Talk:Cultural Appropriation of Indian Culture in the Media

Your page is really well fleshed out! I thought your use of numerous examples was very effective as some of these styles wouldn't have occurred to me as being cultural appropriation, largely due to the normalization of this appropriation in North America. My only suggestion would be to expand upon the impact of cultural appropriation, maybe expand upon the effect of the misconceptions or stereotypes on social level, or an individual level. Cheers! ConnorMcCabe (talk) 21:22, 3 November 2017 (PDT)

Hey! Awesome, topic and information. I found everything you had to say super interesting and I loved your numerous examples.I would have been interested to read a little bit more about the link between racism and cultural appropriation. Potentially a section on historical cultural appropriation would be really interesting! Such as the appropriation of plaid, that was originally from the Scottish people and was brought over to the America's and began to become associated with cowboys.

Nice job on your wiki page! It has come along so nicely, and I love all the examples of celebrities that you have provided with your page! I think it would be important to add more content on why this issue of cultural appropriation is important, and how it affects the view of society on that particular culture. There are different examples of cultural appropriation for different cultures, such as the cornrows, so I think it would be good to incorporate that just into the introduction to explain how cultural appropriation happens with every culture!!

I took your suggestions into consideration. Thank you!!

I think this page is really great! I think you have great examples and pictures to back up your topic. I would love for you to elaborate further on the "culture not costume" as I believe it applies not only to Indian culture (which is your topic), but to other cultures as well (Aboriginals is another idea). I think that showing that "culture not costume" is a bigger movement than just to Indians showcases the lack of cultural appropriation in other countries as well.

Because your topic is on Cultural Appropriation in Indian culture, maybe relay back to why it effects Indian culture/how are these two relevant (for example, Cultural Appropriation in the West/Negative Connotations Associated with Cultural Appropriation).

Overall, I think this is a great draft to your wiki page! Just some minor tweaks to make it even greater!

Thanks for your comments and suggestions!

Nice work on your page, I really loved the examples! You could even include a few more examples of celebrities such as Vanessa Hudgens and Beyonce who have been spotted wearing henna. I would like to know if there are appropriate times for caucasians or non-Indians to wear or take part in Indian culture. I would appreciate you adding some detail on this. If you would like a more local example, I used to work at the Vancouver restaurant East is East ´. They encouraged all of their employees to wear bindis despite most of the servers being of East Asian or Caucasian descent. East is East is owned by Afghani-Canadians, so would this be cultural appropriation?

As for your sections, they are a little small after the examples. It would be great if you could elaborate on the impact of cultural appropriation specific to Indian culture, and the effect or reason that the movements against cultural appropriation have been created. Also, in the Mehndi/Henna section, there is a typo: I assume “bridge” is supposed to be “bride” (line 6)

Overall, this is really well done and I can’t wait to read the finished product! (Hanna P. 27409144)

Thanks for your comments and suggestions!

Hi, I think the topic that you have selected is excellent and your media examples are very helpful in understanding the negative implications of cultural appropriation. One suggestion I would make is to discuss the differences between cultural appreciation and appropriation, so people can understand that there is a very fine line between the two that should not be crossed. I think another aspect of cultural appropriation of Indian culture that could be discussed is how religious symbols are often inked on people who don't understand the meaning behind the religious scriptures or symbols, but simply use it for aesthetic purposes. Below is a link where there is an Instagram post by Katy Perry who took Hindu gods and used them as memes, I think this may be useful in your discussion on cultural appropriation of religious symbols. Good luck! https://www.elitedaily.com/entertainment/celebrity/beyonce-miley-cyrus-culture-appropriation-indian-hinduism-buddhism/1894872

Thanks so much Raneet! I ended up using one of your examples!

Well done! I am glad I was able to come across your page, as it is very interesting. Your page does a great job of displaying the concerns associated with cultural appropriation in an Indian context. As this may sound a bit repetitive, I think that expanding on the impact on cultural appropriation on women of Hindu faith could be beneficial. A discussion of how these women feel as they view their faith associated with costumes would be quite informative. -- Adan

Thank you for your response and suggestion. I added an example of cultural appropriation in the context of Hinduism. Thanks!

Hello, Your first draft looks very polished. I particularly like the use of the table of contents in your wiki, as well as your use of pictures as examples.

One criticism that I have is that you refer to those who are morally "allowed" to wear Indian attire as Indians, and those who are "not allowed" as Caucasians or non-Indians. The faulty logic behind this is that it assumes that one is not allowed to wear the bindi because they are white, when the criteria for cultural appropriation should be determined by culture not skin color. Take, for example, the instance of a European-born (white) Hindu wearing traditional Indian dress on her way home from praying at the temple. I would not classify this as cultural appropriation because she is observing her (Hindu) culture.

Another suggestion is that you could also potentially discuss the conflict of the right to freedom of expression vs. the inappropriateness of cultural appropriation. On one hand people do have the right to express themselves however they choose, but on the other, there exist negative repercussions to cultural appropriation.

Thanks for your response. I ended up adding a "cultural appreciation" vs "appropriation" to create a difference between the two. Your comment was helpful!