What Is Cultural Appropriation? Cultural Appropriation Examples

Cultural appropriation occurs when a dominant cultural group adopts elements of another minority group’s heritage or cultural makeup.

Throughout pop culture, there are many instances of people from a dominant culture wearing the fashions, using the dialects, or otherwise utilizing the “intellectual property” that rightfully belongs to a minority or Indigenous culture. This can lead to a feeling of disrespect among members of the group who see others stealing and commodifying their traditions and styles.

As an example, imagine a social media influencer wearing a bindi—a colored piece of jewelry between their eyebrows—with little regard for its origin as a Hindu religious symbol for people from the Indian subcontinent. This act turns another person’s culture and religion into a mere fashion statement or trend and risks causing offense as a result.

Cultural appropriation can convey a sense of disregard toward subcultures and disenfranchised groups. When a dominant group borrows long-standing traditions or styles from a less dominant one, it can feel upsetting and condescending.

For instance, consider blackfishing—a trend in which people appropriate hairstyles, dialects, fashions, and more from Black culture. Many Black people find this behavior—particularly when it’s from a group with a history of subjugating and oppressing them—as patronizing and egregious.

There are various ways one group of people can culturally appropriate aspects of another. Here are just four common examples:

1. 1. Costumes: When people adopt other cultures’ traditional styles of dress as a fashion statement or a costume, it warrants the other group feeling upset. To this day, many people attend music festivals wearing Native American headdresses although they are not Native Americans. Similarly, people have worn blackface as part of a Halloween costume. These are both examples of cultural appropriation, and it can cause a great deal of warranted offense.
2. 2. Hairstyles: Consider how often some adopt traditionally Black hairstyles like locs or cornrows. Contrast this with how often Black women might hear they need to change their own natural hair to look “more professional” in a work setting. This double standard casts the power dynamics of cultural appropriation in stark relief.
3. 3. Mascots: Over the years, many sports teams have taken cultural elements or names from different racial and ethnic groups as mascots. These sorts of team names and mascots caused a great deal of outrage, distress, and disappointment from the marginalized groups they depicted.
4. 4. Symbols: Occasionally, some people might appropriate a sacred object or religious symbol without even knowing its origin. For instance, some wear clothing or jewelry reminiscent of Native American or Eastern spirituality without paying much heed to its heritage.

Learning to walk the line between celebrating different cultures and appropriating them is essential. Keep these tips in mind as you strive to avoid cultural appropriation in real life:

• Be respectful. Consider a scenario in which someone plans a fashion show celebrating Native American culture. As the house lights go down in New York City and spotlights hit the catwalk, a long line of white models appear wearing Indigenous people’s fashions. It’s easy to see how this would register as an insult to people of the original culture. In this circumstance, the person could have asked a Native American fashion organization to put on the show with Indigenous models to more authentically, effectively, and gracefully celebrate their cultural significance and accomplishments.
• Educate yourself. Learn about the history of disenfranchised cultures in your country. Consider the historic plight of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) citizens of the world. As you learn more about the stories of marginalized people, you’ll likely feel more of an urge to respectfully celebrate and lift up these cultures than to appropriate from them.
• Maintain an attitude of sensitivity. People’s cultural identities and traditions are tremendously important to them, so do your best to respect them as you would hope people would respect you and your own traditions. For example, suppose you are not of Mexican descent and are going to a Cinco de Mayo celebration at a Mexican friend’s house. Show up eager to celebrate how they see fit—wearing what you would normally wear and acting how you would normally act—and let them set the tone of the party.
• Practice cultural appreciation. While cultural appropriation is essentially a kind of theft, cultural appreciation is a form of celebration. Suppose you want to celebrate Asian cultures despite not being Asian yourself. It would be cultural appropriation if you were to show up to a Halloween party wearing a Japanese kimono. On the other hand, it would be a display of cultural appreciation to read about Asian cultures, enjoy Asian cuisine and art, and engage in activism as an ally to marginalized Asian people throughout the world.

Practicing empathy can help you lead more effectively while building stronger relationships across the personal and professional facets of your life. Challenge your perceptions with the MasterClass Annual Membership and take lessons on emotional intelligence from Pharrell Williams, Roxane Gay, Gloria Steinem, Dr. Cornel West, Walter Mosley, Robert Reffkin, and Robin Arzón.