Merf. Thinking is Hard.Untitled: There’s this thing people ask about cultural appropriation a lot and it confuses me
They ask “Is it okay to wear [other culture’s clothes/ornamentation] if you’re invited to an event by people of that culture and they want you to do it?”
Which to me is like asking, “I heard that…I can’t help but wonder, then, if it’s because I’ve studied the culture and tradition that I don’t find it to be harmful.
I won’t lecture you on your misunderstandings, though, as I’m fairly certain it’s not desired. Thank you for answering my questions. ^.^
see, this is why i’m sometimes ambivalent about ethnic studies program — ‘cause often (i’m not gonna say always, bc i know there are exceptions) these programs are made by and for white people, who use them as a blunt instrument to confer authority upon themselves. they studied this, you see, so they know — they get to decide what is or isn’t an offensive interpretation to this culture, what would or world not hurt a member of it because they’re an expert. they love it so much and they know so much better than everyone else, of course they would never, could never do anything actually harmful!! if they didn’t love the the culture so much, they would never have studied it, never learned about it from other white experts, to assume a mantle of authority that allows them define and decide things about a community they are not and could never be a part of. it’s pure love, man.
tl;dr: from what i’ve seen, asian studies departments in particular tend to be little more than exercises in white imperialist masturbation, of course an adherent is gonna take the next step and say I GET TO DEFINE WHAT IS OR ISN’T OFFENSIVE IN THIS AREA, IF YOU THINK I’M WRONG YOU JUST HAVEN’T STUDIED AS MUCH AS ME, I’M AN EXPERT. :3c
Uh… this here:
I can’t help but wonder, then, if it’s because I’ve studied the culture and tradition that I don’t find it to be harmful.
I won’t lecture you on your misunderstandings, though, as I’m fairly certain it’s not desired. Thank you for answering my questions. ^.^
That is some serious condescending and patronizing bullshit. For all your studying is worth, it definitely hasn’t taught you the respect and approach to people of such cultures who might have a problem with your approach to their own culture. You studied? WE FUCKING LIVE IT. CHECK YOUR FUCKING DISRESPECTFUL SELF. You don’t get to tell us what is harmful to us. All you’ve shown me is that your Asian studies department at your school pretty much teaches American kids imperialistic and objectifying ideologies, which in no way is innovative and informative to your person. You have no right to claim superior knowledge over us about our own fucking lives. All you’ve done is complain about other people “not understanding” you, other people who have been hurt a lot more by institutionalized racism than you can even begin to conceive of. Stop being a spoiled brat and own up to the fact that your actions might be racist and hurtful to other people. Booooo.
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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Time for a reminder that academia is built on imperialist, elitist traditions and is at its core a racist institution. But you know, no one ever wants to read their Said or Spivak or Andrea Smith or Ella Shohat.
