Why Cultural Apportion is offensive

 

Cultural exchange has been going on for centuries but when it is it happening but difference from cultural appropriation it is happening when one group is being oppressed by the act of imitation that with does not acknowledging regard to the cultural context. Taking of different aspects of culture, which erases’ the meaning of that culture. Cultural appropriation is hurtful because it removes all the cultural significance and although it might not be consciously done, it is a way of mimicking and reducing the cultural meaning then celebrating.  What do you think when you see Katy Perry on stage performing as an geisha or when you see a person like Kyile Jenner appropriating features of black women?!  Actress Amanda Stenberg explained it well stating that,            “Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated but is deemed as  high fashion, cool or funny when the privilege take it for themselves.”

Practices, beliefs, ideas, language, symbols, artifacts and material objects that dominant groups are “barrowing” from marginalized groups who has faced depression or been stigmatized for and even penalty from institutions.    Cultural appropriation is a form of marginalizing of a cultural group because it not genuine representation and is it perpetuating stereotypes and sometimes negative ones and such factors as negative stereotypes has been used through history to  justify racism.  If we look thought history many artist has appropriated black culture without doing anything for that culture. In recent media there has been a lot of discussion about cultural appropriation around the pop star Kylie Jenner.  Amanda Stenberg did further comment on the notions of cultural appropriation  referring to Kylie Jenner again as she writes on her twitter    “When you appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter”.

Expressing that she is offended by Kylie wearing cornrows and as many people fail to understand the point of view that it is offensive Kylie responded with a nonchalant statement expressing” Mad if I don’t, Mad if I do… Go hang w Jaden or something.”  As it is common for people of dominant groups to not recognizing the problem with cultural appropriation is because they often don’t understand the meaning with what they are appropriating, and find it therefore difficult to understand why people of color take offense by these acts. Cultural apportion is not seen as a form of celebrating a culture because it contributes to the reducing of a cultural significance. Another great example of cultural appropriation is the symbol of Swastika that was originally a symbol that represented prosperity good luck and liberation in Buddhism but as it was appropriated by German Nazis parties in the 1920s it is now associated with Nazis and is no longer accessible for Buddhists because it has taken away the significant meaning of that culture.  In the article “What is Cultural Appropriation and why is it wrong” the race expert Nadra Kareem Nittle stated “ cultural appropriation typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups — often with little understanding of the latter’s history, experience and traditions.”  Confirming that this is a problem that again, marginalizes people, as people might say that imitation is the highest form of flattery is important to know that cultural appropriation is a complex notion that is more than “borrowing” or imitating cultural aspects.

 

Issues of Gentrification

   

Its first coined 1964 the term Gentrification is an urban trend in which higher income people relocate to invest in low income neighborhoods.  It is neighborhoods that have for decades been overlooked, neighborhoods that have been economically unattractive and poor. Most of these neighborhoods were even results of the phenomenon white flight.  White flight is a term that explains the time of when white people migrated into suburban areas taking resources with them and leaving the urban neighborhoods in the cities that no one wanted to minority groups and immigrants. Today these neighborhoods are being changed and instead of white flight is gentrification which is this process of the dominant groups that are recognizing market value in these urban areas and buying up investing housings and properties.  Higher income people move into these areas these areas and displacing long time residents that cannot live there because all the rents and living costs are rising.   Gentrification is how the higher income people are taking up space and ownership that is changing neighborhoods with no consent to the members of that community. This is resulting in leaving these people out the long time residents for eviction, large housing demand and increased homelessness.

It is a complex phenomenon that is putting minority groups/people of color in magnification of inequality. Urban geographer Tom Slater mentioned it as, “the special expression of economic inequality” expressing how inequality play role in our communities.

The capitalists and rich benefits and leaves people out with no choice. Our understanding of gentrification must improve because it is continuously happening and is a global phenomena that needs to be known about to people as it also is recognized as  a issue of class, race and has many times been talked about as a matter of a civil right issue.  Societies low income groups which in majority are people of color are the victims, people that are for gentrification (dominant) finds it harder to understand why gentrification is bad because they are not affected by it. As gentrification is a complex phenomenon that is increasing the qualities of life in these neighborhoods, is not distributed to the long distant residents that are instead having their homes and cultural places taken away because they can’t afford it because these people lack in social, economical and political power.

To further informed about this issue of “urban renewal” there  is a NFL stadium that has been built in the greater Los Sngeles area in Inglewood California, people have realized changes in the county and are wondering if Inglewood is next?

According to the mayor of Inglewood James Butts Jr there has been changes that shows implications of gentrification and the Inglewood that is and has for decades been an African American community is has since 2012 the increase of  average [rice of a home in Inglewood has increased by 86 percent. As property values continuously go up, will attract new demographics and the 2.billion dollar stadium that will follow with hotel residential units, movie theater and retail space will change the city. As it is a complex issue that has pros as well as cons it has been meets with discontent from a majority of long time Inglewood residents.

An Inglewood resident Erin Aubrey Caplin expressed her view point’s stating “The bitter irony of gentrification, one of many, is that the good, safe thriving community that the original residents always wanted seems to materialize once they left.”  Her expression explains the negative impacts that will impact the people of that city that will by this process of private enterprise be pushed out.

We must as agents of society think more critically, be aware and take action to a system that is allowing these acts to happen.  We need to think about prevent gentrification and d what we can do like being aware of policies that implement rent control to help poor people. There must be a set of action against gentrification which can happens when people understand that it is not a natural problem but something that can be addressed.  Policies to change rental

Jenifer K

Asian American Women and Interracial Marriages

In history of this country there have been laws and reforms against interracial marriages and the act of marrying outside your race was one time illegal.  In the Year of 1967 The Supreme Court legalized it and all anti -miscegenation laws against interracial marriage was overturned and became legal. The numbers of people marrying outside their race has since then drastically risen. A Pew Research Analysis data showed that from 1970’s the numbers drastically changed from under 1 percent to 6 percent in 2013. This phenomenon is constantly rising and has contributed to a rich environment of 9 million multiracial Americans. Of all groups of ethnicity that are marrying out there are some that are more likely to marry out then others and Asian Americans are most prone to marry out with 28 percent. There is also a gender difference where we have in particular Asian American women that marry with predominantly white men. 17 percent of Asian American men marrying a person outside of their race and the women marry out at a rate of 36 percent.

Americanized Beauty in Asia

By Rina

In recent years, cosmetic surgery became popular in Asian countries. Especially, China, Japan and South Korea. I believe this cosmetic surgery booming started from South Korea, and the Korean Wave such as K-pop popularity as an influence on increase cosmetic surgery in the other Asian countries. Therefore, I researched where come from the K-pop inspiration like their appearances or styles. In addition, when I searched into the wave of cosmetic surgery popularity, Asian people connect with beauty and Western cultural norms consciously or not. Therefore, in this article, I will focus on “What can we see Asian people are influenced by Americanized beauty from the K-pop popularity?” “How Americanized beauty affected an increase cosmetic surgery?” through the article, you will realize Americanized beauty in Asian countries, and how much Asian people think ideal beauty is Western cultural norms. Moreover, you will know that the ideal beauty and patriarchy affected Asian society.

What do you mean there’s such a thing as a Bamboo Ceiling?

Since their migration to the United States, the Asian and Asian American communities have faced much adversity which hindered their overall advancement. There are countless stereotypes that generally associate certain definitions with Asian Americans, such as “studious” and“obedient”, that spread from one mindset to another and thus are universally used as a means of determining one’s ability to advance. The couple of stereotypes that  I mentioned are common ones that are often used, and, in turn, affect young Asian Americans in school. Asian American students are the epitome of how Asians are generally thought of. These kinds of descriptions are then carried onto the workplace, which puts more on the line for these communities.

Korean-American Women and Plastic Surgery Culture in South Korea

by Kat

Beauty norms and trends are always shifting and changing over time. One day, curves and a natural look are in, the next we’re starving ourselves trying to fit into those skinny jeans and caking our face with layers of makeup. But of course, what’s considered beautiful varies throughout the world. The biggest trend to occur in South Korea right now is plastic surgery. In fact, it’s been the trend for a long time now. “South Korea has the world’s highest per capita rate of aesthetic plastic surgeries with 74 operations per ten thousand inhabitants, surpassing the next 3 highest: Brazil, with 55 operations per ten thousand inhabitants, Taiwan, with 44 operations per ten thousand inhabitants, and the U.S., with 42 operations per ten thousand inhabitants” (Albrecht). Many Korean women and men go through plastic surgery in order to “evolve” themselves. But how does this affect Korean-Americans here in the U.S.? For my last blog post, I will be focusing on Korean-American women and how the beauty norms caused by the plastic surgery culture in South Korea has affected their views on beauty and identity.

Asian Americans In The Media

Asians are rarely represented in the media. It’s like they’re invisible in the Hollywood world. media often represents Asian Americans as the embodiment of the stereotypes associated with their gender and ethnic background.

Way back in the late 1800’s in the era of minstrel shows, white men created what is know as “black face”. These shows were created to imitate and make fun of African Americans. The white audience would never accept an African American to ever perform on stage. So white men would paint their faces with black paint and exaggerated lips. Their shows consisted of jokes, songs, and skits based on the ugliest stereotypes.

Why bring up “black face”?

It’s time to think about “LGBT”

By Rina

These days, I hear the word “LGBT” very often in Japan. I think this is a good sign of understanding of LGBT community. Japanese people have recently begun to recognize sexual diversity. According to one of the articles, one out of thirteen people can be classified as belonging to a LGBT in Japan. When I knew this number, I thought such a large number of people rather than I expected. Currently, same-sex marriage has been legalized in the United States. However, in Japanese law, same-sex marriage still not accepts. Instead of that two districts of Tokyo have started issuing certificates recognizing same-sex partnerships, but the documents don’t provide the same legal status as marriage.

White Washing Japanese Anime Ghost in the Shell

by Kat

Recently there’s been a buzz amongst anime fans and well, people in general. There is a controversy over Paramount’s and Dreamworks’ live action film-to-be, Ghost in the Shell, named after and based on a very famous and classic Japanese anime. The uproar came about first when it was announced that actress Scarlett Johansson would play the main role of Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg who leads an organization against cyber-terrorists in futuristic Japan where a lot of the population have cyber-brains.

Off the bat, we can already see a problem with the casting; a white woman is to portray the main character of a Japanese anime. Now, what makes it so wrong? The problem with this is that once again Hollywood is whitewashing a story and erasing any kind of ethnic properties of this production by casting a white actress, as if the movie cannot be done by actors of, let’s say, Asian descent? I mean, a Japanese anime with Japanese characters that takes place in Japan? Obviously, the right person to act in this movie should be white right? No, definitely not.

Transgender Bathrooms

Recently there have been so many debates about transgenders using public bathrooms of what they identify themselves as. there are laws that are waiting to be passed in some states that state “people should use the bathroom that matches the same sex on your birth certificate.”  North/ South Carolina, Tennessee & Virginia are waiting to pass these laws.

In this Huffington post it states that the main issue people have is letting transgender women use the women’s bathroom.  these laws are causing a serious commotion in the LGBT and transgender community. Even presidential candidate Ted Cruz agrees with these laws waiting to be passed. “letting Transgender women use the women’s bathroom would put little girls alone in a bathroom with grown men.”