Cultural appropriation

[eirias]

Pursuant to a conversation elsewhere, a poll!

NOTE! For the purpose of this poll, "foreigner" refers to someone who is foreign in several ways:

1. he has no familial claim to the culture (no relation by blood or marriage);
2. he does not and has not lived in the culture;
3. he has no deep knowledge or understanding of the culture, and/or does not speak the language.

Use the comments to clarify anything you like.

(Note: I submitted blank answers but that's only so I can easily see poll results without changing them; one should not infer from that that I think all the options are inappropriate.)

---

[Poll #1267976]

Comments

[smarriveurr.livejournal.com]

I actually made this argument in a "Cultural Analysis" course in college. Someone contended that "Eastern" and "Western" were somehow the end-all-be-all of overarching cultures the couldn't find common ground. I pointed out that "culture" is really something we define by comparison.

When someone asks me where I'm from, they get different answers depending on context. When I lived in North Jersey, and was in the vicinity of my house, they'd get a town name, maybe even the neighborhood. Ask that same question in South Jersey, and I'd say North Jersey or "just outside Newark". In PA, I'm just from Jersey. While I was in Germany, I was from the US East Coast.

It seems to me we define our culture by exclusion. Put someone from Osaka and someone from rural China in a room, and they'll say they come from different cultures. Put someone from England in that room, and "Eastern Culture" is born by the comparison. Put someone from a posh part of London in the room with a scouser, you'll see two different cultures. Throw someone from Paris in the mix, and... you'll see two different cultures.

So, yeah, I posited that the reason we couldn't envision a "human culture" was just that we had nothing alien enough to compare it to. That got me a lot of incredulous looks and a bit of flak, but I think it's a sound proposal.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Eastern and Western culture are so completely different?

... I read a lot of Raymond Smullyan at a young age and it seems to have really helped to shape my view of the world. The problem is it's slightly Western and slightly Eastern and not really either. It's not meant to represent either; it's meant to present Smullyan's own views. Net result (plus other factors and my own inherent weirdness) I don't really culturally fit with any culture. But dammit, I'm a human. It is my heritage. I have a birth right here. Not much of one, but I think I have some inherent birth right to use and study the culture and history of where I came from.

Anyhow, I don't think I'm a very good representative of where I was born, although I definitely have things in common with that region (even though I have had people tell me I could not be from there... I have been told I can't be from the US because my accent is wrong and I've been told that I can't be from Long Island because i don't pronounce it Lon Gisland - it's not an affectation, I simply never have and don't want to try to change my accent to sound like I come from where I was born and raised).

So, I think I feel like I've had to fight to be accepted as a part of my own culture... so why the big distinction between "my culture" and "other cultures". Plus, pretty much nobody objects to me using a non-local culture poorly or oddly so long as I have ancestors from it. That's the one thing that seems totally fine. I can appropriate what I want from Poland, Russia, Spain, or Judaism, just so long as I keep it away from those places, because then it's honoring my roots, and nobody expects me to know anything about them anyhow.

Meh, I'm not really this alienated. I live in the bay area now. Being odd is generally okay. As long as I don't leave my circle of friends, things are okay.

[smarriveurr.livejournal.com]

*nod* I also tried to point out that you could as easily make a dichotomy of "industrialized vs agricultural" cultures, or "information/technological vs industrial", "colonial vs colonized", etc, etc. It's all a matter of what you're contrasting, because it's based on common factors among individuals, and you can sort those to your preference.

an easter egg from the past

[eirias.livejournal.com]

Years have passed since you wrote this and I was rereading it just now. Every time I do this with a highly-commented post, it amazes me how wonderfully thoughtful my friends are and how lucky I am to know them.

But this stuck out from your comment:

Lon Gisland

This is also the name of an EP by a hipster band called Beirut. I think it is the only record of theirs we have. I had always heard it as Lahn Jisland in my head. Now I will hear it as Lawn Guyland.

Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWSz_PAfgNc) is the first track from the EP. I think it is lovely Maybe you will like it!

Re: an easter egg from the past

[leora.livejournal.com]

Thanks *smiles* Yes, I suspect "Lawn Guyland" is roughly the pronunciation aimed for. It is how "Long Island" is generally pronounced by the locals. When I was recently in Boston, I had a layover at JFK on my way back. I managed to overhear a particularly heavy Long Island accent. I was mildly amused, but did immediately recognize it for what it was. Unsurprising, since I was back in the native habitat for such an accent. I think it's easier for me to hear it now that I've been away from it for so long.