A Few Discoveries and An Ethics Question

[browngirl]

• An MBTA flexible pass will still function after having been stuck in a washing machine for a week.
  
• This cold makes me sound rather like The Littlest Jagermonster.
  
• Balsamic vinegar is sadly wasted on a person with no sense of smell.
  
• OTOH, changing diapers is not nearly as onerous.
  
• tibicina is a great houseguest -- well, we already knew that. *grin*
  

So, I hear people muse about cultural appropriation, about people taking elements of other cultures than those they 'belong' to, and using them without really understanding them or otherwise misusing them.

Now, I generally believe that culture is learned, not genetic, so people who honestly are interested in a culture are entirely capable of learning it. (Hence my use of Scare Quotes around 'belonging' above.) For example, I roll my eyes at well-to-do children who affect the poses of hoodlums -- but that has to do with posturing, not with particular ethnicities.

That said, though...

I've been fascinated for years by the Scandinavian practice of honoring Saint Lucy the Lightbringer on the Winter Solstice (you knoe me and light imagery) so I decided to make her the theme of my Winter Holiday Card this year (thus making it a little more Christian than I really should for true ecumenicalism, but that;s *another* neurotic LJ post). And then I wondered if I was unfairly strip-mining a culture I don't actually belong to just for my own amusement, or if I was being inspired by an idea from another culture and translating it in a respectful way.

And that's about where I'm currently at. *muses*

Comments

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

My grandmother was Swedish, and I say it is okay. ;)

Really, I have never had a problem with people using other cultures ideas and customs, as long as they are respectful while doing it. After all, that is what America is, while some stuff does remain true to it's origins, some of that will be melded in with the "Greater Culture" of America. Look at Chinese food and Tex Mex food.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Yay! I have permission!

I really do think my perspective as an American influences my philosophy on these things--- this is something I love about us.