to her curvy figure. Baartmaan was then forced to perform nude at private shows for a male audience. She was used as a cultural trophy to show the white West how far their colony has travelled and studied, as a means of exerting power and superiority. Saartjie Baartman’s body was further appropriated by wealthy women, whose husbands would go the private shows. The jealousy of these women influenced them to create corsets that would change their body shape to mimic Baartman’s curves and wider hips. This is one example of many which demonstrates how woman belonging to a minority group have been appropriated to fit Westernised standards of beauty. This has even extended to the present day, as women in Western societies are now able to undergo surgeries, such as bum and hip injections, in order to mirror the natural assets of an African woman. However, arguably unknown to Western consumers, the idea that the assets of an African woman are admired by the West is insulting due to the oppression and discrimination these cultures have suffered by the same people – this signifies the issue of white privilege. Saartjie Baartman’s body was only buried in 2002, 105 years after her death, as her body was still being used to make money, further signifying the issue.

The line between cultural appropriation and appreciation is a greatly discussed topic e.g. one question which neatly sums up the issue is: “Can cultural appreciation exist for cultural trophies that have faced centuries of oppression, just to produce a piece of fashion?” Susan Scafidi’s book ‘Who Owns Culture?’ examines this conflicted message at the beginning of her book; “I have found the questioning the ownership and authenticity of ‘cultural products’ – whether cuisines, dress, music, dance…who truly owns something ? is it the person who drew the first sketch or someone who makes the first sale? Or can someone take something and sell it on? is this promoting culture around the world showing cuisines, dress, music, dance from everywhere. ‘’ are you telling me I cannot borrow from other cultures’’ but the word ‘borrowing’ is very problematic as the term typically suggests whatever is being taken will be returned, however you cannot give something back in its purest form if the message or imagery is altered and filtered through a commercial, Western system. There is a huge grey area surrounding whether cultural appreciation counts as adopting these cultures and consuming replicas from secondary stores, such as mass retailers, whilst acknowledging one’s own white privilege or if you must go to the original making of the product in order to conduct full appreciation of its context.

Susan Scafidi refers to the government bringing in legal action to stop cultural appropriation occurring. She wrote, “…hold on! Why exactly doesn’t the legal system protect our community against cultural appropriation?” – Who Owns Culture? – Susan Scafidi’s – preface and acknowledgements page 1

It is important that international laws have been created in order to protect minority communities and the government have taken action to make cultural appropriation illegal. Additionally, the government aims to ensure that such groups are offered a legal team and legal advice in order to take on larger corporations that have wronged them. Urban Outfitters is a prolific example of a case where this has occurred. The company used traditional Navajo patterns, and their name, for underwear, socks and flasks. The Navajo nation sued Urban Outfitters for appropriating their culture for profit, in the end Urban Outfitters settled. The legal ban of appropriation allows for minority communities to be represented correctly in the media.

An online article on ‘Tyle’ quotes, “We as humans have been around for a while at this point. So long in fact, that almost everything has some root in ‘ancient times’ ; it would be very tough to think of even one modern “original” idea that cannot be traced back to inspiration from another culture. Should we really be placing blanket criminal restrictions on innovation?” This question is very important; how can you measure a culture or judge what is too far and what is acceptable to a grown and everchanging society. Many are against this argument saying inspiration is all around you and you take in what you find beautiful. You copy can image and place it on a good to sell an exact copy is very different to using colours, shapes or tones to create your own ideas. There is clearly a fine line between the two, but when that line is crossed is debatable amongst many, and the reliability of a legal system may not be one that is promised as others argue that cultural appropriation or appreciation is personal appoint and judgment.

Multiple case studies undoubtedly highlight the ways in which designers have culturally appropriated in the past. The brand KTZ demonstrated cultural appropriation in their show at London Fashion Week during Autumn/Winter of 2015. KTZ showed a jumper that was a complete copy of the knitted jumper, that was originally designed by Canadian Inuit Shaman. His great granddaughter saw this design and accused the brand of stealing, with no exposure of the history of the design. She said; ‘’My great-grandfather was a very powerful and respected man and he has been used and violated. It was disgusting to see a sacred design used as a sweater… We are a proud people and our ancestors and traditions are very important to us. The way they have taken and degraded this design is unacceptable’’ – Awa / Stansfield – 30 November 2015 – ‘’KTZ Responses’’ – dazed – 13/ 04/20

The brand claimed that indigenous culture has always been a part of the brand wanting to respect all traditions cultures, religions and ethnicities. Despite the KTZ’s attempt to clarify their intentions, it by no means excuses how the identical copy of a sacred indigenous design to sell for profits, with no mention of the origin, is an example of cultural appropriation that you cannot ignore.

Not only is this an example of cultural appropriation, but it is exploiting a group of people who will gain no benefit from the process. These groups cannot even buy back the product that the companies profited from due to years of oppression towards any minority groups by the wealthy. As a result, they have been incapable of attaining the same financial stability and cannot afford what the company have ‘’created’’. This strips away apart of these groups’ identity, with many people around the world now wearing something that defines them as a group with little or no understanding of what the history behind it.

As the fast fashion environment moves at an incredible rate, that of mass consumer buying is increasing too. This environment influences most young people to buy from consumerist websites where they are ignorant towards where something has come from or why it was made and are more interested in how quickly and cheap, they can get something they want. Due to the fact these young people have never known any different, cultural appropriation has only recently become acknowledged and open spoken about within society. Most products bought by consumers are bought for aesthetic reasons rather than appreciation and respect towards the context of that item, it is materialistic factors such as this that contribute to cultural appropriation.

Pham’s work on racial Plagiarism helped me understand this more, the quote ‘’Not shared with the source community, they are denied to them. Extraction and exploitation – Not Exchange’’ – Pham 2017 Racial Plagiarism and Fashion (vol 4, no.3)

Fashion textiles and art can be plagiarised in the same way as the written world. An idea taken from someone else in fashion, with no reference to where it came from and used as your own, is just as severe as that of a more literary context. It has occurred in the fashion and textiles community for centuries, the largest being racial plagiarism; taking and using something from another race, group or community and claiming it as your own.

Marc Jacobs’ Spring / Summer 2017 show raised a lot of controversy over the hairstyles (displayed below) which were inspired by the 1980s Boy George. These hand-dyed wool dreadlocks sparked much debate as they coincided with a decision by the US Circuit Court of Appeals, announced on Thursday, of the same week, which stated that banning dreadlocks as a hairstyle from the workplace was legal. Even though the Civil Rights Act 1964 banned companies from not employing someone over race colour, religion, sex, or national origin, this did not extend to grooming choices – regardless of the fact this hairstyle has been used on Afro hair for centuries. This is a classic case study of double standards excusing the existence of cultural appropriation. A fashion show is equally a workplace, yet the representative of the company, ironically a white male, can show white models in these hair styles to sell a product that is mostly marketed at the white consumerist demographic in the West. It is not just that a Western court can legally ban a woman with naturally Afro hair from wearing a hairstyle, native to their culture, in the workplace; yet it can be used by a white, Western brand to sell a product that would benefit only their demographic.

This fashion show really initiated the conversation of blatant cultural appropriation being demonstrated through cheapening the history of a hairstyle. The fact it is seen as a mere accessory, that can just be bought on Etsy, reduces the meaning and severity of the impact its’ history has had on its’ people. The hairstyle represents the centuries of oppression many black men and women faced because of the hair they were born with and had been taught to maintain. This illustrates how a culture and race can be exploited for financial benefit of the white West.

The appropriation of afro-hairstyles, such as cornrows and dreadlocks, is evident across all social media platforms, as well as fashion shows. These hairstyles are modelled by social media influencers, like the Kardashian family, who typically adhere to their Eurocentric beauty ideals but fail to praise the origins of their inspirations. Although it is becoming more apparent that Western figures are ignorant to their flaws, discrimination against individuals of a black background, who have the same hairstyles, still exists. In 2015, singer and actress, Zendaya, faced backlash for wearing dreadlocks on the red carpet. On national television, fashion critic, Giuliana Rancic, claimed that Zendaya’s hair looked as if it ‘smells like patchouli oil. Or, weed” to which Zendaya responded: “There is already harsh criticism of African-American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl of their hair. My wearing my hair in locks on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of colour that our hair is good enough.’

This is the type double standards cultural appropriation creates.

A very recent infamous case study that ignited the debate of cultural appropriation and appreciation concerned a white, Western girl who wore a traditional Chinese dress to her prom in the USA in April 2019. The event sparked conflicting views across the world on platforms, such as Twitter, where the white girl was condemned for her dress choice by those of Chinese culture; one tweet stated, “my culture is not your god***prom dress,” which clearly demonstrates the disrespect and humiliation felt by many. However, when the hysteria over social media reached mainland China, their response differed to what was expected – one media commentator said; “very elegant and beautiful! Really don’t understand the people who are against her, they are wrong!” This contrasting opinion allows room to question the validity of how offended cultures can get over appropriation.

Large companies within fashion have a responsibility in the modern day to represent the cultures they are using to design these garments, cultures that are mainly of less economically developed countries. This responsibility is very important to demonstrate to their consumers that representation is an extremely large part of a modern brand. Nowadays, being able to sell to an international market is very important as wealth is increasingly spread throughout the world, equally allowing people to relate to a collection to spend money is very important. Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, changed the agenda of Dior to create a more culturally appreciative ethos within the Dior fashion house that benefits all necessary cultures. For example, using the reputation as a fashion brand through their Instagram to promote positive cultural appreciation, is a method used by Dior in May 2019. The brand posted videos of the process of dyeing their fabrics in Morocco, with the women who created this being promoted all around the world with 1.3 million views and Dior having a beautiful fabric for the runway, all credit is given to the women in Morocco who created this process.

Another way to reverse centuries of cultural appropriations to give the communities effected opportunities to make money and be part of a business. The modern brand ‘Aspiga’, based in London, is a prime example of this. After only being established 12 years ago, the founder Lucy used the designs of the sandals found in the markets of Kenya. Everything made for the sandal is produced and made in Kenya, but local people whose ancestors made these beaded textile samples in the same way. They are sold at a fair price of £60 for a pair of beaded sandals. The dyers, leather cutters, beaders and every step of the process gets paid a fair price for the work their ancestors gave them. Morden’s approach could be the way forward for the fashion and textiles industry not only stop the need for fast fashion, with good quality products that last, but also help give the people in the community a chance to make money while being authentic to their culture and allow people to appreciate the authentic design.

Overall, as a white female growing up in the Western world, the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciating a culture is evident to me. It is not that multiple cultures cannot come together to create a product in celebration of its heritage, however it is unfair that minority cultures cannot economically grow with that of the more economically successful West, due to their lack of power. Women in Morocco have the talent of the textiles, but the Dior fashion house can take it and make it better to sell to a western market. It is now more apparent to me that it was not only the designs of a culture, it was also people’s bodies that have been exploited and abused in the past. Despite all efforts to prevent cultural appropriation from existing across a variety of outlets, the social hierarchy between the women who dye fabrics and the head of Dior, Maria Grazia Chiur, will continue to reflect the centuries of Western colonisation. The impacts of oppression throughout history will be engrained in many cultures for many more years to come, unless these groups are allowed to heal from the damage caused to them, without the experiences and creations of their ancestors being taken advantage of.

Postmodern studies focus on the issues of an individual than on a group or community. But in an era which tries to establish ‘ Personal is Political’ (1970 Carol Hanisch), individual problems become social and cultural issue. Barsa by Khadeeja Mumtaz is a novel that focuses on Sabitha and Rasheed who leave their homeland Kerala to work in the holy city of Mecca. It portrays the cultural ambivalence faced by Sabitha who is not a Muslim by birth, but converted to Islam for marriage. When she tries to adapt with a new culture, there is a constant memory of her homeland that creates a double consciousness inside her. So she strives to explore and understand the new culture and religion to fix her identity in a culturally hegemonic society.

This paper tries to showcase the images of cultural ambivalence and double consciousness that affected the protagonist and it highlights the character’s ability to overcome it.

Keywords: Post Modernism, Cultural ambivalence, Double Consciousness, Identity, Memory.

Postmodern era of complete skepticism which rejects the idea of definite truth and meaning always tries to deconstruct the existing system of knowledge and finds a new interpretation to it. Barsa is one such novel that revisits the Islamic culture and beliefs through the eyes of a woman who tries to understand the concept of Islam, deviating herself from the available patriarchal epistemological system.

Barsa, the novel by Khadeeja Mumtaz was published in 2007 and it is the first Malayalam novel to be set in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Mumtaz is a retired professor of obstetrics and Gynecology from Government medical College Calicut, Kozhikode and she has received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for Barsa. It depicts the life of Indian immigrants in the Gulf and reflects the autobiographical elements of the author’s professional life experience as a physician in Mecca for seven long years. The protagonist Sabitha, who is not a Muslim by birth but converted to Islam for marriage, goes through a cultural ambivalence. The idea of ambivalence considers culture as a compound of opposing perceptions and dimensions. It is the state of mind with a simultaneous conflicting reactions or feelings towards something. Here Sabitha has this ambivalent condition on her new identity. According to Homi K. Bhabha, an Indian English scholar and critical theorist, ambivalence is a duality that presents a split in the identity of the colonized other, a hybrid of their own cultural identity and the colonizer’s cultural identity.

In this novel a typical village girl born and brought up in Kerala, accepts her identity as a Muslim after her marriage and moves to Saudi Arabia with her husband Rasheed, who is an Islam but new to the cultural background of other country which is completely different from India. As an immigrant from India, came to Saudi in seek of job but not to be a citizen of the land was treated like slaves and refugees by the dominant natives. Dr. Muhammad, another important character in this novel tells that

The concept of slavery is deeply entrenched in the blood of the people here. Even though slavery was abolished all over the world, it continued in the Muslim nations. Finally, it had to be abolished formally after the 1924 Geneva Convention. Even then two nations opposed it. No prizes for guessing the nations – Saudi Arabia and Yemen. In fact one of the first things that the Prophet did was to bring an end to slavery (Mumtaz 44).

Dr. Muhammad says that even though Prophet befriended the slaves and made them generals in his army, the real meaning of Prophet’s preaching has lost its meaning. Because Khaddamas, women came for household works from other parts of the world, live like slaves in the land. He feels pity about the sexual assault against. Khaddamas are the maid servants mainly from Indonesia and some from Sri Lanka and India. Sabitha who joined as a gynecologist in one of the hospitals she noticed these beautiful women coming as a group for medical check-up. Then Sabitha realized that they were not patients but they had to get fitness certificate for work, especially a confirmation that they are not pregnant. Sabitha was shocked to hear the words of her colleague doctor Waheeda who disclosed that most of these Khaddamas come there after inserting Copper T or some other implants. She says they were well aware of the dangers of working in a strange place. Sabitha realized that women are already an oppressed group all over the world but they get triple marginalized when they go to a culturally hegemonic land as maid servants. Because as doctor Waheeda said “liaison between employers and their maidservants is not something new. It has been happening in this land for a long time. In the olden days, they were taken as the spoils of war, now they are enticed from other lands by the lure of the petro dollar. It is ingrained in the genetic make-up of Arab men; they have been doing this for centuries” (19).

All these injustice along with the strict rules and restriction s on individuals disturbed Sabitha because the Muslim culture to which she is familiar with is entirely different from this. Sabitha had spend her childhood along with Shahina in Kerala were they did not cover their body entirely and she was familiar with Eid celebrations which had formed a part of her life since childhood. She felt strange to the new culture. This ambivalence can be identified throughout this novel.

The author begins the novel by expressing this ambivalence of Sabitha and Rasheed while stepping to the land of Arabia for the first time. “When they first stepped out like refugees two of them stood hesitantly at cross roads, unsure of their next step. Rasheed glanced Sabitha. He could sense her discomfort in the head scarf and abaya, looking like a lawyer’s coat which the Malayali workers at the airport had helped her to buy.” (6)

Sabitha has accepted her change in identity but the compulsory dress cord of Saudi made her uncomfortable. She started thinking deeply about the Islamic religion and wished to understand the origin and history of her new cultural identity. Gradually she made a probe into how Islam as a religion works on the individual, the family and the society at large in the land where the religion was originated. When she understands the religion in depth she finds many contradictions between what they preach and practice. As Dr. Muhammad remarked she feels that more than a religion Islam was an instrument for social change and to transform and control the people who followed the path of robbery and other sins in a fragmented society. So Sabitha finds the aim of this culture to create a strong bond among its believers and finds it as meaningful. At the same time she thinks about its strong oppression of women which she believes as the result of misinterpretation of their religious text. The patriarchal society has derived its meaning which treats women as a tool for procreation alone. But she realizes the power of every Saudi woman because men had to give bride money for marriage unlike the Indian system of dowry for the groom. The bridal money was double for a virgin girl and man had to pay fewer amounts for an already married women. But women were ignorant about the outside world but they had power at least in their household. But still Sabitha feels that these women are wearing a mask of power and actually they are treated only as a procreating machine. Sabitha asked herself by seeing the attitude of Saudi women that “could the Saudi women’s fragile emotions and mental fortitude be attributed to a subconscious revolt against the relentless hurts inflicted by men? Or could it be the desperate anger of the captive lioness clawing against the iron grills of its cage?” (84), at the same time women from other countries were ill-treated and ashamed publically. Sabitha had gone through such an incident from her work place when she went to receive her first salary. The superior officer asked the place where she lives in Saudi and Sabitha couldn’t understand the question because it was in Arabic. When she did not reply he asked to write the place as Youkthub halaga which meant market. People around her started laughing and she felt so insulted and it stayed like a stone in her mind. And she shouted to her husband “people from many countries com here, only to be treated like menials. Worms! To them we are slaves they have bought to work for them.” (51) So here Sabitha experiences the actual implications of this religion and the practices of its country. This state of ambivalence is known as felt ambivalence or subjective ambivalence. It is the representation of the psychological experience of conflict, mixed feelings and reactions and indecision in the evaluation of some object. Here Sabitha has a mixed feeling to evaluate her new cultural background. She feels potential ambivalence or objective ambivalence too, because she finds the positive and negative aspects of Islamic culture and there is a simultaneous acknowledgement of both positive and negative evaluations regarding a particular stimulus. When she compares the language system of Arabic she finds that it is rich in beautiful and meaningful compliments. But when, “Sabitha tried to read translation of Quran and books on history. To Sabitha, what she read in books more often than not was in agreement with what she saw with her own eyes, although there were occasions when they were in conflict with each other and tormented her”. (78)

As a result of this cultural ambivalence Sabitha often compares her new ideologies with the past knowledge and customs. She finds the similarities between the two religious perspectives. She often compares the food culture of Saudi and Kerala and she always prefer her native traditional food than Arabic food. When Sabitha and Rasheed visit the apartment of Dr. Muhammad they enjoy “the aroma of traditional home-cooked food drifted through the little flat, tickling their taste buds and nudging the taste-tickling neurons of their brain to life” (22). Even though she was physically at Mecca there is constant remembrance and nostalgia about her homeland which creates a double consciousness inside her. She cannot fix in which cultural identity she belongs to. Derek Walcott, the popular Saint Lucian poet and playwright have argued that the migrant often possesses a double consciousness. Double consciousness is the internal conflict experienced by the subordinated groups in an operative society. The term was coined by W.E.B. Du Bois with reference to African-American ‘double-consciousness’ originated from an article of Our Spiritual Strivings published in his ethnographic work The Soul of Black Folk. Du Bois describes double consciousness as a peculiar sensation of looking at one’s self through the eyes of others. Here the protagonist is always judged by others, especially the natives and she feels the otherness. She was always forced to be conscious about the opinion and judgment of others. Once her colleague Dr. Waheeda told Sabitha that “if you show your hair like this I will not be accepted here” (Mumtaz 15). Sabitha, who was already suffocating in the long overcoat which went below her knees and the long sleeves which reached her palms, wondered that everyone there became a perfect moralist when they met someone new. All these internal conflicts disturbed Sabitha so much and she wished to return back to her homeland. When she came to Saudi for the first time and Rasheed was asked to stay in another place till their posting is fixed, Sabitha felt as if she was pulled deeper into a cavern of loneliness and the unrelenting traditions of centuries and the hot desert winds seems to crush her. She says “oh, for the serene softness of my land! The narrow lanes, the clumps of plantain tress, the rabble of coconut-plucking, the gurgling stream’s pleasant greeting, the journey in the buses- everything now seemed like events of another life, lived long ago, lost forever…Oh God!” (9).

Sabitha becomes intolerant when her husband Rasheed is hospitalized and the Saudi police take her to police station for travelling with another man, who was only a servant of Dr. Muhammad who had accompanied Sabitha to return from the hospital. Finally she decides to resign the job and returns to their native homeland to fix an end to her cultural ambivalence and double consciousness. She imbibes the positive values of Islamic culture and follows the things which will never hurt and torment the freedom and self reliance of others. Barsa in Arabic meant “the one who does not veil her face, the one who does not bow her head, and the one who asks question” (89), and Sabitha represents the same qualities of that mythical character of Islamic religion. Sabitha understands that religion is experienced and practiced differently in different part of the world which gives her a realization to find her own self identity.

Introduction

Korean music or K-pop has become a global phenomenon recently in the music industry. It is important to determine the cause of success in K-pop that enables a small culture to be recognized by other cultures on a global scale. This is because of the globalisation strategy that is utilised predominantly in Korean music. One of the strategies is the use of cultural hybridisation or the process of creating a new cultural form as a result of mixing existing cultural forms, evokes an issue of Cultural Appropriation in the media. The Cambridge dictionary defines cultural appropriation as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.” The issue of cultural appropriation is an important ethical issue that must be discussed as there is a fine line between appropriation and appreciation of cultures. K-pop inevitably faces the issue of Cultural appropriation as they use elements of other cultures in their music. The question is whether or not K-pop use of hybridization in creating a new form of culture linked different cultures together or disrespecting other cultures due to their appropriation strategies.

Literature Review

The cause of success in Korean pop music majorly comes from the globalisation strategy that it utilises. Oh (2013) disagreed with scholars theory that states the globalisation of K-pop only comes from cultural hybridity, which means that Asian cultures (Japanese, China, India) are becoming more predominant and may prevail over Western cultures as a whole. It was natural that K-pop is successful because the music originates from Japan and China. (Oh, 2013) Oh argued that this theory is not true as the globalisation of K-pop involves a much more complex process. K-pop mixes elements of other cultures, modifying it to suit their own identity, then redistributing it to the global market. (Oh, 2013) The success of K-pop also involves a mixture of creativity and export management strategies by the leading music industry. Thus, Oh concluded that K-pop is an attempt to connect popular East Asian and Western music in the formerly disconnected music industry, more than to modify Japanese music or dominate western music. (Oh, 2013)

Similarly, Jin & Ryoo (2014) also discusses about cultural hybridity but more deeply into the hybridisation process and specifically about the appropriation of English mixing into Korean lyrics. It also talks about the history of K-pop that has diversified itself from trot and ballad to a more western style since the 1990s.The article explained that this hybridity occured because of socio-cultural environments that led to the appropriation of English lyrics and a mix of different music genres. Korean music was largely influenced by western power that has been happening since the start of modernisation. It is important to note that korean music may lose its local identities if they continued to take in products of western culture without exchanging their own local identity. This article suggests that the future of K-pop might be a potential force for “creating new local identity formation through creating much richer and more diverse attributes of K-Pop” by preserving their identity in the hybridisation process. (Jin, D. Y. & Ryoo, W, 2014)

When discussing about hybridisation of K-pop, it is vital to also look at cultural appropriation that has recently become an issue in the media. Hurt (2018) raises the question of how K-pop gets away with cultural appropriation. The article refers to Elvis and Vanilla Ice in facing similar claims of appropriation without proper attributions. Hurt stated that not only Kpop artist but many artists have managed to get away with borrowing from other cultural element. For example, BTS “I Need You” were inspired by other Korean acts such as GOD or Jinusean, as well as New Kids on The Block, who themselves were created in the image of The JAckson five. (Hurt,M. 2018) The article explained that it is challenging for K-pop to not appropriate to other cultures. Hurt states that K-pop have no negative intentions as they haven’t claimed that they invented rap or are better than the originators.

In comparison, Chitrakorn (2019) disagrees with this notion and leaned towards a more negative connotation of Kpop appropriation especially in the Hip hop genre. Chitrakorn (2019) talked about how Koreans “has been a country where racism is common.” Koreans feel that they are paying respect to the hip-hop culture but others see this behaviour as inappropriate. “People love to dance and sing but when it comes to our struggle they don’t want nothing to do about it”. (Chitrakorn,K.2019) The article concluded with a statement that Koreans need a wider education and cultural awareness about the issue of racism and cultural appropriation more than as a means to “coolness”.

However Tucci (2016) agreed to both arguments for and against Kpop cultural appropriation. The article states that Korean pop culture is a reflection of American Pop culture, they share similar features and genres but still maintained their cultural identity. This argument agreed with Hurt (2018) stating that it is natural for K-pop to borrow from it. They also agreed to Chitrakorn (2019) that K-pop use of cultural appropriation to convey a certain themes or concepts are not always the right thing to do as it perpetuates stereotypes and racism. Tucci (2016) concluded that cultural appropriation is a complex ethical issue and suggests Koreans should maintain a balance between creativity and appropriation by being more educated and be more aware of this issue. It is important to research differing opinions to effectively answer the research question.

Results

The first two sources is an academic journal that emphasizes Korean pop culture and its history in modernisation. The first article highlights K-pop complex process of globalisation. (Oh, 2013) This article provided evidence of how K-pop success not only appropriates to other cultural elements but serves as a medium that connects East Asian culture with Western culture. (Oh, 2013) They connected these cultures together through their music that is exported through social media. The second source similarly discusses the issue of cultural hybridity but in more detail. The article agreed with Oh (2013) as it highlights the concern of K-pop relying heavily on Western elements that it may lose its local identities. (Jin & Ryoo 2014) It is important to note that the first source argued from the K-pop producers point of view, while the second source argued from the audience point of view. These two arguments may not answer the research question about cultural appropriation directly but it explained why K-pop industry appropriates other cultures, which is to lift their socio-economic status.

To answer the research question directly, it is important to look at popular sources that gives both negative and positive aspects towards the issue of cultural appropriation. The first source highlights the positive aspects by providing examples of other musical artists such as Elvis and Vanilla Ice who appropriates to other cultures. This shows that it is normal for music industries to appropriate to other cultures, and K-pop can get away with it. There are some elements of biased in this article as they argued that K-pop have no negative intentions to culturally appropriate. However, Chitrakorn (2019) completely disagreed with this notion and give evidence that racism is common in Korean society, which is why they need to be more educated about cultural appropriation. The two sources has both valid arguments and evidence for their opinions which is understandable. On the other hand, Tucci (2016) remained unbiased and tried to balance out whether or not K-pop cultural appropriation has a negative impact towards other cultures. The article states that there should be a balance between appropriation. Kpop could use other cultural elements but they also need to be more educated about this issue by paying respect and giving credit to the owners. From the research that I gathered I agreed with this articles opinion as I understand that K-pop culturally appropriates due to the process of globalisation and hybridisation which is inevitable. However, I also agreed with Chitrakorn (2019) that Koreans are still ignorance towards the issue of cultural appropriation and still need to be more educated.

Conclusion

By researching this topic I discovered that K-pop culturally appropriates because of its hybridisation process in blending different cultures together to form a new cultural identity. This strategy allowed them to be successful on a global scale. However they utilises this method and relied heavily on other cultural elements which other people may see this as cultural appropriation. I suggest that not only K-pop should be educated but other people criticising the industry to be more understanding of each others culture by not blaming one another. Thus, cultural appropriation is an ethical issue that is hard to determine whether or not K-pop is truly guilty, especially when they appropriate to enhance global connections.

Bridging the Gap: From Classroom Lectures to Ancient Artifacts

Art museums are modern-day time machines that allow us to learn about the history of our world through paintings, sculptures, drawings, and pictures. They help us expand our knowledge and provide us with a portal to the past while pleasing our senses. For my Cultural Review Paper assignment, I chose to go to the Tampa Museum of Art. The Tampa Museum of Art collects, preserves, studies, and exhibits iconic and important works of art to educate, engage, and inspire every generation with a focus on ancient, modern, and contemporary art. Going to the Tampa Museum of Art was a unique experience that helped provide me with further insight into the humanities course content and the world I live in.

Museums help us learn about and understand how people completed different tasks in the past, as well as give us insight into the daily lives of historical individuals. The Tampa Museum of Art has one of the largest Greek and Roman antiquities collections in the southeastern United States, so it connected some of the pieces between the lectures and artifacts we reviewed in class and the real world.

Unraveling the Mysteries: Cycladic Figurines and Greek Artistry

The museum had several displays of Cycladic female figurines, and as a result, I got to see some of the Ancient Aegean and Cycladic culture firsthand. Early Cycladic sculpture comprises predominantly female figures that range from simple modifications of the stone to developed representations of the human form, some with natural proportions and some more idealized. Often, the figurines were buried with their dead. The female figurines were very plain in their construction and lacked variation.

The museum featured bronze Greek horse figurines that could have been used as decoration in a home or as a small votive for the gods. The horse figurines were simple and geometric in their construction, and some aspects of the horse’s body, especially the stomach and rib cage, were unproportioned to the rest of the horse figurines’ bodies.

The museum visit helped me to learn to appreciate some of the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art that we have studied in class, including Greek funerary vases (krater) and Lekythos. The Greeks thought it uncivilized to drink their wine neat, so they would use Kraters to mix their wine with water. Kraters were used at male drinking parties called symposia and were sometimes used as grave markers for men and boys. Lekythos were Greek vessels for storing olive oil. The olive tree was given to the Greeks by the Goddess Athena, so olive oil was cherished in Ancient Greece. The oil was utilized in an incredible variety of ways, including offerings and dedications for the dead, prizes for winning athletes at the Panathenaic Games, scented oils (perfume), consumption, and athletics. The Greek funerary vases and Lekythos were very similar in their basic composition and presented different myths and stories painted on the exterior of the art piece.

Religion and Reverence: Roman and Etruscan Divine Sculptures

Both the Romans and the Etruscans viewed religion as a very important part of everyday life and believed it was their job to keep the gods and goddesses happy, or terrible things would happen. To try and please their gods, they would build statues of them, honoring their greatness and superiority. At the museum were several Roman statues of Poseidon and Athena and Etruscan religious sculptures of Turms or Hermes. The Romans and the Etruscans shared some gods between both of their religions. The statues were very typical Roman and Etruscan statues that pictured the gods and goddesses as impressive, strong, and attractive beings.

The museum also displays an Etruscan Cinerary Urn. The Etruscans, like people today, practiced two forms of burial: cremation and inhumation. For the cremation of their dead, they used ceramic Cinerary Urns for the ashes of their diseased. The Etruscan Cinerary Urn was one of the more beautiful pieces of the museum and features a beautiful woman reclining on the top of the lid of the chest and battle scenes on the sides of the chest.

The Mesmerizing Infinity: Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Love is Calling’ Exhibit

The museum visit helped me explore different cultures and civilizations that relate back to the humanities course. My favorite thing about my experience at the Tampa Museum of Art was the Yayoi Kusama: Love is Calling exhibit. Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, to a well-established conservative family that owned a seed nursery business. From a young age, she experienced visual and auditory hallucinations, which helped her create the striking and unique artwork she is famous for today.

Yayoi Kusama is one of the world’s most recognized and celebrated Japanese artists and is widely known for her vibrant paintings, works on paper, sculptures with abstract imagery, and iconic Infinity Rooms, such as Love is Calling. Love is Calling is an immersive, interactive, and engaging work of art like no other. Yayoi Kusama’s brilliant construction of wood, metal, glass mirrors, tile, acrylic panels, rubber, and blowers both illuminates and delights the senses, and her use of sound speakers in lighting elements creates the magnum opus of her career.

You enter a room full of mirrors, bright illuminated lights, and glowing tentacle-like sculptures hanging from the ceilings and covering the floor. The room seems to go on infinitely due to the mirrored walls, ceilings, and floor. The room alternates between changing different neon colors, including neon green, yellow, pink, orange, and fluorescent purple. While in the room, you also hear an audio recording of the artist reciting a love poem in Japanese to engage your acoustic senses. I highly recommend going and seeing the Yayoi Kusama: Love is Calling exhibit. It made the hour-and-a-half drive worth it, and I will definitely go back again to experience it for a second time soon.

Beyond Classroom Walls: The Educational Essence of Cultural Events

My least favorite part about my experience at the Tampa Museum of Art was it was under construction, so only three out of the four rooms were open to the public. So, I didn’t get to fully experience everything in the museum. Another thing I don’t like about my experience at the Tampa Museum of Art is they only let you stay in the Yayoi Kusama: Love is Calling exhibit for a two-minute period, so you didn’t really get to bask in the ambiance of the work of art if you wanted to experience the exhibit a second time you had to wait in a long line which was frustrating and really annoying.

Attending cultural events is important to your growth as an individual and puts you one step closer to understanding the world and people around you. You get to experience different cultures and customs while being exposed to different customs, practices, values, beliefs, and art that you wouldn’t otherwise get to experience. By attending cultural events, you get to experience firsthand the diversity of our world. Cultural events provide you with an educational opportunity for you to grow as an individual. Education can happen more than just at school. It can extend beyond the walls of the classroom. Going to an art museum can expose you to creative works of art while providing insight into the time period in which the art was made, as well as offering background info on the artists themselves.

References

1. Tampa Museum of Art. (2021). About Us.
2. Johnson, L. (2019). Greek and Roman Art in the Southeast: A Comprehensive Overview. University of Georgia Press.
3. Smith, A., & Daniels, P. (2017). Cycladic Art: Ancient Aegean Culture and Sculpture. Routledge.
4. Mitchell, J. (2018). Vases and Traditions: The Role of Kraters and Lekythos in Ancient Greece. Oxford University Press.
5. Brown, T. (2020). Roman and Etruscan Gods: A Comparative Study. Princeton University Press.
6. Grimaldi, L. (2021). Etruscan Funerary Practices: The Art of the Urn. Yale University Press.
7. Ito, M. (2019). Yayoi Kusama: A Life in Art. Thames & Hudson.
8. Yayoi Kusama. (2022). Love is Calling: An Immersive Experience.
9. Roberts, E., & Wang, L. (2018). Beyond the Classroom: The Value of Cultural Experiences. Cambridge University Press.

Bandwagon Effect: Cultural Appropriation in Action

My name is Aliyah Hayes, and I am from Southfield, Michigan. I am currently taking classes at Oakland Community College to pursue my major in Health Care Administration. For my English 1510 class, I have to write about a cultural phenomenon. A popular cultural phenomenon is social media.

Social media has been around since 1997 with a website called Six Degrees, which lasted until 2001. From then on, until about 2007, social media has taken the world by storm. Social media outlets such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are amongst the most popular social media sites in the world. Social media is a very popular phenomenon and is very important because it keeps me in contact with friends and family I don’t get to see often, as well as giving me a platform to advertise my own business.

A cultural phenomenon is also known as the bandwagon effect, which occurs when certain people behave in a certain way because other people do it as well. Social media is a cultural phenomenon that everyone participates in. It is so popular because it allows you to connect with people from all over the world. The websites and apps allow users to share personal content with friends and family and sometimes people you don’t even know. For me, the social sites I use are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

These three sites are among the social media phenomenon. Facebook became very popular when I was in middle school because everyone wanted to see what their peers were up to. As the years passed, a new social media outlet emerged called Twitter. Instagram came out shortly after, and it seemed as if everyone migrated to those sites and started to use Facebook less. There is an obvious pattern that when a new social media site comes out, it becomes more popular than the previous one.

Instagram & Facebook: Digital Cultural Shifts

Instagram is one of the most popular social media sites right now. It was created in October 2010. Instagram is an app that lets users upload photos and videos for their followers, which can be your friends and family, to view. Registered users can also apply filters to their photos, add locations, add hashtags to photo captions, and much more. You can also connect your profile to other social media sites as well. With over a billion users, Facebook is the most widely used social network. It started as a network outlet for students at Harvard and soon expanded to other colleges. It is now open for everyone to use to connect with fellow classmates, out-of-town family, and more. Some people use Facebook for entertainment, but it is mostly used for business purposes only.

Over one million businesses advertise on the popular site. You can reach out and connect with clients and potential clients to possibly build your credibility and clientele. Lastly, Twitter is a social platform where people broadcast short statuses, known as tweets, that are only 280 characters in length. Users can share their thoughts, news, and information. You can also follow other users to see what they are tweeting about. Photos and videos can be shared, too. Hashtags became popular with this website because it allows people to join a larger conversation on a specific topic.

Business & Cultural Appropriation on Social Platforms

I am very involved with social media because I check my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook daily throughout the day. For me, it is very addicting because I love to see what’s going on in the world and in other people’s lives. I use my social media platform to share photos of me on vacation, when I go out with friends, my pets, my nieces, and, of course, selfies. I also use these platforms to promote my business for my up-and-coming beauty line. Promoting my brand and business on these popular apps will get me a lot of clientele and buzz around the social media world by posting my products, how to use them, where you can purchase them, and showing how other people look wearing my product.

Therefore, social media has become a cultural phenomenon because people use these sites to connect with family, friends, and old classmates, as well as make business connections. When events, causes, and breaking news occur around the world, it is usually broadcast on social media to get people’s attention so they can help out or help someone in need, and even celebrity attention is useful due to social media. Taking photos to capture the moment and recording a special moment is popular, which is where your favorite social media site comes into play. You can share your most precious moments over these outlets, making the pictures and videos accessible to loved ones and friends. From the business aspect, social media can help you build your clientele and put your business out there for people to support.

References

1. Smith, C., & Anderson, M. (2018). Social Media Use in 2018. Pew Research Center.
2. Obar, J. A., & Wildman, S. (2015). Social media definition and the governance challenge: An introduction to the special issue. Telecommunications Policy.
3. Chaffey, D. (2019). Global social media research summary 2019. Smart Insights.
4. Perrin, A., & Anderson, M. (2019). Share of U.S. adults using social media, including Facebook, is mostly unchanged since 2018.
5. Statista. (2022). Number of businesses advertising on Facebook from 2016 to 2022.

From Cleburne to Fort Worth: The Journey Amidst Adversity

My cultural interview was with my grandmother, 65 years of age and of African-American descent. She grew up on the west side of Fort Worth, TX, a small town by All Saint’sSaint’s Hospital. Now, at the time, called Baylor All Saints, her grandmother raised four children. Her grandfather had an alcoholic problem, causing both to separate. He had issues in Cleburne before moving to Fort Worth. Her dad had to keep bringing her back and forth to Fort Worth because the men had problems with alcohol. They also had many issues when it came to the stepdad back in Cleburne, but he still came through when it came to money. Being able to provide for the kids and bills.

Her childhood memories consisted of selling candy, and whoever sold the most got to go to a place called Hemisphere 68. Basically, it was Six Flags on that day in a time of 1968. It was fun going out to try and earn money to be able to participate in the trip.

Passing Down Values: The Christian Faith and Economic Independence

She stressed adulthood family values in her home for her three daughters, Charmaine, Rachel, and Stephanie. They were to always look out for each other and to always stick together. Also, to be honest, and just tell the truth because she will find out either way it went. There was no getting around her. Being a Christian played a big part religiously in raising them the right way. She said when something was not right, she would always get a feeling of the lord telling her what they did wrong. Another value was to be something in life.

She raised them to make money the legal way. She raised them to be entrepreneurs and not make money the way society did at the time in the small town they lived in. Every month, she started this thing where she would challenge them to go out and do what they were taught to do. My mother, Rachel, the middle child, started off braiding hair. My oldest aunt washed her hair and set ponytails and my youngest aunt sewed dresses.

Legacy of Entrepreneurship: From Auto Glass to Tax Industry

My mother now has multiple businesses, from an activewear workout line to a photography studio and much more. My oldest aunt, Stephanie, owns a high-tech cosmetology school in Richland Hills, TX. And my other aunt Charmaine, the youngest, sells clothes while having her own lash vending machine. My grandma wanted them to have more than she ever did. She taught them how to stand on their own feet and not to depend on anyone. She told them to “do all that you can do, then when you can’t do anymore, that’s when you then look for resources.”

My grandmother did her own thing in the income tax industry. Her dad was an entrepreneur himself; he had an auto glass shop. He would raise and train her brothers to pursue the same career. He was also a singer and a spiritual man; he was a man of wisdom a man of love, and he provided for his family the right way. Her mom was an encourager. She was a comedian. She did all she could to raise her children even though her and her husband’s relationship did not work. The advice her parents gave her was to always be always manurable and respectful. Also, to be honest, in what they did, remember that respect gets respect.

Life Advice from a Spiritual Pillar: Staying Grounded in Faith and Purpose

Life-changing stories throughout her life consisted of getting married and having kids because it changed her perspective of just caring about herself. Now she has children she has to look out for and make sure that they are safe and in a safe environment. She had to make sure they were loved and knew they were well loved. Even with her grandchildren, one thing she is proud of is her calling by the man of God. She had to grow in certain parts of her life to get to that step. She’s also proud of the children and how they progressed in life. She said, “Just the light of the children thy they have gives her life. Stephen, her ex-husband, is the dad of all three of her children.

Passed away, and even though they weren’t together as man and wife, they came to be good friends, coming together when the holidays would come, especially Christmas, to buy gifts. Spending over 20 years with him, she knew it was going to happen eventually, but when it actually happened, it just hit harder at the moment. It brought tears to her eyes and heart mentally. But he would be proud right now with his daughters and grandkids and what everyone is accomplishing at the time.

From being in college to me in just being the only grandchild in college, I chose to pursue this founding nursing career. Life advice as a woman of faith and is called as a spiritual person to be a light to so many people who walk in darkness. She relayed that she was to stay rutted and grounded in the word of God. She said, “Psalms 119:19 tells us that thy word has I hid in my heart that I may not sin against you.” In other words, when I am walking according to his willing way, I should seek him first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything will be added unto me. She said, “When I put him first in everything I say and do, then I shall know that God is not a man that he should lie. Or that he shall repent that every man so reap. I should stay true to him!

Navigating Life’s Challenges with Faith

It’s not always going to be easy; the road gets rough and tough, and the hills are hard to climb, but when I continue to stay in his word and be encouraged by his word. Somethings happen not because of us but to someone else sometimes when we are going through stuff it’s not all about us. It may be for someone else, but the thing that she went through as a young person, as an adult, and as a wife. Opened her ear to what God was telling her. God says she would be using these things to export others and impact others.”

She’s doing that now as she sends daily devotions to our family group chat. Every morning or calling people singing songs with words of encouragement, the older she gets, this tends to come naturally. She said the lyrics of this song could elaborate a little more. “I want to help somebody to see the light today, and I want to lend a helping hand to show someone the way I want my life to be an example as I go because I may never pass this way again.” She said, “When I have the right mindset and things are coming at me, and I’m overwhelmed, and it burdens me down, I have to change my perspective. Because there’s power in perspective, when I change my mindset, when we have things we have no control over, we can change it. Work just had to be put in perspective.

References

• Johnson, M. (2023). Personal communication. Interview date: August 25, 2022.

Within the past few decades, the world has become more connected than ever before. It is easier than ever to pick up your phone or get on your computer and be able to talk to someone on the other side of the world. With the change in transportation, there are flights available that can put you on a completely different continent within a matter of hours. According to the Guardian “About 258 million people, or one in every 30, were living outside of their country of birth in 2017”. Every year more and more people are choosing to live in places that are not their home country. With the intermingling of cultures happening at a rapid pace, some cultural exchanges are more pleasant than others. When a group of people from one culture come into contact with another there is bound to be some form of ignorance or cultural insensitivity displayed from one or more parties involved. In recent years, the topic of cultural appropriation has been at the center of multiple debates surrounding the idea of cultural insensitivity and ignorance. Cultural appropriation is a detrimental system that causes harm to minority cultures, this system perpetuates harmful stereotypes and leads to the continued oppression of minority groups.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, cultural appropriation is “The unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.” The subject of cultural appropriation has been a hot topic of discussion over the past decade. The actual phrase “Cultural Appropriation” first began to appear in print in 1945 when the late Professor Arthur E Christy coined the phrase. In recent years, it is common to see celebrities or social media influences become victims of “call out culture” when they have showcased their acts of cultural appropriation in the media. Call-out culture is a form of public shaming where people identify offenses committed by members of their community and publicly ‘call out’ the offenders, thereby shaming or punishing them. This phenomenon makes it easy for the public to recognize and be aware of blatant cultural appropriation when it is done in an extreme measure. But it may be difficult to see cultural appropriation when it’s done subtly and often disguised as cultural appreciation.

In Fall 2018, the high-end fashion brand Gucci came under fire as they showcased their models wearing items that suspiciously favored hijabs and niqabs. It has become a trend for some fashion designers, especially high-end designers, to take aspects of certain minority cultures and use them in their designs because they see them as a way to bring a form of “exoticness” to their work. All of these items hold some sort of cultural significance to the group of people who wear them. People who do not identify personally with that culture or religion do not wear it for that same cultural significance and more often than not are wearing it because it is seen as fashionable or chic. All around the world, the discrimination that people of color face when they leave the house in their traditional headdresses or clothes has skyrocketed in the past decade. For many people in the Muslim community, seeing a high fashion brand profit off of something they are often attacked for can be infuriating

Native Americans have had to deal with the struggles of oppression and racism since the early 17th century. The relationship between the indigenous people in North America and settlers from all over Europe has been one plagued by conflict, war, and death. A majority of the Native American population in the U.S. was forced onto reservations during the Trail of Tears, where they were forcibly made to walk from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to areas west of the Mississippi River. During this move, it is estimated that an estimated 4,000 Native Americans died due to cold, hunger, and disease. In the present day, Native American people are still one of the most oppressed groups in the United States. In the past decade, there has been a trend of Native American traditional headdresses and traditional clothing being used as costumes in popular culture or even during Halloween. The phenomenon of using religious or traditional items of clothing as costumes or for non-cultural purposes has just become an issue in the past 20 years or so.

When it comes to black culture, there has always been an uneven relationship between people in the black community and the people who consume aspects of black culture. This unfair exchange began in the 1950s when Soul music became extremely popular in the United States. It came during a time when many members of the black community were often oppressed by their white counterparts. They found their solace in music and show business. Fast forward to the 1990s, hip-hop came on the scene and took the world by storm. All of a sudden hip-hop culture was being showcased front and center. In the present day, this is often still the case, a good amount of the music comes from people who are in the black community. With hip-hop and RnB culture at the forefront, it has become increasingly common to see people of all racial backgrounds attempt to emulate the popular culture being portrayed in the media.

As the interconnectedness of the world continues to expand; the exchange of cultures, ideas, and people continues to grow more and more each year. This is especially true for Japanese popular culture, with the growing popularity of Japanese media, culture, and lifestyle people all over the world are beginning to pay attention to

There has been a constant debate on the reasons that cultural appropriation happens, different people believe different factors contribute to cultural appropriation. A recurring theme is that capitalism and imperialism play a huge role in what cultures are appropriated and which cultural group usually does the appropriating. When Europe began to colonize and oppress minority groups they were able to put into place an imperialist system that ensured unequal cultural, territorial, and economic exchange. Imperialism has been able to move into countries that are rich in natural resources and culture and extract any item that could make them money, culture included. This can be seen in the case of Gucci and other high fashion retailers using items of cultural or religious significance to essentially make money off of the “exoticness” of it. Cultural appropriation is profitable to certain groups, while most minority groups are often harmed by this appropriation. Objects and traditions of oppressed groups are often stripped away and used to make a profit for the people in the dominating culture.

Another theory for why cultural appropriation happens could just be plain ignorance. Sometimes when people are culturally appropriate they simply do not know that they are doing anything wrong. Often people will see something that they think is pretty or interesting and try it out for themselves not necessarily realizing what they are doing could potentially be harmful to others. This reason is best shown through white people and non-black people of color putting cornrows or dreadlocks in their hair. These people see a hairstyle that they believe will look good on them and then go and get their hair done. They don’t stop to think if it could be harmful or offensive. Most likely they are privileged enough to not have to deal with their hair being seen as “unprofessional” or “ghetto” in its natural state. So, because they have never experienced oppression in that way, they are ignorant of the harmful effects. Because of how connected the world is becoming, people are now interested in experiencing and being a part of cultures that may be different from their own. This phenomenon is fairly new, so most people are unaware of how to be respectful when taking part in other cultures.

Most people do not see the harm in cultural appropriation but what they fail to realize is that it is essentially a continuation of the racism, oppression, and genocide most minority groups have continued to face. People who defend the use and appropriation of minority culture fail to realize that race relations globally are not equal, racism still very much so exists. People are denied basic human rights and opportunities every day through Systematic Racism while white people more often than not benefit from these same systems. There is usually never an equal exchange happening. For example, when it comes to the appropriation of black culture most of the people that do it do not stand in solidarity with the black community when they fight for rights against the police. They want only a small aspect of the culture without having to deal with the negative parts that can also come with being a part of that culture.

Cultural appropriation has been quietly plaguing society for centuries and it is only recently that society as a whole has become more aware of the repercussions and the importance of individual responsibilities in preventing cultural appropriation. There is an ambiguous line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. Progress in society would be hindered if we did not inter-exchange ideas, fashion, and culture; but it is how it is exchanged, and presented, and the profits involved made during this cultural exchange that is essential in understanding the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. But what is cultural appropriation? In our tutorials, we learned that it is cultural appropriation is when members of a dominant group take without acknowledgment of the cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical manner. Thus, the action of culturally appropriating a culture reinforces the power imbalance between the different cultures in question. As humans, according to Bauman, a Polish sociologist, and philosopher, once those who have identified as producers create objects for consumption, there is then a motivation developed to possess as many objects as they can in their lifetime (Bauman, 2008). By this want to make a profit and to acquire as many processions as we can can, we will find the good, bad, and ugly behaviors to achieve this desire, even if it means reinforcing the concept of cultural appropriation instead of the ethical ways of culturally appreciating and giving credit to the oppressed minority group. East Asian countries have been both the appropriators and the appropriated cultures but for the sake of this essay, the focus will be on the appropriation of different East Asian cultures such as the Japanese, Chinese, and South Korean cultures in the Western fashion industry. And what the producer’s and the consumer’s responsibilities will be questioned and answered in this piece.

In the United States, Asians from all different backgrounds have historically been discriminated against. Asian Americans have experienced verbal and physical violence motivated by racism and xenophobia from the time they first arrived in America to the present day, as seen by the rise of hate crimes against Asians around the world. (Gover, Harper, Langton, 2020); Though the crimes against Asians are breaking new records year by year in part due to the ongoing pandemic that originated in China, the Asian influences in beauty and fashion have been rising in America’s culture. The influence on Western women’s dress from Asian cultures can be traced back to the early BC times when the Silk Road routes provided important roadways for cultural exchanges that linked producers and consumers from China, India, Persia, and the Mediterranean countries to the European countries. (Boulnois, 2004). The most frequented and popular culturally appropriated clothing from different East Asian countries includes the qipao or cheongsam from China, the kimono from Japan, and the hanbok from South Korea is an example of when a dominant culture group like the United States creates a hierarchy of where the wealthy countries like themselves get to determine what has value to them (the design of clothing from the appropriated country) and what does not (the cultural meanings behind these clothes to the country of origin.) (Bourdieu, 1984).

Orientalism is a word that has been deeply tied to the cultural appropriation of Asian cultures. This word was used in the past to describe East-Asian Countries and the fundamental ideology behind the word orientalism had and still is causing harmful inaccuracies of the cultural representations of the Western thought and perception of the Eastern World. The first known use of the word ‘Oriental’ is believed to have occurred sometime during the 14th century and is referred to any area east or southeast of Europe. Orientalism is the imitation of Eastern cultures that is usually done by writers, designers, and artists who only have Western heritage. Edward Said in his book Orientalism argues that the word Orientalism is deeply tied to the imperialism and colonialism of the societies that produced it, which makes much of Orientalist work inherently political and servile to the imbalance of power. (Bullock, Trombley, Lawrie, 1999, p.617) (Said,1978) Orientalism flourished during the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century when imperialism and colonialism were at their height. The Oriental influence increased during this period and was swept across Europe. Objects that were made in the Orient style were often inaccurate, having been designed from the imagination of its designers of what Eastern cultures were like rather than the observation of authentic artifacts from these said cultures, thus, the objects were deeply appropriated but were seen as being authentic.

“How can cultural appropriation at music festivals be understood in terms of style, place and popular culture?”

The culmination of thousands of people inevitably results in cultural exchange; regardless of whether it is done consciously or unconsciously. However, modern music festivals have proved to be a perfect environment for cultural appropriation to occur. The Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity (2014) defines cultural appropriation as being “the taking of one culture’s artifacts, artistic subject matter, traditional knowledge, rituals, symbols, or technologies by members of another, often dominant, culture”; a perfect description of the cultural appropriation that occurs during music festivals. The appropriated culture is exploited without the traditional meaning of the artifact, being used instead to project a unique fashion exclusively found at festivals; reducing it to perverse imitation and creating a public ignorant of its original cultural importance. This is shown within music festival culture through the presence of direct imitations of historical fashion and decoration from cultures around the world-worn almost exclusively by white festivalgoers.

Kenneth Coutts-Smith is widely regarded as being the first person to address the issue of cultural appropriation, though at the time of his paper ‘Some general observations on the problem of cultural colonialism’ being published in 1976 the phrase “cultural appropriation” had not been laid claim to or copyrighted. Coutts-Smith presents the idea that within modern society-currently ruled by white people “as a collective and politically undifferentiated mass” (Coutts-Smith, 1976)-there is more merit in production and distribution of art in comparison to the creation of the art itself. This idea is reflected in current times through the exploitation of traditional art and sacred garments by the fashion industry; obvious influence is taken from cultures around the globe and regurgitated for the general public without any of the cultural importance behind the design. Coutts-Smith also cites colonialism as a cause of appropriation; minority cultures being oppressed for not being deemed “high” culture in the eyes of the white oppressors. Indeed without the oppression of groups native to the colonised countries there may be more cases of cultural appreciation in our society today rather than the overwhelming amount of cultural appropriation.

While cultural appropriation has been prevalent in fashion for well over a century, it has been especially prominent in recent years, fuelled by media coverage and the subsequent social media backlash that it causes. A reoccurring theme of cultural appropriation is the use of Native American war bonnets, often worn by people not of Native American descent; Figure 1 shows the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show making controversial headlines when it sent American supermodel Karlie Kloss down the runway in a traditional Native American war bonnet. The War Bonnet is a headpiece normally reserved for people of great honour and can only been worn when the chief has given the wearer permission; most commonly skilled warriors and individuals who have helped the village prosper. Additionally, these styles were rarely awarded to women, instead receiving a different design, making the use of it on Kloss even more degrading. The use of a War Bonnet in this environment is inappropriate and demeaning, ruining the sanctity of the ceremonial headdress while expressing to onlookers that it is acceptable to pair a sacred piece of headwear with semi-nude attire. This style is mimicked at music festivals through young women pairing war bonnets with crop tops and shorts. While not as revealing as lingerie, it still exposes the skin more than what is normally socially acceptable.Figure 1: Karlie Kloss walking the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2012 (Source: Teen Vogue, 2018:online)

Other cultures are also degraded in ways such as this; Bindis used as fashion accessories aimed at teenagers as summertime jewellery, sombreros being solely associated with costume or themed parties (often accompanied with oversized moustaches and generically patterned ponchos) and most recently featured in the news, the use of cornrows by mainly Caucasian celebrities. Although casual cultural appropriation is still apparent through these products, there have been efforts in the past years to crack down on anything deemed as ‘offensive’. Most infamously, multiple Universities and music festivals have banned the wearing of sombreros since 2015 after deeming them racist (Gayle, 2015). Although the change in attitude is progression in combatting cultural appropriation, people are still intrigued with cultures different from their own, often seeing them as exotic and therefore alluring. This may be the reason why they appeal, however the majority of people accused of cultural appropriation are still white young people with the impression that older people from a cultural minority embracing their heritage are “backwards and old-fashioned …who [don’t] know how to embrace the American culture” (Farha. F, 2013:online). This view on different cultures clothing is how cultural appropriation begins; when it is worn by people with a connection or heritage in the culture it becomes unappealing, while the young white person views the culture’s fashion and ideas as beautiful and exotic when worn by them in a modern style and context.

This attitude is seen at music festivals while being demonstrated by the thousands of white attendees each year. Research into music festivals is sparse, with most surveys conducted at least a decade ago; however, according to Crompton and McKay (1997), one of the six main reasons for the attendance of music festivals was “cultural exploration”. “The makeup of Americans aged 18-35, the prime festival demographic, is 58% white, 13% black, 5% asian, 20% hispanic, as of the 2010 census.” (The Guardian, 2017). This uneven proportion of white attendees compared to people of colour is a main cause of cultural appropriation at music festivals; if a white person wears a culturally inappropriate outfit or item of clothing, they’re going to stand out in comparison to the attendees around them. This plays into the theory that white people are attracted to the ‘exotic’ ceremonial wear of cultures foreign to them, leading them to adopt elements of the culture into their own outfits. The exposure of outfits like this by celebrities also attending music festivals encourages normal attendees to dress like this too in an effort to emulate their idols. Figure 2 depicts Kylie Jenner attending American music festival Coachella in cornrow braids-a style often modelled by young celebrities who attend events like these. Instead of being addressed as cornrows however, these braids are mislabelled as ‘boxer braids’ and ‘KKW Signature Braids’ by the celebrities themselves and social media coverage-belittling the braids’ origins and importance. Figure 2: Kylie Jenner wearing ‘boxer braids’ at Coachella 2015 (Source: Elle, 2015:online)

Braided hair has been used by black people as a way of identification for thousands of years; it was a way to “determine where they’re from, what their status is in the society, if they’re married, if they’re single, if they’re widowed, if they’re a warrior.” (ELLE, 2017: 3:22) It was only through young celebrities essentially whitewashing the cornrow for it to gain enough exposure and prominence to be viewed as a beautiful hairstyle, highlighting again that white people only view ‘exotic’ cultural features as beautiful when worn outside their original culture and purpose. Additionally, white people have historically attempted to oppress black people through the suppression of their natural hairstyles; on slave ships during the 1600’s black people had their heads shaved, erasing their individuality. While not as extreme, the same ideology is seen reflected in modern times as young black girls and black people in the workplace are told to tame and restrict their hair in order to appear more ‘professional’. It is ironic that, during music festivals, white people forget this and adopt the very thing they have tried to crush as their own. This blatant imitation is only prevalent in music festivals where thousands of other individuals and therefore other cultures surround the attendees.

In an effort to stand out amongst the crowd, the individual must introduce a certain amount of individuality in order to achieve a unique look to become more noticeable. This individuality is encouraged by the music festival itself, advertised as a place to escape normal societal rules and allowing the attendees to access unique experiences. This ideology is being put into practice at festivals already; Figure 3 shows Göt2Be opening a pop up braiding bar at Governor’s Ball in America (Business Insider, 2017:online), where people could experience a ‘”curated menu’ of various braids [and] colored hair attachments” (Business Insider, 2017). Afterwards anyone who participated was directed to take a photo for social media with the hashtag “#got2standout”. The Senior Director of the brand, Chris White, stated; ‘The whole festival experience is about creating that individual look and feel’. The new hairstyle combined with the hashtag causes the festival attendee to associate the braid as a way to become unique in a crowd, prompting them to use this hairstyle again in the future when they want to appear more ‘exotic’ and appealing to others.Figure 3: Got2Be’s hair braiding bar at Governors Ball 2017 (Source: Business Insider, 2017:online

Being controlled or at least subliminally influenced through marketing is fundamental to brands; it gets their consumers interested in them and makes them memorable. However, the advertisement of individuality itself, as demonstrated by Göt2Be is also form of Pseudo Individuality, a Marxist theory that discusses the idea that the exposure of a unique idea to a widespread audience no longer makes the idea unique, as it has become overexposed and too commonly used (Withy, 1894) . This situation is mirrored through advertisement campaigns, causing the public to be sold a form of fake individuality. Projecting a message of being individual through the wearing of certain clothes or having a certain style creates an ironically large percentage of people taking up these ideas that make them ‘unique’. Although a music festivalgoer believes they are being individual by deciding to incorporate elements of another culture into their outfit, through having traditional patterns on modern clothing, heavily inspired jewellery designs and other accessories such as facial stickers or henna ink, they are actually having a cultural appropriation fuelled agenda pushed on them by high street shops. With these culturally influenced clothes being so readily available to them, they unknowingly mix and match cultures as they please. However, due to the clash of cultures, instead of being classed as cultural appropriation it could be classed as Bricolage; a French term for the combination of multiple items or ideas from across a range of diverse subjects (Leach, 2011). Bricolage falls under the umbrella as cultural appreciation rather than appropriation, as it consists of taking what you view as the best parts of a culture and combining them into something new that celebrates and credits the original culture. Therefore, it could be argued that rather than music festivals enabling cultural appropriation it instead creates cultural appreciation.

In conclusion, cultural appropriation is still present in music festivals today. This occurs as a result of a combination of factors; most noticeably the demographic of attendees and how festival wear is advertised to them. The constant exposure of certain trends conditions the festival attendee into believing it is the only acceptable form of outfit for these events. More often than not, they are actually unaware that their outfit contains elements of cultural appropriation, as they see the same products advertised everyday by celebrity icons and normal companies. These products contain elements appropriated from other cultures however the more the festival attendee is exposed to it, normalising the fashion trend, the less likely they are to pick up that it is cultural appropriation. However, the companies who produce the garment itself will be aware of the history around cultural appropriation and therefore will know if their garment crosses into that region, making their choices of themes and patterns even more damning and turning them into a key reason why so much cultural appropriation occurs in festivals. It is through fashion labels and high street shops accessible to the public that cultural appropriation is normalised, causing the production and distribution of poorly researched imitations to be viewed as acceptable and even expected at music festivals around the world.

Bibliography:

1. Coutts-Smith, K. (1991), ‘Some general observations on the problem of cultural colonialism’ in Hiller, (1991)
2. ELLE. (2017) Watch This Documentary on Braids and Appropriation in America [Online video] [Accessed on 31st March 2019] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFGwmUCH9aI&list=PLIWLi6iDrMTLCNTkUOYHUvrys7VraI4LZ
3. Farha, F. (2013) ‘Why “Bindis” Should Not Be a Fashion Trend’ The Niles West News. [online] 22nd April 2013. [Accessed on 30th March 2019] https://nileswestnews.org/31336/west-word/bindis-are-not-a-fashion-trend/
4. Gayle, D. (2015) ‘Student union bans ‘racist’ sombreros’ The Guardian. [online] 29th September. [Accessed on 30th March 2019] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/29/uea-student-union-bans-racist-sombreros
5. Jacobs, H. (2017), ‘An unlikely industry has found a ‘genius’ way to advertise to millennials’, Business Insider. [online] 17th June 2017, [Accessed on 3rd April 2019] https://www.businessinsider.com/governors-ball-music-festival-brands-millennials-2017-6?r=US&IR=T#weaving-brands-into-cultural-moments-5
6. Khawaja, J. (2017), ‘The kids are all white: can US festivals live up to their ‘post racial’ promise?, The Guardian. [online] 4th July 2017, [Accessed on 3rd April 2019] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/04/music-festivals-race-white-black-coachella-afropunk
7. Leach, R. (2011). Bricolage. In D. Southerton (Ed.), Encyclopedia of consumer culture (Vol. 1, pp. 119-121). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412994248.n49
8. Rholetter, W. (2014). Cultural appropriation. In L. H. Cousins (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human services and diversity (Vol. 1, pp. 299-302). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483346663.n135 (http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.mmu.ac.uk/reference/encyclopedia-of-human-services-and-diversity/n135.xml)
9. WITHY, A. 1894, ‘PSEUDO-INDIVIDUALISM; OR, THE PRESENT SLAVERY’, Westminster review, Jan. 1852-Jan. 1914, vol. 142, pp. 485-496.

Illustration List:

1. Matera, A. (2018), ‘5 Times Victoria’s Secret Was Accused of Cultural Appropriation’, Teen Vogue. [online] 7th November 2018, [Accessed on 3rd April 2019] https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/victorias-secret-fashion-show-cultural-appropriation
2. Crotty, N. (2015), ‘What the celebs are wearing at Coachella’, Elle. [online] 19th April 2015, [Accessed on 3rd April] https://www.elle.com/fashion/news/g26119/coachella-clothes-style-2015/
3. Jacobs, H. (2017), ‘An unlikely industry has found a ‘genius’ way to advertise to millennials’, Business Insider. [online] 17th June 2017, [Accessed on 3rd April 2019] https://www.businessinsider.com/governors-ball-music-festival-brands-millennials-2017-6?r=US&IR=T

Cultural assimilation is the process by which a person who immigrates to another country learns to adapt to and accept the culture and customs that are dominant in that country. This process is not easy to undertake, and many immigrants often struggle with assimilation. This struggle is one of the central storylines in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. In this novel, Bengali couple Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli move from Calcutta to America to make a life for themselves and raise a family. Over the course of their thirty-year journey in America, they experience many difficulties and obstacles as they try to raise their children to be successful Bengali-American citizens. For Ashima, her primary struggle concerns her assimilation to American culture. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, the character of Ashima Ganguli struggles to assimilate to American culture but manages to do so successfully by the end of the novel.

When she first moves to America with her husband, Ashima initially resists assimilation to American culture. One example of this can be seen during the naming of Ashima’s first child. Per Bengali tradition, Ashima wants to let her grandmother formally name her child and is therefore content to settle on a private Bengali pet name for her son until her grandmother’s letter arrives. However, Ashima’s attempt to interpolate some of her old culture into the strange new world to which she has moved is halted when she comes into conflict with the American customs that reign supreme (H. Lahiri). The effect that this conflict has upon Ashima is extremely negative. Jhumpa Lahiri writes, “The bad news is that they are told…that they must choose a name for their son. For they learn that in America, a baby cannot be released from the hospital without a birth certificate. And that a birth certificate needs a name” (J. Lahiri 27). Upon being told this information, Ashima experiences distress and disbelief as she is forced to reluctantly name her child by his pet name of Gogol. Rather than accept that this is the way things are in America, Ashima instead resolves to change her son’s name once her grandmother’s letter arrives, thus showing her resistance to American culture.

Shortly after Gogol’s birth, Ashima again demonstrates her resistance to American culture. Upon returning home from the hospital with Gogol, Ashima becomes overwhelmed at the knowledge that she cannot rely on her family or the conveniences she enjoyed back in Calcutta to help her with her new responsibilities as a mother. As a result, Ashima becomes angry with American life and expresses her desire to return to India. Ashima tells her husband, “I’m saying hurry up and finish your degree…I’m saying I don’t want to raise Gogol alone in this country. It’s not right. I want to go back.” (J. Lahiri 33). Through this statement, Ashima demonstrates how much she dislikes living in America. With her family now living thousands of miles away from her, Ashima feels isolated and alienated from American culture and views life in this strange country as arduous and inconvenient. Consequently, Ashima only wishes to remain in America as long as is necessary for her husband to complete his degree, fully intending upon moving with her husband and newborn son back to India as soon as they are able. In this way, Ashima’s stubborn resistance to America and its way of life becomes clear.

In addition to wanting to return to India, Ashima further demonstrates her resistance to assimilation by severely limiting her contact with natural-born Americans. In order to help recreate a sense of home and Bengali culture in America, Ashima and her husband create a close circle of friends that consists exclusively of other Bengali immigrants (Iyer). While this endeavor helps Ashima to feel more at home in America, it inadvertently keeps her from fully integrating into American society. Lahiri writes, “Every weekend, it seems, there is a new home to go to, a new couple or young family to meet. They all come from Calcutta, and for this reason alone they are friends” (J. Lahiri 38). This example shows how Ashima has no desire to make any non-Bengali friends. Rather than learn how to mix herself into the great melting pot that is America, Ashima instead wants to create her own private piece of Calcutta where she can feel secure. As a result, Ashima makes a concerted effort to surround herself with other Bengali individuals while simultaneously keeping any and all Americans as far away from her as possible. By doing so, Ashima demonstrates her fear of Americans and her desire to limit her interaction with them.

Along with these outward actions, Ashima’s resistance to American culture can also be seen in how she views herself and her placement in American society. Despite having lived in America for several years at this point, Ashima does not feel any closer to Americans than she did when she first moved away from Calcutta. Lahiri writes, “For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy – a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts” (J. Lahiri 49). This demonstrates how disassociated Ashima feels in America and her deep-seated belief that she will never adapt to its customs and style of living. Rather than acknowledge that assimilation to a different culture is a slow and steady process that takes many years, Ashima instead chooses to give up on assimilation and resigns herself to her own pessimistic belief that she will always remain an outsider in America. In this way, Ashima shows a complete lack of faith in her own ability to adapt and accommodate to American culture.

As time goes on, however, Ashima begins to overcome her fear of American culture and assimilate to it. This transformation is slow, but steady, as Ashima learns to accommodate new American ideals in with her old Bengali customs (H. Lahiri). This process can first be seen during the naming of Ashima’s second child. Jhumpa Lahiri writes, “The only way to avoid such confusion…is to do away with the pet name altogether, as many of their Bengali friends have already done. For their daughter, good name and pet name are one and the same” (J. Lahiri 61 – 62). This example shows Ashima’s beginning assimilation to American culture. Rather than repeat the same experience she had with Gogol to maintain a tradition that is nonexistent in America, Ashima instead chooses to learn from it. As a result, Ashima not only chooses her daughter’s name herself, but she also adapts to the American custom of using only one name for formal and informal use instead of continuing to practice the Bengali tradition of using a separate name for each use. In so doing, Ashima shows that she is beginning to accept American culture and acknowledge the conveniences that some of its customs allow.

In addition to this, Ashima shows her assimilation through her willingness to accept and celebrate American holidays for the sake of her family. Even though Ashima still makes her children celebrate traditional Bengali holidays in an effort to keep their culture alive, she does not object to them celebrating the holidays that are the social norm in America. Lahiri writes, “For the sake of Gogol and Sonia they celebrate, with progressively increasing fanfare, the birth of Christ, an event the children look forward to far more than the worship of Durga and Saraswati” (J. Lahiri 64). Through this example, it is clear that Ashima is growing comfortable with life in America. Due to her Bengali heritage, Ashima is under no obligation to celebrate or let her children celebrate American holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. However, because she wants her children to prosper in America and become happy and successful, Ashima nobly swallows any distaste or indifference for these holidays that she has and acquiesces to celebrating them (Roy). By making this quiet self-sacrifice, Ashima demonstrates her willingness to adapt to the American way of life for the benefit of her family.

As the story progresses, Ashima’s assimilation to American culture grows exponentially, as is shown after her children have grown up and moved away and her husband has taken a teaching job in Cleveland, Ohio. Left alone for one of the first times in her life, Ashima shows how much she has grown by getting a part-time job at a library and making friends with the American women who work there. Lahiri writes, “She is friendly with the other women who work at the library…They are the first American friends she has made in her life…On occasion she has her library friends over to the house for lunch, goes shopping with them on weekends to outlet stores in Maine” (J. Lahiri 163 – 164). Through this example, it is clear that Ashima is not only assimilating to American culture but also thriving inside of it. In addition to stepping outside from her Bengali circle of friends, Ashima enjoys spending time with these new people and makes room for them in her life, even letting them into the sanctuary of her home. In this way, Ashima shows that she has not only made great strides in her assimilation to American culture but is also welcoming it into her life.

In addition to this, Ashima also demonstrates her acceptance of American culture through her treatment of her son Gogol’s American girlfriend, Maxine. Ashima has a very negative opinion of Maxine, viewing her as strange and disrespectful, yet she does not interfere with Gogol’s attachment to this girl. Lahiri writes, “Ashima doesn’t want her for a daughter-in-law…And yet Gogol has been dating her for over a year now…She knows the relationship is something she must be willing to accept. Sonia has told her this, and so have her American friends at the library” (J. Lahiri 166). Through this example, Ashima demonstrates that she has gained the ability to accept an American custom that goes against her own personal wishes. Though Ashima wants Gogol to date a Bengali girl instead of an American one, she knows that American parents allow their child to do whatever makes him or her happy, even if doing so will clash with what the parents want. As a result, Ashima keeps her personal feelings about Gogol’s relationship to herself, thus showing her continued assimilation to American culture.

By the end of the novel, Ashima demonstrates that she has fully assimilated to American culture and embraced its customs. One example of this can be seen through Ashima’s actions after the death of her husband. With nothing else to keep her tethered to one location any longer, Ashima decides to sell her home in Boston and live abroad. Lahiri writes, “Ashima has decided to spend six months…in India, six months in the States…In Calcutta, Ashima will live with her younger brother…In spring and summer she will return to the Northeast, dividing her time among her son, her daughter, and her close Bengali friends” (J. Lahiri 275 – 276). Through this example, Ashima’s complete assimilation to American culture is made clear. By dividing her attention between Calcutta and America, Ashima shows that she has grown to accept the fact that she has become not only Indian, but American as well. Also, by resolving to return to the States regularly rather than stay completely in Calcutta, Ashima shows that she has come to enjoy life in America and is unwilling to abandon it for the old familiarity and customs that await her in Calcutta. This not only demonstrates Ashima’s assimilation to American culture but also depicts the fondness that she has developed for America itself.

In addition to this, Ashima’s complete assimilation can be seen through her changed perspective on divorce. Initially, Ashima held to the Bengali belief that a marriage should not be ended under any circumstances. Faced with her son’s unhappy marriage to his unfaithful wife, however, Ashima’s view of divorce changes dramatically. Lahiri writes, “Fortunately they have not considered it their duty to stay married…They are not willing to accept…something less than their ideal of happiness. That pressure has given way…to American common sense” (J. Lahiri 276). Through this example, Ashima shows her assimilation to American culture by expressing gratefulness towards the American custom of divorce. Ashima acknowledges that it is sensible and beneficial for a person to have the freedom to separate from his or her spouse if he or she is unhappy. As a result, Ashima approves of her son’s divorce, knowing that it will set him free from his miserable marriage. By holding her son’s happiness over her own traditional Bengali beliefs, Ashima demonstrates her complete assimilation to American culture.

One final example of Ashima’s successful assimilation can be seen through her acknowledgement of her own personal growth since moving to America. As she prepares to leave her Boston home, Ashima reflects on how living in America has changed her into a strong, independent, and fearless woman. Lahiri writes, “The prospect no longer terrifies her. She has learned to do things on her own, and though she still wears saris, still puts her long hair in a bun, she is not the same Ashima who had once lived in Calcutta” (J. Lahiri 276). Through this example, it is clear just how much Ashima has changed since the beginning of the novel. Initially, Ashima was afraid of every little thing that America had to offer and did everything within her power to shut out any and all American customs and aspects of life. Now, however, Ashima has become a tower of strength, and she acknowledges that this significant change is due solely to her appreciation of American life and her acceptance of its culture. In this way, Ashima’s assimilation to American culture is successfully completed.

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Ashima Ganguli struggles to assimilate to American culture but eventually succeeds in doing so by the end of the novel. While Ashima initially resists assimilation, she gradually comes to accept American culture until she has successfully assimilated to it, which in turn helps her to improve as an individual. Through the example set by Ashima Ganguli, one can learn that assimilating to a different culture can be scary and oftentimes difficult but is overall beneficial to one’s own character and worth it in the end.

Works Cited

1. Iyer, Nalini. ‘Perpetual Foreigners, Settlers, and Sojourners: An Overview of a Century of South Asian Immigrant Writing in North America.’ Critical Insights: Immigrant Experience, The, edited by Maryse Jayasuriya, Salem, 2018. Salem Online, https://online-salempress-com.cerritoscoll.idm.oclc.org.
2. Lahiri, Himadri. “‘Individual-Family Interface in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake.’” Americana: E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary, vol. 4, no. 2, Nov. 2008, p. 8. EBSCOhost, cerritoscoll.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=43797876&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
3. Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. First Mariner Books, 2004.
4. Roy, Sumita. “The South Asian Diaspora: The Bengali Woman’s Alienation in a Hyphenated Culture.” NAAAS & Affiliates Conference Monographs, Jan. 2010, pp. 1388–1400. EBSCOhost, cerritoscoll.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=61059977&site=ehost-live&scope=site.