(Mis)Appropriation
Say you had a family member who was a mentor to you.
They were very talented, artistic.
They made clothing or whatever.
Say they taught you everything they know and the special meaning that exists in creating it.
Say they learned it from their parents. It's a time honored tradition in your family.
Then they die.
You carry on their creation
Let's say you wear the clothes to school/work.
Your colleagues laugh at you. Say you look stupid.
Call you a slut or the like. Tell you you can't wear it around them.
All kinds of grief.
Forward say a year later. One of your colleagues shows up wearing the same thing.
Your colleagues applaud him. Copy him. Your colleague claims they are the ones who created it.
Then, they put the design up for sale and make money.
Your time honored tradition for profit.
While they shamed you.
This is (mis)appropriation.
Not because someone just says so.
Because this has happened numerous times to numerous peoples.
Now, everything is not (mis)appropriation.
If one has permission to wear, use, or profit from something not their own, then so be it.
It it is sold/given to you by the people of that culture, then so be it.
Humans have created similar cultural products independent of each other. Hair styles included. Before you accuse others of (mis)appropriation, you may want to take a look back into their history to see if their culture had those traits.
It's hard to tell and deserves further investigation not just assumptions.
BUT,
if you are going to wear or use something that is not your own, and don't want to seem like an asshole.
do some research,
Find out what it means, who originated it, where it came from, its significance to its origin culture.
Say you had a family member who was a mentor to you.
They were very talented, artistic.
They made clothing or whatever.
Say they taught you everything they know and the special meaning that exists in creating it.
Say they learned it from their parents. It's a time honored tradition in your family.
Then they die.
You carry on their creation
Let's say you wear the clothes to school/work.
Your colleagues laugh at you. Say you look stupid.
Call you a slut or the like. Tell you you can't wear it around them.
All kinds of grief.
Forward say a year later. One of your colleagues shows up wearing the same thing.
Your colleagues applaud him. Copy him. Your colleague claims they are the ones who created it.
Then, they put the design up for sale and make money.
Your time honored tradition for profit.
While they shamed you.
This is (mis)appropriation.
Not because someone just says so.
Because this has happened numerous times to numerous peoples.
Now, everything is not (mis)appropriation.
If one has permission to wear, use, or profit from something not their own, then so be it.
It it is sold/given to you by the people of that culture, then so be it.
Humans have created similar cultural products independent of each other. Hair styles included. Before you accuse others of (mis)appropriation, you may want to take a look back into their history to see if their culture had those traits.
It's hard to tell and deserves further investigation not just assumptions.
BUT,
if you are going to wear or use something that is not your own, and don't want to seem like an asshole.
do some research,
Find out what it means, who originated it, where it came from, its significance to its origin culture.
noun
1 the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission
• often derogatory the artistic practice or technique of reworking images from well-known paintings, photographs, etc., in one's own work.
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