Contemporary Issues Of Cultural Appropriation Facing Indigenous People

Contemporary Issues of Cultural Appropriation Facing Indigenous People
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Contemporary Issues of Cultural Appropriation Facing Indigenous People
Cultural practices define the way of life and behaviors exhibited by people. Cultural appropriation occurs when members of a particular culture adopt the cultural practices of another culture as their own, or as if they should not be questioned on their decision to take over. Some of these practices in question include rituals, aesthetic and beauty standards, icons and certain defining behaviors. Additionally, cultural appropriation is said to occur when members of one culture take the artifacts, voice, and knowledge belonging to another culture, usually a minority culture, as if the right of possession should not be contested. The question of consent, respect, and knowledge of use brings cross-cultural appreciation and understanding, instead of appropriation.
Cultural appreciation can be defined as the consented exchange of culture in the spirit of mutual respect and adds value and honor on the history of cultures and the arts associated with it. Conversely, cultural appropriation leads to devaluation, misrepresentation and inappropriate use of certain aspects from other cultures and adopting them as their own, with a complete disregard of the knowledge and consent of the other culture. Notably, the indigenous people have been victims of cultural appropriation which can be viewed as an extension of centuries of racism, continued oppression, and unending stereotypes to the indigenous people. Some of the aspects of culture appropriation facing the indigenous people include their traditions, mode of dressing, arts and artifacts and other cultural practices. Cultural appropriation has promoted the continued use of the culture of indigenous people without their knowledge, their concent, or acknowledging their past, which is not only damaging to them and their past but also the overall understanding between cultures.
There is a widespread cultural appropriation of indigenous people that has resulted in detrimental effects among the indigenous people. Cultural appropriation is largely connected to imperialism and capitalism, with people using certain aspects of cultures for profiteering reasons. For instance, the psychological consequences of American Indian Mascots in sports were revealed to be negative (Fryberg, Markus, Oyserman, & Stone, 2008). According to their study, Fryberg et al. (2008) contend that certain behaviors in sports, such as fans wearing Indigenous people’s dress such as the Headdress, have adverse stereotypic implications that affect the self-esteem, community worthiness, and individual sense of belonging for the Native Americans. Additionally, American Indian social representations on non-American Indians confirmed to be harmful to all people. According to Fryberg and Oyserman (2008), representations of American Indian mascots on European Americans revealed that the latter reported higher self-esteem compared to a nonnative mascot, indicating the harm of objectifying humans, and not simply limited to the community or members being objectified. The representation of Indigenous people promotes their objec...