Cultural appropriation and individualism

[sqbr]

Two related topics I have strongly held opinions about which I can't quite put into words are cultural appropriation and the flaws in an overly individual focussed point of view.

But as it happens posts on both have come up in racism_101 in the last few days which deal with them reasonably well, so here they are, plus some attempts to express myself:

First: A link to, and discussion of, the video "yellow apparel: when the coolie becomes cool", about american appropriation of asian culture (while american and australian attitudes to race and culture differ in some ways, I think the history and treatment of people of asian descent is pretty similar)

It doesn't spoonfeed it's ideas, it's more a series of images and interviews which add up to a pretty compelling experience if you watch it all the way through (thus I included the discussion, for those who can't be bothered. There's also Cultural Appropriation 101, and more cultural appropriation links at my delicious)

Second: Individualism as enabler for racism about the way treating everyone as an "individual" allows people with unfair advantages to avoid taking responsibility for the inequalities of society.

And now a disconnected ramble about individuality, and how it relates to my POV as a white ex-protestant left wing atheist. Do not search for a point, there isn't one :)

I have a rather conflicted view of individuality, and always have, and I think this conflict is fairly core to my sort of counterculture left-wing WASP(ish) background. On the one hand (my upbringing says), we all need to pull together and form a cooperative collective, and should bond with the Everyday Little Guy etc. On the other, since most people aren't counterculture and left-wing, the Everyday Little Guy is wrong and we need to stick to our internal sense of right and not be sucked into the beliefs of the culture around us. This conflict is less extreme in left-wing-ish places like Australia than it is in say America (where afaict most left wing types simultaneously despise the poor as mindless republican drones and put them on a pedestal as helpless victims of a cruel system), but I think it still exists.

Anyway, starting from that point my POV has gotten even more complicated. I've been learning about history, and reading POVs outside the WASP paradigm, and am slowly realising how much of my "individuality" (and most of materialist humanist thought) is just a manifestation of the same WASP society I am "rising above", and truly transcending it and seeing the real truth (or at least something less false and limited) requires getting my head around the attitudes of other, often less individualistic societies (though I may just be misinterpreting them because they don't fit into my neat little mental boxes).

Yet being less individualistic means diving back into the same society I am reacting against, or something at least superficially similar (eg I am deeply uncomfortable opening my mind to any opinion with even a whiff of religious assumptions, and this makes it hard to engage with a lot of aboriginal writings) and so I feel, well conflicted. Still, one of the tenets of being a "rational individual" is being willing to face hard facts and stretch my brain, so I do it anyway. Hopefully at some point it will coalesce into a less flaily POV.

Comments

[grahame.livejournal.com]

I guess what I'm saying is that culture is a commodity, that we live in a time when exchange of culture is quicker and easier than any other time, and I don't see why people are so het up about it. They hang it all off this entitlement / appropriation framework which seems exactly the same as the idea of privilege; casting people in minority cultures as victims who can't draw from more 'powerful' cultures.

Seems like nonsense; Australia and the US are not monocultural, there's definitely some cultures that are more successfu within the societies; personally I find it logical to talk about successful cultures because some of them will be more successful. A culture as a collection of mores and strategies for its own propagation is in competition.

Apparently that point of view is invalid just because I'm from a winning culture, but there's nothing stopping someone from a less successful culture labelling mine; I just probably won't care. But why would they care what I think of their culture either?

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

why would they care what I think of their culture either?

I've wondered that.

The idea that I currently have is that although most of these 'racist' things are unimportant by themselves, cumulatively they add up to what can be a very severe feeling of exclusion from main stream society. So although each one thing taken by itself probably is trivial and could be brushed off, it becomes harder to brush the whole lot off as each one is added on top of another, until even the small things start to really grate. Under those circumstances, the parts of ones culture that come from outside the mainstream 'oppressive' culture will achieve even greater importance. They become a refuge, a bulwark, something that is 'mine' not 'theirs'. So if 'they' then start to adopt aspects of 'my' culture it can seem like the worst sort of intrusion. And if 'they', on top of that, misrepresent the culture in some way, it becomes unbearable.

I think this is why the matter becomes so important for a lot of people and why tempers flare so high.

And please don't ask me to suggest what I think should be done about it because I haven't worked that part out yet :oD

I agree with you that culture as a construct is permanently in flux, and that cultures that do not adapt and expand will inevitably fade away and wither compared to those that do. One of the reasons the 'Western' culture is so successful is because of its ability to take what it finds useful from other cultures and adapt those things as required.

[alias_sqbr]

HMM. I've been trying to articulate a reply, then I remembered that the whole premise of this post was that I am incapable of articulating my thoughts about cultural appropriation.

So: I disagree, but I can't articulate why. I will understand if you don't find this a compelling argument!