About Cultural Theft (or any other name, really)
by Topher West with Lydia Pelot-HobbsI was at a Spirituality Development Conference in the spring of 2003. We were doing an activity on cultural appropriation. We were doing a continuum activity* with cultural appropriation and respectful cultural sharing on the opposite ends of the room. Different actions were read out and we were to move to where in the spectrum we felt the action lay. At some point someone brought up the concern that "the united states kkkongress had an appropriations committee and therefore appropriation wasn't inherently bad." The person was caught up in the words. Appropriation is the taking of something and using it as if it is your own. Some people say cultural appropriation and some say cultural misappropriation. I don't see much of a difference at all.
Non-Indigenous people who wear mohawks or white kids who wear dreadlocks are stealing pieces of a different history, culture, struggle and taking it as their own. Cultural misappropriation also occurs during worship, when quoting authors, books or using songs without giving the creator credit or the piece context. You can name it cultural theft, cultural appropriation, misappropriation, or cultural imperialism because the words reflect the same racist dynamic of domination, false sense of entitlement, and true ignorance.
Institutional racism creates power relationships along assigned racial lines giving power and privileges to white people. In a society that is built on white supremacy, white folks stealing from other cultures lifts up white people while it pushes down People of Color. The stealing of cultures among People of Color hurts People of Color communities, but it continues to uplift white people. To continue building a movement of resistance, respect for cultures and people must become the normal course of action.
Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUUs) are struggling to become an open, accountable community. We must stay rooted in ourselves and the effects of our actions. Our communities are filled by what all we bring with us. What culture(s) do you come from? How can you/do you celebrate that? How can we share our culture(s) with each other? What are effective ways that you have been challenged about stealing from other cultures? How can you challenge others around you who practice cultural imperialism? The exercise at the Spirituality Development Conference, I believe, was trying to raise these questions; was trying to agitate for accountable worship and lifestyles. Hear the lessons beyond the words—hear the lessons of respect, accountability, and social justice!
It is not only in the language that we use, but also in our actions that liberation is found.
It is not always an option to be grounded in our inherited spiritual traditions, but it is always possible not to steal from other's inherited spiritual traditions.
(*Continuum Activity: An activity in which there is an imaginary continuum line in the room, with one side of the room representing one extreme, the other side representing another extreme. To represent how you feel about a given issue, you can stand closer to one side or the other or in the middle.)
Topher West is a member of the anti-racism trainer organizer collective and Lydia Pelot-Hobbs is a radical student organizer for various groups at Oberlin College. They would like to thank Joo Young Choi and Beth Dana for crucial editing help!
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
