Cultural Appropriation.

Would sushi be on my ‘death row dinner’ menu?

Before I answer my own question, I probably need to give a little time and space to the ‘cultural appropriation’ issue, and then you’ll see how it fits in with my theme.

I’ll be honest, I had never heard of it until I saw an article on white female celebrities wearing their hair in ‘cornrows’, seemingly appropriating it from black culture.

‘Appropriation’ is a fancy word for ‘stealing’ and what seems to be the big beef is when the stolen artifact, style, music, dance or whatever, is filched by a dominant culture from a minority or oppressed culture. This carries with it shades of ‘colonialism’, a word that seems to carry an automatic taint and damages all that it touches.

But it appears that the minority or oppressed culture is a very moveable definition. Take this particular example:

In the UK, Archbishop Justin Welby criticised the wearing of crucifixes as fashion items, particularly as cute accessories with Japanese ‘Lolita’ fashion devotees, thus imposing another meaning on what is otherwise a well-established brand (perhaps THE most well-established brand/logo, a brand that is too big to fail and surely above such issues?). Justin; it’s not the symbol, it’s the context. Go down that road Justin and you end up at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

My own feeling is that if cultural aspects were not ‘appropriated’ we all would be much the poorer culturally.

Another quick example:

In the 1960’s, if a bunch of spotty English musicians hadn’t ‘appropriated’ black American blues music, something that in the USA was pigeonholed as mere ‘race music’ and somewhat of a backwater, then we wouldn’t have had the Rolling Stones and everything that has spun off that since. Also, poor black musicians in the 19^th century in America also seemed to have ‘appropriated’ Irish and Scots fiddle music and ballads to be incorporated into the blues (example, ‘St James Infirmary Blues’). So, it all swings around and everyone benefits. You could argue about the power dynamic in that till the cows come home.

Is this ‘appropriation’, ‘celebration’ or ‘cross-fertilisation’?

Critics of the bandwagon of ‘cultural appropriation’ say that it sets up a closed-door situation and is deeply conservative, reinforcing a victim mentality and opening old wounds.

While we shouldn’t brush those things under the carpet, my view is that the more developed cultures all benefitted from cross-fertilisation and inclusivity rather than exclusivity. The whole of the civilised world is a complex, ever-moving interwoven tapestry of cultural interactions. The opposite to that is just unthinkable and naïve. Cultures would just disappear up their own backsides.

More Japanese than the Japanese.

It is laudable to celebrate and acknowledge the cultural treasures of countries outside of our own, but can it go too far?

When dealing with the Japanese it is so very rare for them to exceed their own cultural politeness to openly confront a Westerner who has either gone too far, or just got it wrong. There is an expectation that Westerners will mess up when interacting with things Japanese. Like a barely house-trained toddler we are tolerated or gently rebuked.

For me, there are so many things that the Japanese have got right. Here are a few of my cultural highlights:

·       Japanese cuisine takes into consideration the pleasure of all the key senses, through the visual appearance, the aroma, the taste, the texture and I would even go so far as to say the sound (I am thinking of the sizzling hotplate served to your table).

·       Wabi Sabi (definition: “a world view centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection”) If you don’t know about this, read up on it; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi  .

·       The long-held tradition of cultural inclusivity of the higher art forms, at all levels of society. Maybe not so much now, but definitely in the past. In the West, folk music is for the plebs and Rachmaninoff is for the elite.

·       Reigi (definition: “A formal system of etiquette that externally represents one’s heartfelt thoughts and respect for others”.)

·       The beauty of Zen-like minimalism in design. Harmony in essentialism. Even the simplest of garments and utensils are just divine.

I could go on.

This is not to say that Japanese society is all that is wonderful. They have some of the same problems we have in the West and many that are unique to them.

In the traditional martial arts as they developed in the West, we are inevitably drawn towards the cultural qualities of the national root of the systems we engage with. I sincerely believe that the richness of the experience comes from an understanding of the cultural origin, but you don’t have to go the whole hog. There is no need to become a Buddhist or a devotee of the tea ceremony or flower arranging, unless, taken on their own, they align with your deeper inclinations.

Westerners can get it wrong; think of examples of over-decorated ‘traditional’ Dojo in the Western environment, without understanding that there is a whole language and protocol associated with such enterprises.

The wrong use of honorifics; Sensei, Hanshi, etc. I am sure that at one level the Japanese appreciate this tribute to their cultural attributes, but deep down they know that it’s a flawed gesture.

It’s a cultural minefield out there, but unless you are really risk-averse, it’s one worth tiptoeing through; but do it with an open mind and expect to get it wrong, because that’s where you learn.

In answer to my own question; would sushi be on my death row dinner menu? I don’t think so; too much competition from the grand European tradition.

Header image: Claude Monet’s wife Camille Doncieux wearing a kimono, 1875 (Public Domain).