Category: Cultural Appropriation

Between Cultural Appropriation And Cultural Appreciation In The Fashion Industry

Should the use of cultural codes and garments within the Western fashion industry be regarded as a legitimate source of inspiration or a blunt theft of cultural richness for the commercial use? Should culture be legally protected? Should Western designer limit their inspiration sources to the West?

INTRODUCTION

Style is an outlet for inventive articulation and an impression of individual and social character. Fashion designers progressively utilize cultural codes and garments as inspiration for their designs. Past media studies took a gander at social assignment and discovered its place in style through conventional news sources, for example, TV and magazines.

This examination utilized a two dimensional investigation of internet based life impressions and looked into articles. Discoveries show in general that the tone of tweets accentuating social allotment was negative, with many featuring famous people, design and discourse on the idea. Paper articles on the point were commonly negative, underlining style originators and culture.

This paper aims to assess whether or not the incorporation of different cultures within fashion is in fact cultural appropriation and should ultimately be protected by law. The paper aims to uncover the link between culture and identity within the context of fashion and social media, and point to the effects of brand’s misjudgements. Ultimately, the aim is to understand if cultural appropriation there is, if it has clear effect on brand’s financial revenue, and if, so if brands should reassess their scope of conduct when it comes to design.

CHAPTER 1: DEFINING CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

In looking into the topic, it is important to comprehend a few aspects of social appropriation. Per Ziff and Rao (1997, p. 35), social appropriation alludes ‘to the taking of licen.sed innovation, social expression, or curios’ and applying it to a random culture. Design has regularly proven a method for self-expression and a huge part of social personality.

For instance, Antony (2010) analyzed the significance of the bindi in Hindu culture, which has rcently turned out to be in vogue in prominent style culture. What is important in status and marriage in conventional Indian culture has turned out to be trendy among a youthful and non-Indian populace (Antony, 2010).

Celebrities, models, prevalent standard film stars, or unscripted television characters, have come into the spotlight for a few cases that delivered inquiries of allotment of culture. On the other side of the issue, Green and Kaiser express that these superstars utilize the issue to attract regard for themselves ‘and the items they would like to sell’ (2017, p. 146).

Another aspect of culural appropriation as characterized by Rogers is that the training ‘is engaged with the digestion and abuse of minimized and colonized societies and in the survival of subjected societies and their protection from predominant societies’ (2006, p. 474).

Social personalities emerge through social practice, fantasies and ceremonies. For some, individuals, style speaks to convention. Design may likewise demonstrate riches, class status and occupation. Style and apparel capacity to strengthen social belief systems and social personality (Antony, 2010). Things being what they are, if apparel is noteworthy to a specific culture’s idenity, where is its place in prevalent design and patterns? Design is regularly observed as shallow, which incenses individuals worried about keeping up customs and regarding legacy (Thompson and Haykto, 1997). Green and Kaiser (2017) expressed that ‘apportionment has been a pinion in the design machine insofar as individuals have occupied with exchange and conveyed diversely,’ yet ‘it has as of late progressed toward becoming foregrounded in popular culture and broad communications’ (p. 145).

CHAPTER 2: DEFINING THE NATURE OF A TREND

Past examinations demonstrate how various types of social orders express culture in various ways—through sustenance, exercises, music, all are characteristic of culture, as show in Roger (2006’s) investigation of social antiques and Antony’s (2010) contemplate on Hindu convention and marriage. Style has been an enormous piece of articulation of culture. This could be in the pieces of clothing themselves, the production of garments, or embellishments that convey a social noteworthiness (Antony, 2010). Carriere includes that culture as an idea may be ‘a summed up term for the different standards and qualities inside a given society’ (2013; p. 272).

Matthes in 2016 stated that social appointment was regularly a ‘distortion, abuse, a burglary of the narratives, styles, and material legacy of individuals who have been truly commanded and remain socially underestimated’ (p. 343). A case of this would be the utilization of specific frill critical to one culture and decreased to a negligible design adornment in another .A case of this phenomenon could be the utilization of the conventional Native American hats as a type of cap or the utilization of dream catchers as tattoos. Social assignment as an idea comes down to the utilization of the social curios without understanding its social centrality. Parisi includes that a case of this would be the manner by which ‘overwhelming society appropriates, to a great extent through broad communications ‘covers’ of African-American work’ (1991, p. 127). A few investigations found that social antiques fill in as social property.Coombe contends that culture is property and ‘social property is a fundamental component of individuals’ personalities’ (1993, p. 264). Culture is explicit to the advancement of personality and frequently the significance is lost in interpretation when adjusted to another culture.Similarly, Green and Kaiser (2017) said ‘the two makers and shoppers of design have since quite a while ago communicated an interest with distinction, ‘fascinating,’ vagueness, and vulnerability through style-style dress’ (p. 145). Coombe likewise said ‘innovation’ is at fault for assignment since it ‘appropriates otherness, comprises non-Western expressions in its own mage… denying specific chronicles, neighborhood settings, and indigenous implications’ (1993, p.256).

CHAPTER 3: CULTURE, AS A DIGITAL IDENTITY

With the advancement of new media stages and social cooperation, its effect on individuals and their correspondence consistently evolving. Basic race and culture hypotheses have examined this wonder as it advances even moreover with the development of gathering correspondence. The hypothesis likewise has a huge influence in the correspondence among individual and culture in this investigation, as it delivered basic talk of social allocation ideas via web-based networking media. Basic hypothesis, at its base, is the ‘scrutinize of innovation and the improvements and foundations related with present day society’ (Elliot and Calhoun, 2003, pg. 1) In this investigation, it is particularly significant in view of its ‘evaluate of craftsmanship and culture, specifically the buyer culture, promoting, the media and different types of pop culture’ (Elliot and Calhoun, 2003, pg.1). So also, Kellner (2003) said there would new research in the territories as society persistently grown new advances and types of correspondence.

Culture and communication are tightly intertwined because “one takes ‘culture’ as the artifacts…the way in which people live their lives, the context of human behavior…it is intimately bound up withcommunication” (pg. 2). This theory creates a framework that applies to the development of society and new technologies. Anguiano and Castaneda (2014) described critical race theory as essential for “examining how race and ethnicity operate within the context of communication practices and experiences” (pg. 108). CRT has looked at how the study of race “bring forward important questions” that drive the research in culture and race studies. It is important to acknowledge how social media has developed in its creation of easy communication for users and their outreach. Twitter, at the time of this study, has more than 68 million followers and continues to have one of the fastest developing platforms (Fiergman, 2017).

A significant method to see how social allocation exists is by perceiving how it spreads. As observed in past investigations, the media assumes an enormous job in propagating generalizations, sexual orientation jobs and social affectability (or absence of). Portrayals of different races, societies and ways of life is significant in separating the social obstructions that exist. Barbour (2015) found in his investigation of the ‘When Captain American was an Indian’ comic that the utilization of symbols for the symbolism depicted played perilously cliché, with the end goal that the being ‘Indian’ was ‘transmitted by means of key and conspicuous symbols’ and that ‘the symbols bear little precision and separate from authenticity’ (p. 270).

Taking symbols and pictures from a culture is regularly observed as approaches to benefit off of these individual parts of different societies. Maeve Eberhardt and Kara Freeman (2015) found that when it came to taking parts of culture, it was normal to discover larger part races ‘co-selecting’ other social structures and ‘then getting a charge out of more benefit than those whose inventive powers at first delivered them’ (p. 306)

Within the media industry, presentation to online networking and direct access to review and collaborating with one another and good examples has a compelling influence of finding a spot in the public arena. Croucher (2011) found that the web would likewise assume a significant job in the social improvement process. As to, Croucher found that the web additionally served ‘guard their gathering personality’ (2011, p. 262). Correspondingly, a few investigations find that the Internet, just as other media, presented individuals to pictures of culture, striking superstars and good examples. For kids, as Boden (2006) discovered, good examples and ‘VIPs are social creations that epitomize social sorts’ (p. 290). Presentation to these pictures shape what we accept and how to connect. The Internet, TV, print media, all are wellsprings of ‘data for kids about the job of design and the utilization of picture’ (Boden, 2006, p. 289).

Eberhardt et. al (2015) likewise noticed that these good examples and famous people ‘are effectively developing in these settings a persona that isn’t themselves’ (p. 304). In their investigation of hip-jump symbol Iggy Azalea, Eberhardt et al. discovered that the white rapper ‘speaks to an outrageous and risky occasion of… the appointment of dark social structures by whites’ (2015, p. 309). Azalea additionally created her ‘open persona around what is alluring and wanted of African-American female bodies in the standard without pondering… the battles of the lived encounters of African-American ladies’ (Eberhardt et al., 2015, p. 320). Additionally, Vejlgaard said that ‘for centuries,women in India and Indian settlers… have utilized henna to beautify their hands’ and an a portrayal of culture, however after a model lifted it up, it moved toward becoming promoted in the US and removed from the first gathering of individuals it was made by (p. 31). Cultural identiy isn’t frequently made for benefit yet rather holds significance. That is lost in interpretation when it is appropriated by outsiders of that said culture.

BILIOGRAPHY

1. Amed, I., Berg, A., Kappelmark, S., Hedrich, S., Andersson, J., Drageset, M., & Young, R. (2017). The State of Fashion – 2018, 1-45
2. Anguiano, C., & Castaneda, M. (2014). Forging a Path: Past and Present Scope of Critical Race Theory and Latina/o Critical Race Theory in Communication Studies. Review of Communication, 14(2), 107-124.
3. Barbour, C. (2015). When Captain America Was an Indian: Heroic Masculinity, National Identity, and Appropriation. The Journal of Popular Culture, 48(2), 269-281. Berry, A. (2011, October 12). Urban Outfitters Taken to Task for Faux ‘Navajo’ Products. Time. Retrieved from newsfeed.time.com/2011/10/12/urban-outfitters-taken-totask-for-faux-navajo-products Brannon, E. L., & Divita, L. (2015).
4. Brown, Michael F. ‘Heritage Trouble: Recent Work on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Property.’ International Journal of Cultural Property, vol. 12, 2005, pp. 40-61. Accessed 27 Oct. 2016.
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7. Shand, Peter. ‘Scenes from the Colonial Catwalk: Cultural Appropriation, Intellectual Property Rights, and Fashion.’ Cultural Analysis, vol. 3, 2002, pp. 47-88.
8. Vejlgaard, H. (2008). Anatomy of a Trend. Confetti Publishing.

Valentino’s Wild Africa: The Fine Line Between Fashion And Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation is a crime in the fashion industry that many fashion designers can be considered guilty of. It is defined as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing an understanding or respect the culture” by the Cambridge dictionary. One of the perpetrators of this act being Valentino through his Spring 2016 collection; inspired by tribal African motifs from which the collection derives its name – ‘Wild Africa’. Another being Jacobs through the use of pastel coloured dreads to model his garments. The list is infinite. I would like to explore how easily the line between fashion and cultural appropriation can be crossed whilst placing a main focus on Valentino’s collection in order to ultimately come to a conclusion to this matter. What is cultural appropriation?

The use of culture to influence fashion can go one of two ways. At one end of the spectrum is appreciation for one’s culture and tradition whilst at the other end lies cultural appropriation. Though being a very subjective topic, cultural appropriation can be seen as one of the biggest offences in fashion. The models of Marc Jacobs cyber goth inspired show wearing candy-coloured dreadlocks. This was described by critics as ‘problematic’ as the majority of the models were white. Jacobs responded to this saying “All who cry ‘cultural appropriation’ or whatever nonsense about any race of skin colour wearing their hair in a particular style or manner – funny how you don’t criticize women of colour for straightening their hair.”. Being a person of colour myself I found this very ignorant and insensitive as no respect was shown for the various cultures from which dreads originated from. Open further research I found that dreadlocks originated in Africa and was first worn by the Masai tribesmen of Kenya where many warriors would wear them in battle often dyeing their roots red.

Valentino’s 2016 ad-campaign is no different, featuring a line-up of predominantly white models wearing cornrows and dreadlocks wrapped into buns to showcase pieces inspired by ‘Wild Africa’[footnoteRef:1]. These pieces captivate the quality of the African prints and materials created by the locals, yet these locals can only be seen as a background for the western models. This sets an uncomfortable dynamic throughout the campaign as the models take to the front leaving the natives as a backdrop. It seems like the sampling of culture in this case only goes one way as it is mainly the models profiting in this scenario. The collection fearlessly takes African motifs and combines them with Grecian components, exhibiting the belief that parts of rich cultures can be borrowed and made into luxury goods without any consequences. This campaign was closely followed with an African-themed spring runway show in 2016, again showing a mainly white line-up of models[footnoteRef:2] clutching designer handbags whilst modelling bone necklaces, Masai beading, Kikuyu textiles, feathers and fringed jackets hand-painted with geometric designs made to look ‘primitive, tribal, spiritual, yet regal’. [1: According to creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli] [2: Only 8 of 87 being black according to the ‘Daily Life’ magazine]

There is an obvious African influence behind the collection but I feel like it is not properly reflected by Valentino. It has always been a good thing to embrace different cultures, as it inspires open-mindness to the way we dress. But personally, it comes across improper when designers use these cultures to make money by taking certain clothing styles and hairdos and using privileged models to showcase them. I disagree with this as I feel that it tends to make the original owners of these styles anonymous; I feel that they need be included in order to create a well-rounded product. There is no question that the flowing nature of the fishnet inspired dress and the vibrant colours of the Masai beads are beautiful, but more credit needs to be given to the creators so that they too can benefit from what they made. Same with the intricate geometric patterns of the bag, it represents the African culture which many people (including me) are proud of. In this sense the people of Africa should also be represented in order for this collection to be considered as appreciation rather than cultural appropriation. [3: A Kenyan fabric originally made from animal skin]

The power of mobile phones has had a big impact on how cultural appropriation is now addressed. In the past, incidents such as cultural appropriation may have been overlooked and buried deep under to never be talked about again. But now, social media has given people a voice to speak up and voice their opinions about matters like this. A spectator, frustrated by the lack of black representation of the collection said “How are you going to use African culture as your ‘inspiration’ yet not even attempt to have African women represented on your runway?”[footnoteRef:4]. It is easy to understand where she is coming from, but I feel like that with a topic as subjective as cultural appropriation, not everyone can be pleased. Stella McCartney responded to this saying “the pieces were about celebrating a unique textile craftsmanship, its culture and highlighting its heritage,”. It is difficult to decide on who is right or wrong in this scenario which brings about the question. Is it cultural appropriation? Well, everyone has their own opinion so a conclusion will never be drawn to this matter. But something that is certain is the fact that social media has been a catalyst in helping this matter come to the surface. [4: Said by Amarachi Nwosu (@AmaraWorldWide) October 2, 2017]

This collection was created by Celine for her Autumn/Winter collection. It takes inspiration from the popular ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags commonly used in both Nigeria and Ghana. The term “Ghana Must Go” has a negative connotation by Ghanaians who moved to Nigeria during its Oil Boom. This is because during the 1980s they where kicked out with no warning and so were forced to pack their belongings in those bags instead of the usual suitcases as a result of the time constraint. This rose tensions between Ghanaians and Nigerians. Nowadays ‘Ghana must Go’ bags are used widely by both Nigerian and Ghanaians. The use of this item to inspire Celine’s collection is very creative, creating chequered patterns that can be used in garments.

Conclusion

From the various sources that I accessed I was able to see different instances in which a country’s culture has inspired a garment. I believe that there is no harm in this and it is therefore not cultural appropriation from that perspective. However, in many cases owners of the culture are disregarded as they watch western designers take their culture and make money from it. Valentino’s collection where white models took to the front of the ‘Wild Africa’ collection whilst locals were only visible in the background. Now this, in my opinion is cultural appropriation. Why couldn’t the owners of the neat cornrows, intricate African designs and beautiful beading be the main focus of the campaign? The Cambridge dictionary described cultural appropriation as. “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing an understanding or respect the culture”. But, I feel it goes a lot more deeper than this ; especially with social media as I previously described. I have concluded that cultural appropriation is different for many scenarios and that sometimes people can exaggerate their views on this matter which makes it very subjective to each individual.

Bibliography

Books

1. Brown Kopano. Soul Thieves
2. The Appropriation and Misrepresentation of African American Popular Culture. City: Alabama, 2014.
3. Young James. The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation. City: Blackwell Publishing ltd, 2012

Websites

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-46297329 ,BBC news, 24/04/2019
2. http://checkoutafrica.com/cultural-appropriation-african-style-compliment-insult/ , Mariam Tijani, 24/04/2019
3. http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/37002/1/marc-jacobs-admits-ss17-dreadlocks-were-insensitive-cultural-appropriation, Dominic Canogan, 01/05/2019
4. https://jamaicans.com/dreadlocks/ Rastafari, 01/05/2019
5. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/stella-mccartney-cultural-appropriation , Jamie Fieldman, 08/05/2019
6. http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-fashion/fashion-coverage/whats-with-valentinos-africa-inspired-ad-campaign-20160111-gm3qkd.html ,Kathleen Lee Joe, 08/05/2019
7. https://acclaimmag.com/style/cultural-appropriation-in-fashion-is-nothing-new/#1, Kish Lal, 08/05/2019
8. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/stella-mccartney-cultural-appropriation_ ,Jamie Feldman, 16/05/2019
9. http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-fashion/fashion-coverage/whats-with-valentinos-africa-inspired-ad-campaign-20160111-gm3qkd.html ,22/05/2019
10. http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/26895/1/valentino-show-inspired-by-wild-africa-sparks-controversy ,22/05/2019

The Problem Of Cultural Appropriation In Fashion Industry

There is a fine line that separates cultural appropriation from appreciation. In the fashion industry, this has been a controversial issue for a while now between models and the message that they are sending, on the runway and on magazines, by wearing cultural symbols as fashion items. The media has brought this issue into the light and shown a wide variety of views that society has on this topic; however, this is not a new occurrence, this subject dates back to the history of colonization, imperialism and white supremacy. First came the Europeans during the Enlightenment ages, then the Americans, and these colonial powers not only exchanged natural resources but also cultural resources. The fashion industry and big names in it have been called out for taking inspirations from certain cultures and using them as a fashion statement, not taking into account their value to certain civilizations. This upsets individuals who feel like the fashion industry is stereotyping their nations and customs. There should be no excuses for designers to steal from cultures and profit from those designs when there is no meaningful background incorporated.

Cultural Appropriation is a topic that has spiraled the fashion world for some time now and has caused major commotion. According to the Cambridge dictionary culture appropriation is “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect their culture (Brucculieri).” This issue can be defined as taking an item that has significance to one’s culture or heritage and essentially stealing its ideas for a different purpose. It can vary from wearing something as simple as a hair piece with an exotic dress that is well known in certain cultures, and using them as costumes instead of taking into account their relevance to a society. I-D Magazine interviewed individuals in the fashion, photography, art, and music industry, and got their opinions on what culture appropriation is. A Chinese photographer said, “When I see artists diving into Chinese culture and kind of using it in a way where I ask, does this have anything to do with your narrative, or is this merely an accessory, a trend to your work (i-D).” He describes how culture appropriation is when he questions whether fashion pieces are intended to highlight a civilization’s background or if it has no deep meaning and is solely used as a fashion statement. The moment that fashion takes particular items from a society and removes its ethnic significance, is when the debate on culture appropriation comes into play.

The difference that divides cultural appropriation and appreciation is a very narrow distinction, and a simple piece of clothing that may seem harmless can cause chaos and pass that thin line. Both culture appreciation and appropriation come from the idea of gathering inspiration from a certain society and expanding on that concept; however, appreciation usually involves working with individuals from that culture and contributing to them, while appropriation is mostly involved with high fashion brands stereotyping and labeling the society that they target. In an interview with I-D Vice, World renown model, Winnie Harlow opens up about her view on cultural appreciation and appropriation, she says “It’s one thing for someone to wear braids and go, I created this. When obviously it’s a style that originated in Africa. It’s another thing for people to copy my skin. (Weinstock).” As a prominent figure in the modeling and fashion industry, Harlow is very familiar with this matter since it is an issue that is gaining more awareness from both the public, and individuals in the industry that she works in. She explained how appropriation and appreciation are very different but can be easily mistaken with one another. Harlow uses the comparison of people copying certain styles which has to do with appreciation for the culture and how that differs from copying a specific attribute of a person and calling it their own, which has to do with appropriation. These two topics can easily be confused with one another and as this issue widens, the fashion industry has to set the bar from what can be considered offensive to someone’s culture and what can be considered as embracing their background.

Well known names in the Fashion industry are embracing the idea of using trademarks from societies as fashion, and essentially spreading the message to their audience across the globe that this “trend” of cultural appropriation can be seen as respectable. Fashion does have a cultural appropriation problem, it may not be a designer’s intention to offend anyone, but sometimes art can have many different meanings to different people depending on an individuals past and culture. A huge question that well known fashion designers are asked is if certain styles are simply embracing different heritages through accessories and clothes or offending their heritages by not taking into account the cultural background that item may come with. Designers may see a bright colored top with a certain pattern as inspiration for a fashion piece; however, the case sometimes might be that the top may have a meaningful history behind it to a certain civilization. In a TEDx Talk, Monica Bota-Moisin challenges the fashion industries behavior regarding Cultural appropriation in fashion pieces. After seeing Adele wear a blouse with a traditional Romanian pattern to advertise for Tom Ford, she asks herself “How was it possible to commercialize a design that is so similar to an element of identity to a community and put a brand label on it” (Boța-Moisin). Bota-Moisin is projecting her concern on how brands can simply turn an attribute from a civilization which may have historical and moral background, and turn it into a fashion statement. This question that she communicates to the audience, is exactly what makes up the issue of Cultural Appropriation.

The power of the media, enables the quick spreading of socially unacceptable events in the fashion business and these events can cause detrimental effects to certain individuals and hurt a brands reputation. There have been multiple cases where world renowned models and companies have offended the public because of their fashion choices and the message they are sending to their audience across the globe. These occurrences can vary from magazines to fashion shows and even clothing sold in stores. The Victoria’s Secret annual fashion show brings people from all over the world and the models display high fashion clothing items while walking down the runway. In 2012, American model, Karlie Kloss was featured in the Victoria’s secret fashion show and wore leopard print lingerie with fringe details, along with turquoise jewelry and a war bonnet (Brugeras). Native American communities were not pleased when they saw her dressed up like that and felt like Kloss and the designers were disrespecting their culture and civilization. They used stereotypical native American accessories but showed no relations to the background of these cultures and simply used them as a fashion piece. The design removed all of the sentimental and historical value that come with those pieces and turned it into lingerie and accessories to be broadcasted for the whole world to see. This is only one of the several cases of cultural appropriation that occur in fashion industry.

Other events similar to the Victoria’s Secret show scandal have occurred to numerous prominent names in industry. During the 2015 Met Gala, another major annual fashion event that is broadcasted and watched all over the globe, commotion started over celebrities and what they wore. The theme was the influence that China had on Western fashion, featuring looks from prestigious brands such as Alexander McQueen, Chanel, and Christian Dior. Many individuals were upset because “celebrities dressed in oriental-inspired outfits that nodded to Asian culture but many people took issue with the fact that hardly any guests chose to wear garments made by Chinese designers” (Young). They were wearing traditional Chinese patters and passed that off as oriental but did not truly connect with the culture. This brought attention to the public eye because society did not see this as embracing their civilization, but instead as offending Chinese backgrounds. The Met Gala is made for displaying unique and beautiful fashion; therefore, influential celebrities promoting this behavior is not right message that they should be sending to society.

Social media has also played a big role in raising awareness for this topic and calling out models and celebrities when they cross the line. In 2014, Victoria’s Secret angel, Alessandra Ambrosio posted a picture on Instagram of her wearing a Native American feathered headdress and captioned it “becoming more inspired for @Coachella with this amazing Native American head piece #feathers.” Coachella is a world known annual music festival in California that several famous individuals are seen at and people tend to dress up as a way of expressing themselves through fashion. Many fans criticized Ambrosio’s post and mentioned how it was offensive to the Native American culture and one commenter wrote “’If you had any knowledge of the culture, you would know how disrespectful this is” (Teen Vogue Staff). That headdress has a symbolic meaning to millions of Native Americans and she is broadcasting it as an accessory to a music festival, which clearly offends their society. Although this wasn’t published on the cover of a magazine or broadcasted on a worldwide show, it still had the same effect on individuals which goes to show that no matter the gravity of the situation, cultural appropriation is not something that should be tolerated.

Huge names in the fashion business continue to face accusations of cultural appropriation due to their questionable fashion choices displayed to the public. This leaves designers with a hard task to execute a design that shows beauty through diversity but also wont offend any individuals or civilizations by doing so. Giving credit to cultures that their design is based on can make all the difference. Not only would individuals in that society feel respected since there would be a more personal meaning to the designs, but it will also be saving a lot of energy and avoiding backlash from those individuals. By digging deeper into the historical background of the society and applying it to the fashion piece, this would give it a more profound meaning which would not only unfold the culture’s history but also highlight the profound beauty in the design. In an interview with ABC, Mr. Denham illustrates how to avoid being accused of cultural appropriation. Denham says, “For it not to be cultural appropriation, there has to be recognition, respect, reward or recompense. You have to ask yourself which people benefited from this product — did someone receive an income from it’ (Khopkar). He describes the important aspects that play a role in validating whether a design can be considered as culture appropriation and that it is not only important to reference and respect the society that a designer is inspired by, but to also view the outcome of the whole situation. If a designer is stealing an idea that originated in another culture and is profiting from that design without any recognition to the society that inspired them, there is a problem. However, if they give credit to the culture or find a way to give the design a deeper meaning than just fabric and accessories, they are saving themselves from a lot of hate and backlash. By taking precautions and thinking deeply about the several details that play a role in establishing a design, culture appropriation accusations can be prevented.

How an individual chooses to view these issues can change the whole perspective on cultural appropriation and shift it to appreciation. Taking inspiration from cultures and incorporating them in designs may be seen as a part of the artistic and innovative element of fashion. Stylist and editor of an Australian high fashion publication, Megha Kapoor, says ‘Borrowing from other cultures is inherently a part of the creative process’ (Khopkar). The beauty of art and fashion is that the meaning can change based on the point of view. While one person might see an Arabic dress on the cover of Vogue as cultural appropriation and offensive, another individual might view that as embracing the beauty of the Arabic culture. Although using elements from different cultures in fashion can be seen as supporting that society, there has to be a way that connects back to the civilization in a meaningful way because cultures should not just be seen as fashion statements. Just because designers might find a way to make a societies symbol a beautiful design, does not make it right to steal a part of that society and make a profit from simply displaying the symbol.

As cultural appropriation continues to occur in the fashion world and among several individuals, the number of cases will only grow and thus bring awareness of this societal issue. Simply because influential models and world renowned designers make it seem socially acceptable, does not make it tolerable in society. This issue affects members of certain cultures who are being offended by the fashion industry by using their historical background and degrading its meaning. Although they might sound alike, appreciation and appropriation of a culture are polar opposites, separated by a fine line, that once passed can lead to chaos. Individuals must remember to appreciate art and culture and not appropriate them, when it comes to fashion.

Essay on Cultural Appropriation in Media

To first understand the term ‘culture vulture’, it is important to be able to define culture and several other terminologies relating to it that will be applied throughout this essay. ‘Culture’ is notoriously hard to define. Raymond Williams, an influential cultural critic, famously stated that ‘culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language’. In Keywords (1976), Williams analyzed its various meanings, clarifying that ‘ culture in all its early uses was a noun of the process: the tending of something, basically crops or animals’, otherwise known as ‘agriculture’. The meaning of ‘culture’ developed significantly over the centuries that followed, and ‘the tending of natural growth was extended to a process of human development’ from the eighteenth century onwards, it became important to consider culture in a plural sense to determine the difference between cultures of different nations and periods, as well as ‘specific and variable cultures of social and economic groups within a nation’. According to Williams, there came to be three definitive definitions in use by the twentieth century; (i) a general process of intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic development; (ii) an indication of a particular way of life, whether of a people, a period, a group, or humanity in general; (iii) a description of the works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity. Religion, social structures, class, values, societal position, attitudes, language, economy, manners, customs, behavior, and education are a long list of some factors that contribute to the meaning of ‘culture’, which in turn shape an entire group of people. It is a limitless list, complex, and rich and it forms culture as a social group’s most distinguishing feature; and is generally, a specific part of distinguishing sociocultural groups from others.

A ‘vulture’ according to Oxford Languages, is ‘a contemptible person who preys on or exploits others’. A ‘culture vulture’ is a relatively recent term. Urban Dictionary’s earliest definition of it was in 2003: ‘a scavenger, circling the media, looking for scraps of originality to add to their conceit’, but the most popular (most agreed on) definition of the term was made in 2018, defining ‘culture vulture’ as a ‘person or an organization making a profit using unhonorable practices from a culture they do not care for’. Raymond Williams also mentions the term in his book, Keywords, and stresses that ‘virtually all the hostility has been connected with uses involving claims to superior knowledge and distinctions between ‘high’ art (culture) and popular art and entertainment’, illustrating that culture ‘culturing’ indicates a level of privilege and access which permits people of higher social standing to do so.

To begin to fully be able to understand the term ‘culture vultures’, it is necessary to first define the terms ‘cultural appropriation and ‘cultural appreciation’. Cultural appropriation is, to put it simply, the act of adopting cultural elements of a (minority) group by a group non-native to that culture. The term has evolved from academia, and it is only relatively recently that it began to be used more generally, especially on social media. Though not inherently particularly offensive, it has taken on a more sinister meaning throughout the past decade as people have come to understand that cultural appropriation often takes the form of exploitive cultural theft that contributes to the reinforcement of stereotypes and the continued social and economic oppression of minority groups. Cultural appropriation is a layered and nuanced subject that is difficult to grasp, as definitions can sometimes be too vague and too partial, creating a problem as people begin to contest the difference between what is appropriation versus appreciation, the ‘respectful borrowing’ of culture. Cultural appreciation is an unnecessary term – cultural appreciation is cultural appropriation and recent discourse has reduced both terms to function simply as euphemisms that distort to the point of unintelligibility the very things that people are doing when they ‘appropriate’. ‘Appropriation’ is not an inherently negative term, nor does it suggest a lack of appreciation, and only when it is exploitative, uncredited, and unpermitted that it becomes a problem of culture ‘culturing’.

Marc Jacobs’s SpringSummer 2017 show, for example, featured a predominantly white cast of fashion models including Kendall Jenner, and Bella Hadid, with hair styled in colorful dreadlocks (see Fig. 1). According to Guido Palau, Marc Jacobs’s stylist for the show, the hairstyle was inspired by ‘ravers, acid house, travelers, Boy George, [the singer] Marilyn in the ’80s, Harajuku girls’ – with no mention of the hair’s cultural origins. Furthermore, when inquired about the hairstyle’s cultural roots, the stylist responded that Rasta culture was not an inspiration for the look, ‘No, not at all’. Elle, as well as other influential fashion magazines such as Vogue, and Glamour, among other fashion magazines and blogs, reported Palau’s words, effectively furthering the erasure of Black cultural history. The inspiration appropriation dialogue that followed was characterized by those praising Jacobs for his creativity and ‘inclusivity’ and those who opposed this sense of ‘artistic freedom’, criticizing him of cultural insensitivity and accusing him of racism and lack of inclusivity. The problem with these (appropriation appreciation) terms, is that ‘they have lost whatever explanatory value they had’, and as Minh T Pham explains, ‘appreciation’ gives ‘too much weight to the designers feeling’, allowing space for ‘well-intentioned’ designers and brands to argue for ‘creative freedom’, and on the other hand, ‘appropriation’ reduces the problem to one of utility. This is illustrated perfectly firstly by Guido Palau who, when interviewed by The Cut and questioned about misappropriation stated, ‘I take inspiration from every culture: it’s not homogeneous. Different cultures mix all the time, whilst failing to admit to culturally appropriating Rastafarian culture that had supposedly not been ‘on his mind’. Furthermore, Jacobs’s reply (see Fig. 2) illustrates how the subject of ‘appreciation’ and its general emphasis on personal feelings, ‘I respect and am inspired by people and how they look: I don’t see color or race’, blurs distinctions between crucial power impositions that characterize appropriation versus something that could be considered a cultural exchange. Jacobs’s comparison of ‘you don’t criticize women of color for straightening their hair’ to outrage about white women wearing dreadlocks is a false equivalence, an amalgamation of differing historical context that further obscures the racial power structures obscured by terms such as (cultural) ‘appreciation’.

Minh-Ha T. Pham introduces the idea of ‘racial plagiarism’ in an attempt to address conceptual confusion of the term appropriation appreciation, by proposing a more precise analysis of the material practice, conditions, and effects of this kind of unauthorized copying.’ Racial plagiarism, she explains:

highlights the racial relationships and inequalities that are obscured by terms like cultural appropriation, cultural appreciation, and piracy. In the fashion context, racial plagiarism occurs when a designer copies racial and indigenous styles, forms, practices, and knowledge without permission and without giving adequate (or any) attribution to the source model and community. As with other plagiarism, racial plagiarism covers verbatim: and unacknowledged paraphrasing (a reworked but still recognizable derivative model). Luxury and designer brands going back at least a century in the United States and much further in Europe have routinely engaged in racial plagiarism yet these practices are rarely recognized as copying, much less plagiarism. This is an effect of the default, almost automatic way the media and the public interpret these practices through the binary logic of cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation.

Cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation are, essentially, two sides of the same coin – rather than opposing ideas, simply two interpretations of the same cultural phenomenon; both concepts emphasize the importance of intention, focusing on personal feelings and therefore obscuring the plagiaristic, vulture-like nature of what designers or brands such as Marc Jacobs are doing when they develop looks that mimic other people’s looks and culture, then brand them with their names and claims of originality and ‘creative freedom’, claiming what is essentially plagiarism as original. As a result, the framework of cultural appreciation successfully propagates and maintains white Western men as the embodiment of creativity and ‘innovation’. Cultural appreciation appropriation gives white artists a license to legitimize copying – a privilege that non-white artists rarely get. ‘Inspired’ Black, Asian, and non-white designers, singers, artists, and other creatives are significantly more likely to suffer criticism than admiration. Culture culturing is, after all, an issue of social and economic power, not of legislation.

Cultural Appropriation Through Time: A Journey at Tampa Museum of Art

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.

Cultural Appropriation of Social Media: Tracing its Evolution and Impact

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.

Cultural Appropriation: An African-American Family’s Legacy

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.