Cultural Appropriation: Where to Draw the Line
ETHS 111
Kylie Applen
Cultural appropriation, defined by Cambridge English Dictionary as “The act of taking or
using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that
you understand or respect this culture.” However, what does that mean? How does one identify
culture, and who gets to decide what is cultural appropriation and what is just a harmless mix up?
Cultural appropriation is not only dangerous for minorities, but misleading and causes the spread
of false information about said minorities and cultures. Appropriation can be avoided. It is not
just a harmless mistake, nor is it uncommon despite this.
To begin, what makes cultural appropriation a bad thing? Appropriation is usually
instigated by a larger group of more privileged people who ‘borrow’ culture from a minority that
is oppressed. These privileged groups will take specific aspects of the culture they ‘borrow’ from
