I’ve been distracted by books and other pretty things, but here I am to make a post about something that I’m not sure how to deal with: appropriation. It seems like everyone is talking about it, and everyone has a different opinion on it. 

I understand that it’s an issue. I understand why it’s an issue. 

What I don’t understand is what I’m supposed to do. I’ve seen posts saying that if something speaks to you, you’re not allowed to research it (they didn’t explain why, so I can only assume because it would be condescending or insulting?). If I’m not allowed to learn about anything that speaks to me, what am I left with?

On another note, it makes me wonder where the line is drawn between acceptable appropriation (ie, anime from Japanese culture), and non-acceptable appropriation (ie bindis, feather headdresses, etc). 

This picture was recently making the rounds (it still might be, for all I know):

and it made me think. II (going by traditional BINGO locations) also made me a bit upset, because what I took that to mean is, if you happen to be white living in a PoC country, you are not allowed to do what everyone around you does. A specific example would be a white child growing up in Hawaii. Growing up, this child see Hawaiian culture: Hawaiian traditions, Hawaiian food, clothes, and values. He plays with Hawaiian children, and from them picks up yet more things: the language, or the various meanings of different hula movements. Would you tell that child he’s appropriating someone else’s culture, simply because his skin isn’t the same color as his friends’? If you took away everything he learned as he was growing up, what would he be left with? And how would you explain it to him? 

Where is the line drawn?

Found the “Cultural Appropriation BINGO” here.