Cultural Appropriation in Today's Arts

Cultural Appropriation
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Cultural Appropriation
Mosley (2021) asserts that cultural appropriation happens in the workplace, at music festivals, in hairstyles, and in mannerisms. It involves appropriating another person's culture and applying it to oneself while completely not comprehending its significance. Therefore, cultural appropriation occurs when a member of a dominant group claims cultural authority over an oppressed group for personal gain. Kramvig (2019) argues that cultural oppression historically has mostly resulted from actions of colonization; as a result, when the dominating group continues to appropriate different cultural ideas in the modern world, this continues to be a form of economic oppression on culture. The essay will assess several instances of cultural appropriation in contemporary art as well as the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.
Examples of Cultural Appropriation
In the current world, there are many ways that cultural appropriation happens, such as when artists sing songs or poems (Thi Nguyen 2019). Kenneth Goldsmith included language from Michael Brown's autopsy in his poem in 2015. A police officer had shot Michael Brown, an African-American male, leading to his death. Many deemed the poem as cultural appropriation since a white guy used the death of a black man in an artistic way to generate income.  When Kenneth Goldsmith recited the poem, his prime concern was for himself, which led to disrespect for an oppressed group of people and the suffering that racism caused them.
Another example would be what artists wear during musical performances and award ceremonies. Katy Perry wore a kimono and had white powder on her face at the 2013 American Music Awards. Technically, a kimono is a garment worn in China, indicating that it has cultural meaning for the Japanese people. Thus, Katy Perry wearing the kimono for self-promotion rather than to appreciate the Japanese cultural attire qualifies as cultural appropriation. Another example of cultural appropriation is New York Fashion Week 2017. During the event, Marc Jacobs' line was displayed by white models, and what was labeled as insensitive to black culture was that the models were sporting hand-dyed wool dreadlocks. Dreadlocks in African culture were symbolically used to portray the strength of the warrior, and the divine connection one had with the spiritual realm. Thus, for a white model to use dreadlocks for financial gain, it amounts to cultural appropriation.
The Harm of Cultural Appropriation
Cultural appropriation is still viewed as a problem since it seems to be a continuation of the persecution of non-dominant groups and their cultures (Versey, 2019). For example, in Australia, several companies have illegally used stolen art on t-shirts to make money. Australian businesses benefit even though the pieces of art are created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists without giving them credit for thei...