Cultural Appropriation: Twerking, Geishas, and Harajuku Girls

 Cultural appropriation as defined by Fordham University Law Professor Susan Scafidi as:

“Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts

from someone else's culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects.”

While this seems like a mouth full to remember, it is crucial to understand the importance of cultural appropriation which has been going on for decades. I must admit that I too once found cultural appropriation to be a good thing, not realizing how detrimental it was and still is to other marginalized cultural groups. With the belief that we live in a post-racial society, it seems appropriate to explore, share, and imitate (or show appreciation to) another group's culture through expressing it ourselves. However, this may not be the case. While we live in a country immersed in several different culture's from around the world, our treatment of those cultural groups is very important. Even in this day and age, many minority groups feel disrespected by Caucasian artists that have used aspects of their culture in order to express their own artistic visions. When thinking about it that way, it almost seems like theft of cultural ideas and practices. With artists such as Miley Cyrus twerking, Gwen Stefani's obsession with Harajuku Japan, and Katy Perry dressing up as a geisha, several minority groups have felt mimicked and insulted by either misrepresentations of their culture, or even worse, white artists receiving credit for an oppressed group of peoples' cultural art forms.

Below is an interesting article that briefly discusses the mentioned artists and the historical significance of cultural appropriation; for example, did you know that rock 'n roll  music began in African-American culture and was made popular without credit to the African-Americans that started the trend? Feel free to check out the article post below as well as a few videos that exhibit cultural appropriation at the hands of the dominant white artists that seem to make these disrespectful mockeries and theft of culture popular in the mainstream. Feel free to leave your own opinions, comments, questions, and concerns below.

http://racerelations.about.com/od/understandingrac1/a/WhatIsaStereotype.htm

Latina Stereotypes in ABC's Modern Family

I have to admit first and foremost that Modern Family, which airs on ABC, is probably my favorite show. Being an avid fan and owner of most of the seasons on DVD, it is hard for me to make an argument against the show for the flaws it presents in representing marginalized groups. However, it would be against my general beliefs to ignore a misrepresentation and stereotyping of a marginalized group in our society, namely the Latino population. With the exception of Colombian character Gloria and her son Manny, the main cast of Modern Family is entirely Caucasian and heterosexual. While I won't be getting into the fairly stereotypical homosexual representation of couple Cameron and Mitchel, some light must be shed on the representation of Latinos through Gloria's family.

While Gloria is known for making jokes about her "village" from time to time on the show, it wasn't until a particular episode of the show where critics were up in arms about the overly stereotypical role of Latinos that migrate from other countries. The show seems to portray Gloria and especially son Manny as culturally assimilating into US culture-which involves giving up one's original cultural identity and moving into the full participation of a new culture. While this is seen more in Manny, Gloria, her mother, and sister Sonia seem to represent their culture back home in Colombia. Herein lies the problem for viewers of the episode 'Fulgencio' when Jay and Gloria have just had their son.

A Huffington Post article discussed the outrage as critics made statements of anger towards comments made by Sonia about washing clothes in the river, or harvesting vegetables from their garden, very stereotypical images we as Americans may image of less developed countries. Whether or not the writers have intentionally perpetrated "ignorant" stereotypes is a question that may depend of differing perspectives of audience members.

Below is a link to the Huffington Post article which includes video clips from the episode where ethnic stereotypes seem to be perpetuated. Feel free to leave any opinions, comments, or concerns in the comments.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/modern-familys-fulgencio-episode-criticized-for-perpetuating-stereotypes-of-latinos_n_2568200.html

Enlightened Racism: Overlooking PTSD in African-American Communities

According to Sut Jhalley, enlightened racism promotes the myth that African-Americans who don’t “make it” in terms of their socio-economic status have only themselves to blame. This idea is reinforced through contemporary television shows that disproportionately display middle-class families that are primarily Caucasian, as the model for the average American family in today’s society. By showing that anyone can make it, a stigma surrounding lower and working class families is created, causing the perception that families that have not transcended into the middle class, haven’t made it based on factors such as not having a taste for the finer things, being too uneducated to make it, being too lazy or careless, or not having any desire to transcend their socio-economic status. 
In the news, several stories exist that shed light on (primarily Caucasian) soldiers that have served in the military and suffer from PTSD as an outcome of their services. Specific instances of PTSD, however, are invisible from the media entirely-namely PTSD suffered in the African-American community. The irony here is that there is a disproportionately excessive portrayal of poverty in African-American households, although the majority of families living in poverty are actually Caucasian. It is very interesting that African-Americans are largely portrayed as living in poverty, but the effects of said poverty do not get mention in the media, leading the audience to believe that these people living in poverty are doing so of their own free will and through the decisions they have made.
In a blog post, it was found that African-American communities with larger amounts of violent crimes have produced an excessive number of members suffering from PTSD. While there are not adequate resources to see and treat all of the citizens that are suffering from this disorder, 43% of all patients that have been screened at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital are in need of treatment. There is a need of $200,000 that are available in the hospital budget of $450 million, but this funding has been turned down as a resource to members of the Black Community suffering from PTSD.
While there are so many American citizens pointing the finger at black communities, a disconnect in reality exists. With poverty in black communities in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, having high rates of crime and PTSD, the portrayal of African-American families on television sitcoms sheds an inaccurate light on the average lives of African-American communities in the United States, an issue that has a long way to go.
For more information, check out the blog on PTSD in the black community:
http://www.propublica.org/…/the-ptsd-crisis-thats-being-ign…

The Framing of Minorities in Light of Police Brutality

50 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. led a voting rights march in Selma, Alabama. Representative John Lewis, a fellow marcher and speaker, was interviewed by USA Today and asked about the police brutality and the march that went on. It was interesting to get the perspective of a civil rights activist that followed such an influential civil rights leader. It seems that John Lewis gave a great inside perspective into civil rights advocates at the time. The way that John Lewis spoke about that day, helped to frame my perspective on civil rights activists in the '50s and '60s.

Framing refers to the selection of particular aspects of a perceived reality that are made more meaningful, memorable, or noticeable to a given audience. In light of the recent police brutality with popular instances such as the Michael Brown case, and the murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, coverage of said cases may be framed in a light that blames the murder victims, and almost hints that they "deserved" to be murdered. In the interview provided below, police officer Darren Wilson speaks about the incident that occurred with Michael Brown. I found the language used very interesting as it seems to frame the late Michael Brown as animalistic, demonized, and in a dehumanized light.

"I felt the immense power that he had . . . it was like a five year old holding onto Hulk Hogan. . . he was very large, very powerful. . . he starts charging me."

In a later interview with attorney Daryl Parks, he describes how the use of language Darren Wilson uses frames that shed light on how he viewed Michael, "he didn't see him as a person." This may suggest why there were two strongly differing opinions about Michael Brown's innocence in the incident. By dehumanzing Brown, it may lessen the ill feelings towards his being murdered. The interview is provided below:

In the interview with civil rights activist John Lewis, he provides perspective of the activists that fought for their rights, using terms such as "peaceful," and mentioning asking police if they could have a moment to pray before disbanding the march, just prior to the acts of police brutality known today as "Bloody Sunday." The link to the video provided below, may help you to decide for yourself how the language used to describe these events of police brutality shape your understanding of the incidents and people involved:
http://usat.ly/1Arq3P6