Adjective. Dominant cultures in modern society have come to power through centuries of colonization and oppression of indigenous populations. This legacy of colonization is perpetuated in modern art and media, as Western creators are often able to continue stealing from indigenous cultures, or even romanticize their own histories of violence and genocide. When artists of colonizer nations appropriate indigenous cultures and designs, they completely ignore the history of violent disenfranchisement that artists of minority populations must address in their everyday lives.

Examples

“When a group of non-Indigenous people wears fake war bonnets, they erase real Indigenous histories and cultures; they normalize the idea that [indigenous people] are not agents in [their] own stories, [their] own lives; and they homogenize hundreds of Indigenous cultures into one war-painted stereotype.”

Pierce, Joseph. “There is No ‘Pride’ in Appropriation.” Hyperallergic. Last modified July 17, 2019. https://hyperallergic.com/509644/there-is-no-pride-in-appropriation/.

“The clearest cases where cultural appropriation is immoral is when it is used to disparage or humiliate members of another culture. Blackface began in the nineteenth century as part of minstrel shows where white performers wore it to portray African Americans as lazy, cowardly, superstitious, and hypersexual.”

Thagard, Paul, Ph.D. “Cultural Appropriation, Appreciation, and Denigration.” Psychology Today. Last modified October 22, 2019. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hot-thought/201910/cultural-appropriation-appreciation-and-denigration.

Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams” music video “showed NO people of color. Instead, it featured an all-white cast that romanticized colonialism in an African country.”

Finley, Taryn. “10 Times Black Culture Was Appropriated in 2015.” Huffington Post (blog). Entry posted December 16, 2015. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-times-black-culture-was-appropriated-in-2015_n_566ee11de4b011b83a6bd660.