sonia: Quilted wall-hanging (Default)
[personal profile] sonia
Do you ever have a gut-twisting thought that just doesn't seem right, but won't go away, either?

I've been thinking about cultural appropriation in relation to my interest in Balkan dancing and singing. Is my interest, at some level, appropriative?

If so, what interests would be clean for me? Israeli dancing, since my heritage is Jewish? Square dancing, because I was born in the US? German folk dancing, because my grandparents came from Germany? I was invited to join a local German dance group, and politely but firmly declined. Their flashy turning dances and oom-pa music don't interest me at all.

The last three generations of my family were born on three different continents. (Just before WWII my grandparents fled to Chile, because that's where they could get in, and that's why I exist at all.) I moved another 3000 miles across the US, and then again north to Portland. I feel displaced and rootless as it is, without trying to align my interests with some kind of blood-right.

Does anyone know of resources that address these questions? There must be a line somewhere between obvious cultural appropriation and multicultural interests, but I don't know where it is. I've read a little bit about third-culture kids, which seems related.

ETA: One of the reasons this question feels gut-twisting is that the international folk music I grew up with feels more like home to me than any location or tradition or person.

Date: 2011-11-29 06:38 am (UTC)
cofax7: climbing on an abbey wall  (Default)
From: [personal profile] cofax7
Just a drive-by as I'm heading to bed, but it's worth remembering that one of the elements of cultural appropriation is that the culture in question is general an oppressed minority. Does the appropriation contribute to the marginalization of an oppressed group? Which is a qualitative question; the analysis is subjective and fairly complicated. Off the top of my head, I don't know that you learning Balkan folk dancingparticularly if you're learning it from actual folks from the Balkansis contributing to the devaluation of an oppressed culture.

Date: 2011-11-29 11:35 am (UTC)
onyxlynx: 4 triangles, 3 pointing down, 1 up, 1 brown ellipse with purple border (Colorful)
From: [personal profile] onyxlynx
Apparently the "appropriation" part comes when one:
  1. marginalizes the original practitioners of a culture not one's own;
  2. alters a cultural practice to suit dominant culture values; or
  3. presumes to speak for a culture not one's own (I don't exempt sociology scholars here; I've seen sloppy and thoughtless mischaracterizations and overgeneralizations galore).
So learning Balkan folk dance is OK; setting up as an expert therein is not.

Date: 2011-12-03 12:46 pm (UTC)
onyxlynx: The words "Onyx" and "Lynx" with x superimposed (Default)
From: [personal profile] onyxlynx
Grey area. But my sense is that you would never say "The way I do it and am showing you is cast in stone."

Date: 2011-11-29 03:14 pm (UTC)
laughingrat: A detail of leaping rats from an original movie poster for the first film of Nosferatu (Default)
From: [personal profile] laughingrat
What the others said! But also, it's understandable that you'd be concerned about this. Personally I don't think your learning Balkan dance is a problem, though.

Date: 2011-12-03 03:29 pm (UTC)
dancingsinging: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dancingsinging
I think it's great that you're thinking about this, and it's helpful to me personally to read the other commenters here. I think heartfelt cultural exchange is really, really important, but it's sometimes difficult to distinguish between that and appropriation. I think a lot has to do with what's in your heart when you do it--whether it's appreciation and a determination to do the work to accurately maintain a tradition, or something one does to accrue cool points, you know? I think sincerity matters a lot.
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