5-6 Assignment Persuasive Essay Draft

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Running head: PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 1 5-6 Assignment: Persuasive Essay Draft Amber Powers Southern New Hampshire University ENG 123 English Composition II Professor Jon Brammer October 13, 2023

PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 2 5-6 Assignment: Persuasive Essay Draft As we get closer to Halloween, we start to hear more about problematic costumes, often through campaigns like “My Culture is Not Your Costume” which are designed to educate the public about the issues surrounding cultural appropriation and Halloween costumes ( My culture is not a costume n.d.). So what is cultural appropriation? It is when we take objects that belong to a nondominant or marginalized culture and use them in a way that does not respect their original meaning without giving credit to the sources (Barua, 2022). They may also reinforce or perpetuate harmful stereotypes and contribute to the continued oppression of the original culture (Barua, 2022). When it comes to Halloween costumes, cultural appropriation can look like costumes that include blackface, Native American headdresses, things that perpetuate harmful stereotypes, or even homophobic/transphobic tropes among other things ( My culture is not a costume n.d.). These types of costumes are exploitative as they are helping someone from a culture that is not oppressed to profit off of the perpetuation of these harmful stereotypes. They disrespect the culture that they come from as the person wearing them likely has no understanding of the significance they carry in their original culture and are usually used as a caricature of the original culture (Lojacono, 2022). Because they are actively harming or perpetuating systemic bigotry, they cannot be considered cultural appreciation as you cannot claim to be appreciating a culture when you are actively disrespecting and harming that culture. When someone takes a culturally significant object from a culture that has historically been colonized and oppressed by their own culture to use as a Halloween costume it is cultural

PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 3 appropriation because it is a form of exploitation, it is demeaning and disrespectful, and when you are actively doing harm to a culture you are not showing appreciation for it. When you take a culturally significant object without consent from a culture that has historically been oppressed or colonized by your culture, you are doing harm. This is a form of exploitation; you are using something that is not yours for your own gain without giving the owner any kind of credit or financial gain from it. This is problematic on its own, but when you add to it the fact that cultural appropriation involves profiting off of the work of marginalized people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to achieve similar levels of success on their own it becomes even more obviously harmful. If goods are being sold that are based on or represent Native American tribes it should be those tribes who profit off of their sale, not corporate giants who are mass-producing inaccurate and often offensive replicas of significant cultural items (Brown, 2019). Another form of harm that is caused by cultural appropriation is the continuation of the harm done by colonization (Barua, 2022). Through colonization, the cultures of Indigenous people have been stolen from, erased, and exploited. When the colonizing people continue to take from minority groups in order to perpetuate harmful stereotypes, such as the portrayal of Indigenous people as savages, they continue to demean and disrespect marginalized people and their unique culture. The practice of cultural appropriation is demeaning and disrespectful to the culture the item originates from. Taking a culturally significant object without first understanding its significance or the rites of passage that are required to attain it in its original culture diminishes its significance and disrespects those who understand its significance and participate in the rites of passage required within their culture to attain it. When you take something of great cultural significance and turn it into a “sexy” version in order to market it as a Halloween costume, you

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PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 4 are demeaning it and disrespecting the culture it comes from (Barua, 2022). You are sexualizing something of great importance to a group of people who have already been disrespected and robbed of so many of their traditions and beliefs by your culture and this causes harm when it is viewed as sacrilegious or morally objectionable by the original culture (Barua, 2022). Cultural appropriation is a form of theft, you are taking something that does not belong to you without giving any credit to the people it belongs to (Lojacono, 2022). This is something that is beginning to see a lot more public backlash from Millennials and Gen Z than from previous generations as they are most active on social media and more sensitive to instances of cultural appropriation and the harm that it causes (Lojacono, 2022). Another way that cultural appropriation demeans and disrespects the original culture is by perpetuating harmful or bigoted stereotypes. Practices like blackface or “Indian Princess” costumes continue to perpetuate racist stereotypes that are demeaning and disrespectful as they do not accurately depict the culture they are meant to portray or have their roots in racist practices. They also serve to perpetuate false narratives about historical events that portray the oppressive culture in a better light, this is the case with costumes based on gypsies or even Pocahontas. When you are actively doing harm to a culture, you are not showing appreciation for that culture. The difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation comes down to context and consent (Barua, 2022). Cultural appreciation is admiring and learning about a culture that is different from your own without taking anything from it without consent (Barua, 2022). Examples of cultural appreciation would include things like learning about the history and traditions regarding a Sioux war bonnet from members of the Sioux tribe; this is showing respect and an interest in learning about the Sioux culture and is not taking anything from them and trying to claim it as your own. An example of cultural appropriation would be a non-Sioux

PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 5 person wearing a Sioux or Sioux-inspired war bonnet as a costume; you are taking something that does not belong to you and using it in a way that it was never intended to be used. Another example of this would be dream catchers; if you are given an authentic dream catcher made by a member of the Ojibwe tribe that would not be cultural appropriation, however, if you were to purchase one from your local Walmart that is not made by the Ojibwe tribe, are not being sold with their consent, and do not understand the significance and importance of them this would be an instance of cultural appropriation. So, if you are actively engaging in actions that are disrespecting, demeaning, and exploiting a culture you cannot claim you are only appreciating that culture. While some may claim that even if cultural appropriation is considered stealing it doesn’t actually hurt anyone, this is not true. Cultural appropriation harms marginalized communities by reinforcing harmful stereotypes and using culturally significant objects in a way that is demeaning and disrespectful toward the original culture. Stealing is not a victimless crime in the way that this argument implies. When you take something that is not your own without the consent of the owners and use it for your own gain you are exploiting a marginalized group of people who would likely never be able to see the same kind of profit or success because of the oppression they experience as a result of your own culture. Continued oppression causes harm to marginalized communities and cultures as it normalizes disrespect and exploitation of marginalized groups among the general population and when it goes unchecked it perpetuates harmful stereotypes and narratives. Especially when they are pushing false narratives that attempt to scrub the harm that has been done by a group of colonizers from the history books. While it may not be a criminal offense, this form of stealing is still dishonest at best and disrespectful and exploitative at worst in the same way that plagiarism is not a victimless

PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 6 offense. It can cause members of the original culture to feel humiliated or angry over the way they are being portrayed ( My culture is not a costume n.d.). It can also cause people to lose sight of the original intent within the marginalized culture and the significance that the object may hold. When you take something from a culture that has already historically forced to assimilate into your own culture through force or violence and use it in a way that causes it to lose its significance and assimilate it into your own culture you are perpetuating the harm caused by colonization and the erasure of the original culture. In conclusion, cultural appropriation is the practice of taking objects or elements from a nondominant culture in a way that is disrespectful to the original significance and meaning within their original culture or giving credit to their sources (Barau, 2022). It can reinforce harmful stereotypes and contribute to the continued oppression of the nondominant culture (Barau, 2022). This is important for people to be aware of because it causes harm to already marginalized communities and continues the harm done by colonization. We should always seek to be respectful and aware of how our actions and choices impact others. When someone takes a culturally significant object from a culture that has historically been colonized and oppressed by their own culture to use as a Halloween costume it is cultural appropriation because it is a form of exploitation, it is demeaning and disrespectful, and when you are actively doing harm to a culture you are not showing appreciation for it. While some may claim that this isn’t actually causing harm to anyone, we need to listen to the voices of marginalized individuals and what they are telling us about how something impacts or harms them. When they are telling us that an action or choice that we have made is harmful and disrespectful to them we need to listen to them and acknowledge the ways that we have caused harm, intentionally or not. Because of this, we as a society need to be more aware of and willing to listen to the feedback that we are

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PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 7 receiving and understand that we need to adopt a look but don’t take type of approach when we want to appreciate or celebrate another culture. If you want to celebrate certain hairstyles that belong to another culture, instead of taking them and wearing them yourself, you can elevate and share the videos or images of creators from that culture with their consent and give them credit for their work while still celebrating the beauty and intricacies of the hairstyles. When it comes to Halloween costumes, we need to be more aware of the stereotypes we may be perpetuating with the choices we make. Just because nobody said anything about it when you were younger doesn’t mean that it isn’t insensitive and appropriating someone else’s culture. A good rule of thumb would be if you aren’t sure that it is respectful, pick something different. It wasn’t that long ago that blackface was still an accepted practice in theater and American society in general but now we acknowledge that it is a disrespectful and racist practice with its roots in cultural appropriation and oppression ( Blackface: The birth of an American stereotype 2017). Hopefully, someday soon we as a society will look at costumes like “sexy Indian princess” and see the harmful and disrespectful stereotypes they convey about Indigenous tribes who have already faced so much oppression and harm at the hands of our culture in the same way that we view blackface today.

PERSUASIVE ESSAY DRAFT 8 Sources: Barua, M. (2022). Cultural Appropriation: Can one culture borrow from another without exploitation? CQ Researcher, 32(5), 1–21. Brown, S. H. (2019, July 13). If native-themed goods are used to make a profit, native people should benefit . MPR News. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2011/10/17/brown Lojacono, G. ( 2022 ). The fine line between localization and cultural appropriation in personal luxury goods: An exploratory study . Strategic Change , 31 ( 5 ), 487 – 496 . https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2519 Ohio University. (n.d.). My culture is not a costume . My Culture Is Not a Costume | Ohio University. https://www.ohio.edu/diversity/diversity-leadership-ambassadors-program/ cultural-appropriation#:~:text=The%20%E2%80%9CMy%20Culture%20Is %20Not,Teaching%20About%20Racism%20in%20Society). The Smithsonian. (2017, November 22). Blackface: The birth of an American stereotype . National Museum of African American History and Culture. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/blackface-birth-american-stereotype

5-6 Assignment Persuasive Essay Draft

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