And to say that nonwhite groups borrow from European culture is equally as tone-deaf; it isn’t “borrowing” when we were forced by law and social mores to adhere to Eurocentric social, religious, and beauty standards for centuries. TORONTO _ The managing editor of CBC’s “The National” was reassigned Wednesday for what the public broadcaster called “an inappropriate, insensitive and frankly unacceptable tweet” he made as part of a controversial debate over cultural appropriation. If that were true across the board in Canadian literature and journalism, we wouldn’t be here. The above-mentioned creators had enough respect for their work to immerse themselves in the culture, drop their preconceptions, and represent both the culture and their characters in an authentic manner. Not after writing The Mandibles, featuring a bumbling Mexican-American U.S. President who debases the currency, opens the borders to a flood of ravening immigrants, and ushers in America’s collapse. Reading appropriation through its cultural historical context in relation to modernist art and conceptual art, the practice of appropriation emerges as an extension of colonial practices and as an extractivist economy. At some gut level, all white Canadians understand this concept, and in fact unknowingly respect the idea that some cultural and social symbols are both sacred and worthy of protection. rakes in album and concert sales; musicians of Caribbean background toil in obscurity. And yet, there persists a belief that culture is hardly more than a community swap meet, or the take-a-penny leave-a-penny dish at the corner store. This article historicizes cultural appropriation in Canadian literature today by examining key texts from the critiques of cultural appropriation in Canadian culture in the 1990s. This article historicizes cultural appropriation in Canadian literature today by examining key texts from the critiques of cultural appropriation in Canadian culture in the 1990s. Likewise, Eurocentric culture and values were, for centuries, imposed on the rest of the world by force. To say a condemnation of Amanda PL is a condemnation of Norval Morriseau is strikingly tone-deaf from an author who ought to know better. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. It is tiresome to watch our white colleagues drape themselves in constitutional rights, and demand a platform not only to pass off lazy, sloppy, and insulting work as genuine, but to profit from it at our expense. If that were true across the board in Canadian literature and journalism, we wouldn’t be here. Amanda PL, on the other hand, sought out and pilfered from cultures that exist in spite of the exhaustive efforts this country has made to wipe them out. Images representing Indigenous peopleshave appeared in newspapers, advertisements and other forms of media and print for centuries. Cultural appropriation is galling to those of us who come from the cultures being appropriated, especially when we face social and financial repercussions for not shedding our own cultures and assimilating into the dominant one. Steve Ladurantaye, CBC Editor Who Backed Cultural Appropriation Prize, Reassigned Steve Ladurantaye said that he would contribute $100. A day after Hal Niedzviecki resigned his editorial position at Write Magazine—an incident that prompted top editors and journalists to advocate for an “appropriation prize”—columnist Elizabeth Renzetti wrote in the Globe and Mail: “Ideas that incite violence or hatred deserve condemnation. Journalists from some of Canada’s largest media organisations have thrown their support behind the creation of prize rewarding authors who seek to write about peoples and cultures … We also know that cultural appropriation is not a prominent part of Canadian history, which instead emphasized assimilation of indigenous peoples. Of course, “culture” goes beyond symbols and products; it creeps into nearly every aspect of life for racialized groups, including the comfort foods we cook (e.g. © Copyright 2021 St. Joseph Communications. Amanda PL and Joseph Boyden profit from their forgery of Indigenous art and culture; actual Indigenous writers and artists struggle for recognition and remuneration. At this point, I don’t believe anyone still taking the other side of this issue is all that interested in free speech. Jonathan Kay also left as editor in chief of The Walrus magazine following an opinion piece he wrote for the National Post newspaper on the right to debate cultural appropriation. A meme I saw online put it bluntly: “While you were busy playing Indians, we were punished for being Indians.”, MORE: One way forward, after the Appropriation Prize fiasco. Ladurantaye was among those who engaged in a Twitter conversation that was sparked by a contentious magazine article advocating for more cultural appropriation in Canadian literature. Given the number of thinkpieces generated lately in favour of “free speech” and creative license in defence of cultural appropriation—if not dismissing the concept altogether as leftist hysterics—I wonder if some aren’t missing the point. Or if I were to put on a “FDNY” T-shirt, go to a bar in New York, and accept free drinks, I would rightly be thrown out on my backside when the jig was finally up. It is the lifting of cultural aspects from underrepresented groups of people, and not only offering nothing in return, but expecting their gratitude for the promotion. A heated debate over cultural appropriation and free speech boiled over in Canadian media after a controversial opinion piece was published … 6Young, Cultural Appropriation and the Arts, p. 113. What’s her problem?’ And the author said, ‘Well, it’s my problem.’ ‘Well, then you shouldn’t be writing about that period.’ That has stayed with me—it was about 15 years ago. In his own way, André Alexis made this argument in his Globe and Mail piece. Andre Alexis in his home. The concept of cultural appropriation was born of the works of thes… After all, if Kay were correct, how is it that Yann Martel, a white Canadian, managed to avoid such controversy when Life of Pi, a story steeped in Indian culture, topped best-seller lists and won the Man Booker prize? Helpless Maidens and Chivalrous Knights: Afghan Women in the Canadian Press, Emotions and Eating Behaviour: Implications for the Current Obesity Epidemic. It’s why both apologies and resignations have arisen from this mess, and why the need for systemic reform within the media sphere is more urgent than ever. Kenneth Coutts-Smith first coined the term ‘cultural appropriation’ in his 1976 essay Some General Observations on the Concept of Cultural Colonialism, defining it as whenever a dominant group steals/borrows icons, ideas or other beliefs from a weaker group without understanding the cultural significance (1976, p. 6). But … This is an infuriating and exhausting conversation to keep coming back to. 37 Full PDFs related to this paper. (Adrian Wyld/CP). in the Cultural Appropriation Controversy," Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 6 (1993): 249-85; Janice Hladki, "Problematizing the Issue of Cultural Appropriation," Alternate Routes 11 (1994): 95-119. our editorial process. Essay: Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible : Code Switch Recently, the New York Times published an essay defending cultural appropriation as necessary engagement. Even overlooking the cross-section visual style with thick black lines and bright colours, one look at Morrisseau’s The Gift or Shaman with Sacred Corn, would be enough to make clear that Amanda PL’s work would be considered plagiarism in almost any other medium. With the debate over Joseph Boyden’s identity a few short months ago, the piece from Niedzviecki seems to be an act … Can taking from European culture be considered “appropriation” when assimilation was, by and large, the only real option? He is dismissing the widespread demand from Black audiences to watch relatable and humanized characters, in favour of his own desire to see the near-segregated cinematic world he grew up with reflected to him in perpetuity. May 22, 2017, A worker installs Canadian Aboriginal artist Norval Morrisseau’s painting “Androgyny” in the ballroom at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Sept. 18, 2008. Though it was over 15 years ago, Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay did offer a fairly nuanced take, and offer a good example to follow. Canadian multiculturalism, or its literature anyway, is simultaneously reaching a crisis also given the name of “cultural appropriation.” We live in increasingly diverse cities—their diversity is their principal attractive feature—and our literature has aggressively promoted diversity for 30 years or more. Indigenous writers like Robert Jago, Alicia Elliott, Ryan McMahon, and Chelsea Vowel have, in blistering detail, explained why white entitlement to Indigenous culture is less a matter of expression, and more an appendix in Canada’s shameful history of colonial plunder. The challenge stems from Indigenous critics Daniel David Moses’ and Lenore Keeshig-Tobias’ 1989 que… We are barely a couple of decades from the closure of the last residential school in Canada, and only a few decades removed from the repeal of laws that called for the arrest of Indigenous people who took part in traditional dances. 4 (Winter, 2000): 2. Amanda PL (who, it bears mentioning, is a white woman) was scheduled to open at the Visions Gallery in Toronto, but heavy criticism from the local Indigenous community put a stop to that. But when you’re writing about history you have to make an effort to be aware of your own prejudices, your own presuppositions, and filter for them as best you can.”. The problem, which has been explained exhaustively by writers across the colour spectrum, is laziness and entitlement. This site uses cookies for analytics and access management. June 27, 2017 6.58pm EDT Last month, cultural appropriation became a big issue in the Canadian publishing and media world after the trade association magazine, … Or, for that matter, if a Canadian designer released lines that not only stole their look from Indigenous clothing patterns, but twisted the knife by incorporating the slurs “Squaw” and “Eskimo” into their names. TORONTO — The editor-in-chief of a Canadian magazine has stepped down amid a contentious conversation about cultural appropriation in Canadian media and literature. Before Niedzviecki’s ill-considered editorial, one of the latest incidents precipitating this conversation was the cancellation of an art exhibit. Google Scholar Appropriation is contextualized in relation to a modernist temporality that constructs an They’re not looking for a debate; they’re looking for a return to a time when their voices were elevated, and ours were silenced altogether. But this is a completely off-base comparison; Christianity is not borrowed from in the same way, in the sense that heathens typically don’t freely seek out the faith and absorb its most fascinating aspects into their dominant culture. There is nothing more confounding in the artistic and journalism worlds than the antagonism generated by that phrase “cultural appropriation.” Which is itself peculiar, because for people whose livelihoods often depend on the comprehension of words, and the ability to utilize them, it’s as if the Almighty himself descended on Babel to confuse the language of writers and artists when we get to talking about this topic. Kay was asked why his books are set within historical periods in Europe, and I was struck by his answer: “Pure personal fascination.”, “I have a vivid memory of one novelist who wrote a book about Dynastic Egypt and was giving a reading from it at a convention once and explaining how her heroine felt gravely imperilled because they were expecting her to marry her brother. The answer isn’t complicated. It upsets me when Black girls are punished at school or disciplined at work for wearing their hair in the very styles that white girls are celebrated for trying on like costumes. Malik is not the first person to defend cultural appropriation. This paper historicizes cultural appropriation in Canadian Literature today by examining key texts from the critiques of cultural appropriation in Canadian culture in the 1990s. A white Canadian painter was to show her paintings in a Toronto gallery, but indigenous activists accused her of cultural appropriation, leading to the show's cancellation. In a way, supporters of appropriation are trying to Make Art Great Again. But the current champions of cultural appropriation aren’t interested in nuance—they’re interested in hegemony. “He was accused of debasing them. How is it that Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (director and writer of Slumdog Millionaire, respectively), were not likewise called out for appropriating Indian culture? Contemporary Indigenous writers employ a range of strategies to voice their unique stories and understandings. read It isn’t that anyone against cultural appropriation has a problem with freedom of speech. Finally, in some cases, what is being marked as cultural appropriation is instead actually cultural exploitation , … If I wish, for example, to make sparkling wine and call it Champagne, or make whisky in Canada and call it Scotch, I would find myself in legal jeopardy. Being forced into Christian doctrine by residential schooling, and later converting to Christianity himself, those symbols were not “appropriated” by Morrisseau more than any other artist baptized into the faith—unless, that is, one believes his Indigeneity places him farther from God’s light than a white artist. Nadra Kareem Nittle. Updated January 04, 2019. Voyeurism, exploitation and capitalism all play a role in maintaining the practice. There’s a worthy and nuanced debate to be had about cultural appropriation. It seems increasingly clear cultural appropriation's champions aren’t interested in nuance or even free speech—they’re interested in hegemony, By Andray Domise The entitlement with which artsy grifters steal, repurpose, and profit from Indigenous culture would be laughable if not for this country’s cruel and consistent attempts to exorcise it from the people it belonged to. What’s been missing from this conversation is a writer or artist on the free speech side of the issue, who can take an honest and respectful view of the cultures he or she wishes to explore. It isn’t that anyone against cultural appropriation has a problem with freedom of speech. It helped to spark a lot of discussion about appropriation within Canadian publishing. Cultural Appropriation and the Arts As I mentioned in a previous article on the subject, One way forward, after the Appropriation Prize fiasco. THE CANADIAN PRESS. Unfortunately, cultural appropriation in the Canadian literary community is an all-consuming fire that has yet to be put out. Because as much as some artists would like to frame it through the lens of speech and expression, what they’re really arguing for is the right to be lazy in their craft, and to continue speaking over those whose voices have historically been silenced. But what about ideas that are uncomfortable or provocative or even (to some readers) ignorant? As I mentioned in a previous article on the subject, cultural appropriation amounts to theft. But I can’t imagine what reaction I’d have if my family’s sacred garments were ripped off and resold by European fashion labels. He joins a long list that, most recently, has included prominent members of the Canadian literary community and author Lionel Shriver. Another is that nonwhite groups borrow from European culture all the time. Cultures can be explored without, as Jonathan Kay put it, identity politics fundamentalists running riot. ($1 = C$1.36) The reggae band Magic! They’re just pining for a time when the rest of us were under pressure to shut up. It angers me when artists like Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry fetishize Black culture, and then retreat into the safe spaces of whiteness once their act has worn thin. Rosemary J. Coombe, “The Properties of Culture and the Politics of Possessing Identity: Native Claims in the Cultural Appropriation Controversy,” Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 6 (2) (1993): 251–52, 259. When Quentin Tarantino argues the Netflix series Luke Cage (based on a Marvel comic of the same name) should have kept its 70s setting and Blaxploitation roots, he’s not just yearning for nostalgia. Why is The Wire, a show with a majority Black cast, considered one of the best shows ever aired on television when its showrunner, David Simon, is a white man? To weigh one type of sacredness equally against another is to say that Morrisseau and Amanda PL took the same paths to their altars. To be clear, “cultural appropriation” is not creating art which deviates out of the racialized swim lane one was born into. And that is at the root of why this “appropriation prize” fiasco was so hurtful to many. It is superimposing one’s own understandings of another culture over that actual culture, slapping a package on it, modelling it, and often selling it. Cultural appropriation is a persistent phenomenon. On diversity, Canadian media is throwing stones in a glass house. With this review of cultural appropriation, learn to define and identify the trend, why it’s problematic, and the alternatives that can be taken to stop it. The outrage that followed resulted in Niedzviecki resigning from his position at Write magazine.. Related: Writers' Union of Canada sorry for article encouraging cultural appropriation. To some degree, you can’t help but be a product of your own time and place. Steve Ladurantaye, editor of CBC’s ‘The National,’ reassigned after cultural appropriation flap By Ben Rayner Pop Music Critic Wed., May 17, 2017 timer 3 min. “fried chicken and cheese grits”), and the vernacular language we use among like company (e.g. In an 2001 issue of the fantasy and science fiction journal Challenging Destiny. “Norval Morrisseau was himself criticized for using sacred symbols in his work,” he wrote. There is a consistency, here, but how strange that some of the condemnation of PL would necessarily be a condemnation of Morrisseau, too.” I was surprised someone as culturally adept as Alexis would make an assertion like this, because he is eliding a very important contextual fact: Norval Morrisseau was taken from his home as a child and placed in a residential school, where he was not only indoctrinated with Christianity, but was sexually and emotionally abused. I would very likely lose in court, because we accept that the cultural authenticity of alcohol in certain regions merits legal protection. READ PAPER. Countering this, I point to the Indigenous concept of “cultural belongings” as a form of critique and alterity that counters the logic of cultural appropriation. Autism Fiction: A Mirror of an Internet Decade? When Lionel Shriver, for example, wears a sombrero to a writer’s conference and delivers a speech extolling the virtues of “wearing other people’s hats,” she isn’t being an honest broker. The diversity of expressive forms affirms the challenge Barbara Godard makes in her article The Politics of Representation: Some Native Canadian Women Writersto non-Indigenous literary institutions about how we define and who gets to define the appropriate form of language and literature. But this isn’t to say that culture is, as Alexis writes, a “straitjacket” where appropriation is concerned. Appropriation of Aboriginal cultural heritage first became a popular subject of mainstream Canadian opinion journalism in the 1990s, starting with a series of letters to the editor in The Globe and Mail.. Appropriation in Post-colonialism By Nasrullah Mambrol on September 28, 2017 • ( 1 ) A term used to describe the ways in which post-colonial societies take over those aspects of the imperial culture – language, forms of writing, film, theatre, even modes of thought and argument such as rationalism, logic and analysis – that may be of use to them in articulating their own social and cultural … AC: Just this fall, the Canada Council for the Arts released a statement on cultural appropriation, saying that they were not going to be supporting artists who were culturally appropriative, in support of Indigenous communities. We have lost the appetite for confronting those ideas, for sharpening different, resonant arguments to counter them.”It inspired Jonathan Kay to take to the National Post: “It’s part of what may be described as the medicalization of the marketplace of ideas: It is no longer enough to say that you merely disagree with something.” Perhaps most surprisingly, Giller Prize-winning author André Alexis chimed in for the Globe and Mail, and while he chastised Niedzviecki for a “bewilderingly silly” idea, he added later that “I can’t help feeling, though, that as we celebrate Canada 150, we have devised an idea—‘cultural appropriation’—that runs the risk of hiding Indigenous Canadian culture, not preserving it.”, MORE: On diversity, Canadian media is throwing stones in a glass house. We understand these social rules to the extent that I would be a complete fool to question why a group of bar patrons punched me in the face over what I considered a meaningless T-shirt. And her relevant critical works have not been referenced in recent debates around cultural appropriation and anti-Black racism in Canadian literature. May 11, 2017 The simmering debate over cultural appropriation took another turn on Wednesday, when the Writers Union of Canada apologized for a … Appropriation is contextualized in relation to a modernist temporality that constructs an Other outside of modernity and to the temporality in Frantz Fanon’s A Dying Colonialism, a temporality in which the colonized is liberated but the … Sarah Thomson, former Toronto mayoral candidate, wore her hair in dreadlocks while campaigning; Akua Agyemfra, a Black server at Jack Astor’s, was sent home for wearing her natural hair in a bun. 2 Margery Fee, “Reading Aboriginal Lives,” Canadian Literature, 167, no. Yet, the conversation around Amanda PL’s exhibition centred on “appropriation,” rather than “theft,” and for the umpteenth time, a conversation on who gets to participate in (and profit from) Indigenous culture became an argument over who Indigenous people even are to draw the boundaries. Source: The Canadian Press May 18, 2017 By Victoria Ahearn. “Mama put her foot in these grits”). And of course that scandalized her. By Vanessa Udy. And somebody in the audience said, ‘Why?’ ‘Because it’s incest.’ ‘But she’s a Dynastic Egyptian princess. (Photograph by Jaime Hogge). Scholars who critiqued these depictions and similar forms of appropriation as acts of colonialism during the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, used concepts of class, power, race and gender to explore the ways in which dominant, colonial powers used the practices or cultural items of colonized peoples. F or anyone who has lost track amid all the twists and turns, just about a week ago the scandal that began with an editorial calling for a cultural appropriation prize was not so much as a twitch in anyone’s eye.
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