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Culture for sale
Aug. 16th, 2009 02:50 pmI don't belong to mainstream American culture. I don't watch TV all day. I don't pray to Jesus as my god. I don't believe in any of the mainstream western religions. I don't buy into a lot of mainstream western culture.
I've found myself a part of various subcultures that seem to refer to themselves as "counter-cultural". Self described witches, pagans, shamans, hippies, ravers, etc. Much of this culture seems to be about gathering tools together from varieties of sources and using it to create your own manifestation of spirituality and personal expression. To create a personal image of clothing and outfits and home decor and spirituality that comes from a variety of sources, most especially Hindu, Buddhist, and various Native American sources.
I go down to the Haight and see merchants selling items with traditional clothing and tools and religious icons of these cultures. They are often being sold to white people by people of color. The notion is that, in purchasing these images and elements, you are adding "exotic, new age, hippie" decor to your home/life/spiritual practice/whatever.
From what I can see... new age, hippie, pagan shops are predominantly focused on repackaging and selling the cultures of peoples from across the globe, from Native Americans to Indians to ancient Celts, and on. I believe that this is the definition of cultural appropriation.
This puts me in a difficult spot. I have wound up in a culture where, effectively, stealing other people's cultural elements is considered completely normal. Yet I am not completely oblivious to the way that this culture's appropriation of other cultures is harmful to those cultures.
So how do I navigate this? Do I simply close my eyes to it and embrace this white privileged appropriation of other cultures? Or do I avoid it completely and find myself in a situation where I have no culture? Or is there a middle ground?
It's something that I am constantly thinking about, and I do various things to try to... avoid doing a great deal of appropriation of other cultures. Instead, I try to learn from other cultures as much as possible and, taking what I can from those cultures, create something that is novel enough that it does not resemble any other culture.
Simple ways that I do this is that I refuse to have any icons of any deities that I have not become personally familiar with. While out shopping for tapestries yesterday, I was offered tapestries that had images of Ganesha, Shiva, and Buddha on them. I turned them down in favor of tapestries with moons and stars and fairies on them. And one with fairly abstract patterns on it, as far as I can tell. I do this in my personal spiritual practice as well: I don't try to pray to or incorporate elements of other religions until I've spent a more significant time learning about them and actually understanding them. And even then, I won't say that I'm a "Buddhist" or a "Hindu" or a "shaman" or "two-spirited" or anything like that because those terms have meaning that I don't fully comprehend and don't think that I deserve to use.
I'm not Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Native American, or a member of any other of the cultures that make up the "melting pot" that new agers take from. So I will not take their symbols, their iconography, their style of dress, etc. At least, I don't when I'm aware of something being directly from one of those cultures.
My cultural style does seem to lend itself well to the description of "new age hippie." But I try to keep it focused on the elements that western culture has added to it, and avoid direct usurping of other cultures. My artwork is generic, abstract, or western, for the most part. Many elements of my style come from the psychedelic imagery of the 1960s and 70s. Rainbows and patterns and things that seem to move when you look at them. And I go for black lights, plastic glow-in-the-dark stars, legos, action figures, and posters of bands. My clothing is odd elements combined from many different things to create something that is, as far as I can see, rather unique.
I do have white privilege. I don't know whether I'm contributing to cultural appropriation or not, but I would guess that I am. In my quest to find my own culture, I'm struggling as best I can to find a path that does not step on the toes of others. I hope that I show people real respect, instead of fake western plastic white respect as from someone exoticizing people of color and their traditions.
I've found myself a part of various subcultures that seem to refer to themselves as "counter-cultural". Self described witches, pagans, shamans, hippies, ravers, etc. Much of this culture seems to be about gathering tools together from varieties of sources and using it to create your own manifestation of spirituality and personal expression. To create a personal image of clothing and outfits and home decor and spirituality that comes from a variety of sources, most especially Hindu, Buddhist, and various Native American sources.
I go down to the Haight and see merchants selling items with traditional clothing and tools and religious icons of these cultures. They are often being sold to white people by people of color. The notion is that, in purchasing these images and elements, you are adding "exotic, new age, hippie" decor to your home/life/spiritual practice/whatever.
From what I can see... new age, hippie, pagan shops are predominantly focused on repackaging and selling the cultures of peoples from across the globe, from Native Americans to Indians to ancient Celts, and on. I believe that this is the definition of cultural appropriation.
This puts me in a difficult spot. I have wound up in a culture where, effectively, stealing other people's cultural elements is considered completely normal. Yet I am not completely oblivious to the way that this culture's appropriation of other cultures is harmful to those cultures.
So how do I navigate this? Do I simply close my eyes to it and embrace this white privileged appropriation of other cultures? Or do I avoid it completely and find myself in a situation where I have no culture? Or is there a middle ground?
It's something that I am constantly thinking about, and I do various things to try to... avoid doing a great deal of appropriation of other cultures. Instead, I try to learn from other cultures as much as possible and, taking what I can from those cultures, create something that is novel enough that it does not resemble any other culture.
Simple ways that I do this is that I refuse to have any icons of any deities that I have not become personally familiar with. While out shopping for tapestries yesterday, I was offered tapestries that had images of Ganesha, Shiva, and Buddha on them. I turned them down in favor of tapestries with moons and stars and fairies on them. And one with fairly abstract patterns on it, as far as I can tell. I do this in my personal spiritual practice as well: I don't try to pray to or incorporate elements of other religions until I've spent a more significant time learning about them and actually understanding them. And even then, I won't say that I'm a "Buddhist" or a "Hindu" or a "shaman" or "two-spirited" or anything like that because those terms have meaning that I don't fully comprehend and don't think that I deserve to use.
I'm not Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Native American, or a member of any other of the cultures that make up the "melting pot" that new agers take from. So I will not take their symbols, their iconography, their style of dress, etc. At least, I don't when I'm aware of something being directly from one of those cultures.
My cultural style does seem to lend itself well to the description of "new age hippie." But I try to keep it focused on the elements that western culture has added to it, and avoid direct usurping of other cultures. My artwork is generic, abstract, or western, for the most part. Many elements of my style come from the psychedelic imagery of the 1960s and 70s. Rainbows and patterns and things that seem to move when you look at them. And I go for black lights, plastic glow-in-the-dark stars, legos, action figures, and posters of bands. My clothing is odd elements combined from many different things to create something that is, as far as I can see, rather unique.
I do have white privilege. I don't know whether I'm contributing to cultural appropriation or not, but I would guess that I am. In my quest to find my own culture, I'm struggling as best I can to find a path that does not step on the toes of others. I hope that I show people real respect, instead of fake western plastic white respect as from someone exoticizing people of color and their traditions.
