Using a name from another culture / cultural appropriation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree PPs that the cultural appropriation argument is silly. What if you name your child after a dear friend from another culture? That's not "cultural appropriation."

People making this argument don't understand cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is not simply using something from another culture. That is cultural diffusion. It is a normal part of human interaction. My seventh graders are studying this. Things you can do without any "white guilt":
Use algebra.
Have a pinata at your 4 year old's birthday party.
Eat bagels and lox.
Wear snowshoes.
Name your newborn "Nzinga" after the famous 17th century Angolan queen who defied Portuguese slavers.

Cultural appropriation occurs when this borrowing is disrespectful. For example, "Columbusing": celebrating claims by a person of your ethnicity that her or she discovered something that people of another ethnic group have done for a long time. A good example of why this frustrates people of color is Miley Cyrus "twerking". My Chinese coworker says she finds it irritating when she sees whites and AAs with tattoos in Chinese characters and they can't tell her what the word or phrase is in Mandarin. Sometimes, they actually have a totally different concept inked on than they paid for.

Imagine the difference between
1. a coworker adopting a technique that you created and your boss acknowledges as your work
2. a coworker adopting a technique that you created and using it to get a raise or promotion because your boss won't acknowledge that it is your work.

Many minorities are frustrated because cultural appropriation is a continuation of unfair practices in place for centuries. Many patents awarded to whites in the antebellum era were actually the inventions of slaves and free people of color, but their intellectually property could not be legally or socially recognized.

This is all such bullshit. Please tell me that this isn't part of the 7th grade curriculum - that, instead, this is your way of "padding" the guide with crap.

Cultural misappropriation stems from ignorance - not knowing the difference between the spoken Mandarin and Cantonese and trying to impress your in-laws with the wrong version. It's not intentional.

And do you honestly think that anyone intelligent (from any race or culture) would consider twerking a "black invention" to be proud of? Furthermore, using the term "Columbusing" is both offensive and in this case, ironic.

Your other examples are plagiarism - intellectual theft. This is intentional. Stealing patents from slaves and free persons is still plagiarism, unless you're defining the institution of slavery as a culture.






Actually read what I wrote.
My students are studying cultural diffusion as part of the County-mandated curriculum. According to the curriculum guide "When cultures interact with one another, traditions, beliefs and values are exchanged through the dynamic process of cultural diffusion." (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/socialstudies/middle/grade7/7.2%20Overview.pdf)



And I see cultural diffusion in the guides. I don't see cultural misappropriation or appropriation. There's a big difference between the two. Cultures change and evolve as a result of immigration. I'll also add our "internet-friendly" environment to that mix, as it opens up the world to people who live in insular communities.

Once you address cultural misappropriation (b/c this is really the term you're teaching) with a group of students who - in 7th grade - don't know if they're coming or going, you can easily sway them, as there's no way to handle this concept with non-biased methods.

Intellectual theft is intellectual theft. Yes, you can bring up the fact (and it's a fact) that white society overpowered African Americans - took advantage of their situation by stealing their ideas. But that's not cultural appropriation. It's intellectual theft - or plagiarism.

Go for it, lady. Talks about oppression and institutionalized racism. It's there. But don't confuse terms - or bring up concepts that go over their heads.

Why am I not surprised that my 9th graders enter HS with a very shaky knowledge base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree PPs that the cultural appropriation argument is silly. What if you name your child after a dear friend from another culture? That's not "cultural appropriation."

People making this argument don't understand cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is not simply using something from another culture. That is cultural diffusion. It is a normal part of human interaction. My seventh graders are studying this. Things you can do without any "white guilt":
Use algebra.
Have a pinata at your 4 year old's birthday party.
Eat bagels and lox.
Wear snowshoes.
Name your newborn "Nzinga" after the famous 17th century Angolan queen who defied Portuguese slavers.

Cultural appropriation occurs when this borrowing is disrespectful. For example, "Columbusing": celebrating claims by a person of your ethnicity that her or she discovered something that people of another ethnic group have done for a long time. A good example of why this frustrates people of color is Miley Cyrus "twerking". My Chinese coworker says she finds it irritating when she sees whites and AAs with tattoos in Chinese characters and they can't tell her what the word or phrase is in Mandarin. Sometimes, they actually have a totally different concept inked on than they paid for.

Imagine the difference between
1. a coworker adopting a technique that you created and your boss acknowledges as your work
2. a coworker adopting a technique that you created and using it to get a raise or promotion because your boss won't acknowledge that it is your work.

Many minorities are frustrated because cultural appropriation is a continuation of unfair practices in place for centuries. Many patents awarded to whites in the antebellum era were actually the inventions of slaves and free people of color, but their intellectually property could not be legally or socially recognized.

This is all such bullshit. Please tell me that this isn't part of the 7th grade curriculum - that, instead, this is your way of "padding" the guide with crap.

Cultural misappropriation stems from ignorance - not knowing the difference between the spoken Mandarin and Cantonese and trying to impress your in-laws with the wrong version. It's not intentional.

And do you honestly think that anyone intelligent (from any race or culture) would consider twerking a "black invention" to be proud of? Furthermore, using the term "Columbusing" is both offensive and in this case, ironic.

Your other examples are plagiarism - intellectual theft. This is intentional. Stealing patents from slaves and free persons is still plagiarism, unless you're defining the institution of slavery as a culture.

Actually read what I wrote.
My students are studying cultural diffusion as part of the County-mandated curriculum. According to the curriculum guide "When cultures interact with one another, traditions, beliefs and values are exchanged through the dynamic process of cultural diffusion." (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/socialstudies/middle/grade7/7.2%20Overview.pdf)



And I see cultural diffusion in the guides. I don't see cultural misappropriation or appropriation. There's a big difference between the two. Cultures change and evolve as a result of immigration. I'll also add our "internet-friendly" environment to that mix, as it opens up the world to people who live in insular communities.

Once you address cultural misappropriation (b/c this is really the term you're teaching) with a group of students who - in 7th grade - don't know if they're coming or going, you can easily sway them, as there's no way to handle this concept with non-biased methods.

Intellectual theft is intellectual theft. Yes, you can bring up the fact (and it's a fact) that white society overpowered African Americans - took advantage of their situation by stealing their ideas. But that's not cultural appropriation. It's intellectual theft - or plagiarism.

Go for it, lady. Talks about oppression and institutionalized racism. It's there. But don't confuse terms - or bring up concepts that go over their heads.

Why am I not surprised that my 9th graders enter HS with a very shaky knowledge base.

Again, still not reading. I never said I taught my seventh graders about cultural appropriation. I said twice that they're learning about cultural diffusion. You had some type of conservative fear induced reading comprehension issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an offshoot of a thread that's currently in the "expectant moms" forum about the name Khalil. There's a small debate going on over there about white/european people using names of other cultures and whether or not this is ok or disrespectful. In this case the name is not just any Arabic name but is the name of a famous poet, Khalil Gibran. The child would be named after the poet but would not have any family or ethnic connection to the poet.

So I wanted to open up the discussion here, not specifically around the name Khalil but about naming children names that are from cultures that are not the parents' cultures. Is this cultural appropriation and/or is it "bad"?

I guess this isn't exactly "political" but I figured people looking at the "political" board might have interesting perspective about culture.

A name is a name. Only 1 percent of filipinos have any spanish in them yet the majority use hispanic names. Other asians or indians also use or change their name to american ones.

[Anonymous]

It isn't silly at all! This is a very serious topic right now!!

[Anonymous]

Interesting to hear people's perspectives on this.

Personally, I have and do borrow and find inspiration from several cultural traditions that are not "my own." When something form my culture is borrowed by a well-intentioned individual rather than, say, a "corporation" out to make a profit without any other motive, I don't have much problem with it.

Ha, I as a kid remember my mother getting all worked up about some disgusting pseudo-German Apple Strudel hot pocket kind of thing being marketed by a big corp, complete with a stupid sounding, fake-German accented spokesperson, and she lost her sh!t. And don't cross her path in an Americanized sexy Dirndl and mocking Lederhosen outfit on Oktoberfest, or you might learn some German words you don't actually want to learn.

[Anonymous]

I would be curious about the parent's motivation for naming a child "Khalil", "River" or whatever name outside of their cultural history. Perhaps the child was born in that culture, the parents are artists, or there is significance from family history.

But come now, we are living in the 21st century. A man with the name "Barack Obama" is president of the United States, women can fight on the front lines, we, in the public, need to rewire our brains to start accepting that there is no strict standard.

"American" no longer strictly refers to a white person, though that still seems to be the default or "standard" definition.

We need to evolve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. I was raised that the U.S. is a cultural melting pot, and that that's a good thing. Art, language, music, dance, and food all get better when influenced by other cultures. I can see the point of some cultural appropriation arguments -- for example, the demeaning "noble savage" view of Indians -- when the use is racist and causes real harm to how the target culture is treated, but a name does not belong to a particular culture, and especially if the name is of an admired artist.

I'd find a kid named Geronimo or Pocahontas odd regardless of the parents' background, but that's just because I haven't heard it very often. If I met a child named Running Horse, I might suspect the parents were a little loopy or trying too hard without some sort of Indian connection, but that's only what I think now. I thought the same thing the first time I ran into some of the old man/lady names that are very popular now.

I'm one of the AA moms above who doesn't care who uses what name. I also grew up with the melting pot analogy here in the US but I am glad that we have moved on more to the salad analogy. In a melting pot each individual ingredient is lost and everything becomes the same. In a salad each ingredient comes together to enhance and make the whole better, but each also still retains its individual nature.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Yes, stop being silly. You don't see Jews losing their shit every time gentiles adopt Hebrew names like Matthew, Nathan, Rachel, Sarah, Jacob et cetera...

We are indeed a melting pot. Embrace it. But do it respectfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The institution of slavery was a cultural practice. What do you think "culture" is? Musical compositions and architectural designs only. Every culture in human history has had some form of slavery with attendant beliefs, values, practices, and social frameworks. So, yes, the institution of slavery was cultural and continues to inform US culture.

Slavery as it existed during the period of European colonialism in the 1600s-1800s was appropriated from African culture. Yes, Europeans took advantage of it and expanded on it, but they didn't invent it.

Europeans had slavery long before they began importing Africans to the sugar islands during the period you specify. They simply got a supply of slaves from Africa and then applied their own cultural idea of slavery (lifelong chattel status of an ethnic other) to it. Neither Africans (those held in bondage) nor Arabs (the traders of African slaves) saw slavery this way.
Are you talking about feudal Europe and the serfs/landlords setup?
Did you know that all of Africa did not practice slavery? The slavery that was practiced in some parts was very different, the slave was rarely a slave for life and the children were born free. Occationally the slave would assimilate into the tribe/family as equal member.

What was practiced in America is slavery based on race, and that lasted for over 200 years. The scale of which had never been seen before in history

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes cultural appropriation is bad. So just to satisfy the liberal morons, you'll have to stop eating chinese food unless you're chinese. No spaghetti for you unless you're italian.

The italians appropriated the noodles from the Chinese.

thats actually a myth.

Tomatoes came from the America's. So, the sauce/gravy is definitely an appropriation.

[Anonymous]

The biggest cultural appropriation grifter: Elizbeth "Dolazel" Warren.

[Anonymous]

I have no problem with it. I don't care what other people name their kids.

[Anonymous]

Isn't there a thing called "cultural appreciation"? When you appreciate something from another culture, you might want to adopt it (be it food, dance, karate, names, whatever).

We need to stop arguing about these inconsequential things that ultimately cause only harm. I'm certainly not afraid of people becoming homogenous. Look, when you don't adapt, you die. That's just basic stuff. We live in a very interdependent world. Do you wish to isolate yourself? Why? Why is it necessary to be ethnocentric? Ethnocentricity is like inbreeding. Without fresh blood and ideas, you just wither. America is great because we are constantly injecting fresh ideas and using/remaking them.

Honestly, names are usually about admiration of something about the name (be it the sound, someone else who had the name, etc.). Nobody owns them. When I hear an unusual name, I am intrigued and pleased. I certainly would never feel like I can take away someone's right to name their child. We are enslaving people's minds. Not good. Freeeeeeedom!

And, sincerely, humans are creative. The mixing of peoples is a normal thing and will just make us learn and become better.

[Anonymous]

^ Cultures are fluid. It's neither a melting pot nor a salad. It's both in various degrees. And it's whatever each person wants it to be for him/herself. That's what is great. This is personal freedom to make yourself into whatever you want to be. Nobody should tell you what is right or wrong. We don't need culture police like they have in other backwater places in the world.

[Anonymous]

"Cultural Appropriation" is a perfect example of something that has become a self defeating talking point of so-called liberals within Academia and HuffingtonPost/Gawker type sites.

But attacking someone for "cultural appropriation" should be considered both conservative and bigoted.