Out of the three readings we had this week, what resonated with me the most was Minh-Ha T. Pham’s article, Racial Plagiarism & Fashion. I am too used to hearing the terms cultural appropriation/appreciation more so because I am an MCC major, and am a student at a socially conscious institution like NYU. By critiquing Marc Jacob’s ignorance and cultural appreciation, I see how both of these terms can be problematic.
Cultural Appreciation attempts to deny/remove the legitimacy of voices that are in protest by claiming that their disproval is invalid because the author had the pure intent of admiring aspects of a different culture for its aesthetic qualities.
This point relates to Crystal S. Anderson’s point on page 298 and 299 of, Hybrid Hallyu: The African American Music Tradition in K-Pop. “the commodification of soul reduces blackness to a commodity that could be bought and sold – and – this is important – without the cultural and social markers that have defined blackness.” People can appreciate the artistry and aesthetic qualities of blackness, but at the end of the day, they are still free from the stigmas and prejudices that African-Americans still face today. As a friend once told me, if you’re going to sit with us at the dinner table, at least stick around for when things get bad.
” This commodification opens up the performance of soul to anyone but also makes it possible to level charges of inauthenticity of performances by non-black performers.” Sometimes it’s not just commodification but cultural flows in tandem with commodification that explain why cultures clash with each other and even exchange. Pham is careful in making this significant distinction by writing, “If racial plagiarism is not about cultural appreciation, it is also not about cultural sharing and diversity…this kind of copying produces social and material enclosures rather than cultural exchange.”
What immediately came to mind while going through these readings was the webpage Stuff White People Like, also known as SWPL. SWPL was created by Christian Lander in January in 2008 and is a satire featuring a list of over one-hundred things consisting of activities, foods, and trivia, that White people partake in.
In this video Lander is in a video talking about several topics on the list of Stuff White People Like that consists of 136 topics as of today. He points out there’s almost never a situation where it’s not appropriate for White women to wear yoga clothes and how some of them are turning a gigantic profit out of appropriated Yoga. Another example he brings up is how White parents refuse to have their children vaccinated out of fear that they might catch something worse than diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and other diseases.
Some of the items that are on the list that Lander doesn’t talk about in the video include: #129 Banksy, #101 Being Offended, #96 New Balance Shoes, #73 Gentrification, #62 Knowing What’s Best For Poor People, #55 Apologies, # 45 Asian Fusion Food, #5 Farmer’s Markets, and #20 Being an Expert on YOUR culture.
Part of the reason comedy thrives, especially satire, is because it wouldn’t be funny if it weren’t true. There is a level of truth in the joke that makes us laugh. However, there is a problem with this list. What this list seems to look like a list of activities that White people love to do, in actuality there is a power relation between them and people of other cultures that fails to be mentioned. This makes them look like Omnivores people with an empty plate at the cultural buffet table picking out what appeals to them. Of course one of the most beautiful things about culture is that it can be shared and exchanged, but there’s a difference from exchanging and one-sided consumption as Pham pointed out.
Consuming something because you like it is something all of us do repeatedly on an everyday basis, whether it’s lifestyle choices, the food we eat, the music we listen to, and the places we frequent. There is a level of responsibility that we must adhere to so we avoid mindless consumption. Instead of constantly consuming we have the choice of slowing down, doing our homework and actually looking at the origins, the histories and their peoples before we move on to the next thing. If it’s not a part of your culture, look into it, you may learn something new that you didn’t before. Cultural flows can be a beautiful thing. One way or another in the 21st century we’re going to be exposed to cultures other than our own. We’re all alive here and now, the least we can do is try to understand and respect each other.
The Politics of K-Pop 