On cultural appropriation

[gaudior]

So I know I'm days late to this topic, but it's finals time (they're going well-- one class completely finished, three more with only small bits of work left to do, one with only an optional class, yay!). But this post appeared a few weeks ago in the blog Reappropriate, "a political, current events, and personal blog written from the perspective of a loud and proud Asian American woman": "Fuck you Asiaphile": I'm Mad As Hell And I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore. Followed by tremendous discussion, both in her comments thread and in debunkingwhite and sex_and_race. (I got the link from homasse. Thank you, J.) Basically, Jenn is pointing out how annoyed she is, as an Asian-American, at White Americans who profess love for all things Japanese, or all things Asian.

Now, as an undeniable otaku (looking up, I can see eight pieces of anime merchandising without having to turn my head), I was quite bothered. I could see myself as definitely being one of the people she was talking about, and I felt dismayed and unhappy to hear that my taste in art could upset anyone that much. I could see myself pretty easily in many of the commenters to her thread who objected, and I didn't see what the deal was.

So I sat down to think it over. And, twenty minutes later, I think I understand. I think I've hit on the thing which was so obvious to Jenn that she didn't bother to say it, and the thing which all the objectors to her post had never thought of.

Okay. So, in an ideal world, everyone would be raised in a culture which they could proudly claim as theirs and their ancestors'. Everyone would have a rich and complex culture which felt like home, which felt right to them, and which everyone around them agreed was the proper way to do things.

Which is not to say that different cultures would have no contact with each other-- trade and travel are both worthwhile and enriching, and a different perspective is a valuable thing. But in this world, any two cultural groups would be equally powerful. So when members of one group met another, and said "Hey, look at this aspect of my culture!", the members of the other would have an entirely free choice. They'd be completely free and welcome either to say "Hey, that's cool!" and take it home, or to say, "That's very strange, and I don't really get it or like it," and leave it there. If they did take it home, they'd adapt it to fit into their home culture, giving it their own flavor and making their culture more rich. If they didn't, no problem. And if one person found another culture so much more appealing and right-feeling than his/her own, s/he would be free to leave home and join it, and the members of the new culture would have no reason to take it as anything other than a slightly odd compliment.

This not being an ideal world, the above is not what's happening here and now. I'm not going to talk about the whole world and the history of colonization, because I just don't know enough about it. But I think I can talk about America.

America is a paradox. There are Americans from every corner of the globe-- including right here-- but the dominant culture comes from Europe, specifically from the British Isles. We are expected to speak English, wear suits, know how to eat with a fork, enjoy Christmas, etc. It's true that many other ways of life are practiced here, but these are the "norms," the definition of what is expected in a professional context, what is taught in schools, what is practiced in the high branches of government, etc.

Which means that for the vast majority of people here, the culture of our ancestors is not the way we are encouraged to live. My life, for example, is almost nothing like my ancestors in the shtetl's in terms of dress, language, food, customs, gender roles, etc, etc, etc.

But because I'm White, the divide between the "American" (British/White) way of doing things and me is not wide. I don't look exactly Anglo-Saxon (hair a bit too curly, nose a bit big), but at this point in history, no-one can tell for certain that I'm not just by looking at me. Which means that I have not had the message for my entire life that I don't look like the cultural models I'm given. When I picture those models, from princesses in towers to Victorian maidens, they look a heck of a lot like me, and I can imagine myself in their places without too much difficulty. Thus, I don't have far to go from "I'm of Russia/Germany/Lithuania" (what I know about myself) to "I'm of Europe" (what others see). It was harder for my great-grandparents, with their accents and customs, but with a lot of work, they managed to change themselves and their children to fit American culture-- and they didn't have clear visual signifiers to get in their way. And they were able to hold onto a lot of what they considered really important-- religion and values-- while doing so, and considered themselves fortunate. Thus, since I have been moved from my genetic ethnicity to identifying with the dominant culture without feeling like I've lost anything, I a) see no reason not to expand my identity from "White" (more wide-ranging than my actual ancestry) to "human" (much more wide-ranging than my actual ancestry), and b) feel that this sort of expansion is not such a big deal.

However, if I were a person of color, I think things would be very different. I would still be receiving the message that the British/White ways of doing things were the "right" ones, and that anything else was not American standard. But I would not have the option of my identity dissolving smoothly into White/American when I chose. My personal and familial history of experienced discrimination, as well as simple visual dissonance, would have to make it clear to me that the European history I was being taught was primarily someone else's history. (Every high school "world history" book I ever read went: Fertile Crescent--> Egypt --> Greece --> Europe, with maybe other continents thrown in as separate sections at the end). It seems that while it would still be possible, it would take much more work of imagination to put myself in, for example, the Wars of the Roses or somesuch.

So I would not have the easy, fluid transition from my family's culture to White culture to world culture(s). Instead, I would have my family's culture at odds with, and constantly trying to negotiate with, British/White culture. White culture would not be one of many options, but something trying constantly to replace mine.

And from a viewpoint of replacement/conflict, the only sense which can be made of White otaku is of White people trying to control Japanese culture by redefining it-- by declaring parts of it good and worth taking, and other parts therefore inferior. The sentiment seems to be "We can declare which parts of your culture are acceptable (after we tried to stomp out other parts)."

Now, this is of course the furthest thing from my mind when I watch anime, eat sushi, or use "-chan." (Because English doesn't have parts of speech which show relationship, and they're damn useful.) But this is because I am coming from the group which has power, and therefore has made the world over so that it is as close as possible to the ideal I described-- for us. From my viewpoint, since I have a culture in which I feel perfectly secure, I am free to enjoy other cultures without fear. The thing that makes this world not ideal is that the members of those cultures whose products I'm enjoying do not have the same freedom. They can either have my culture forced down their throats through institutionalized racism and colonization, or they can fight like hell to hold onto theirs. Seeing this, I find it a lot more clear why people might get so angry at Asiaphiles.

The problem is, my understanding this will not make sushi less delicious, or, say, Tezuka Osamu any less brilliant. Nor, for that matter, will it make the concept of totem animals feel less viscerally true, or make freestyling any less impressive. So are my choices to give up reading/eating/thinking about/watching these things, or to be a cultural rapist?

I choose to think not. I really do think that there are ways to appreciate other people's cultures respectfully. Here are some of them (and if these sound harsh, please keep in mind that I'm writing them mainly as a record of what I'm telling myself):

1) Keep in mind that you do have a culture, and that it is, in many respects, rather cool. Not just the Jewish part, or even the geek or queer parts, but the White American part. I like the movies we make, the books we write, the conceptual art we conceive of, the foods we cook, the clothes we come up with. I am exceptionally fond of a great number of White people. It is bad that White Americans have power at the expense of the rest of the world, and I want equality, but I would rather focus on gaining equality by giving everyone else more power rather than focus on taking it away from us. Because people who are not having to struggle for survival often struggle for other things, and the things they come up with are sometimes damn cool.

2) Keep in mind that what you admire are certain aspects of the culture, not the entire culture itself. I enjoy some Japanese fiction-- namely, anime and manga-- very much. But if I took the fiction as a representation of the whole culture, I would believe Japan to be a country full of outspoken, aggressive schoolgirls with flourescent hair, out and proud gay couples, and long-haired young men with strange and archaic weapons and martial arts. Actually, as far as I can tell, it is only because Japanese culture is so stongly gendered and comfortable with the solidity of its structure that their fiction can be this free without threatening the dominant paradigms and being labeled overly subversive. The fun thing is that the above is, by a splendid coincidence, a perfect description of American nerd culture. Thus, I am not surprised that American nerds have taken "otaku' the same way we took, well, "nerd' or "geek"-- labels used by a fairly repressive culture to mock outsiders, which we have reclaimed and now use proudly. (Y'know, kind of like "queer" or "Black.") But it would be quite idiotic of me to assume that because I like anime, I would like all of Japanese culture. Every culture is complex, and every culture has aspects of it which are amazing and aspects which are really dumb or destructive. It's worthwhile both to try to get to know and understand these aspects, as well as to be clear about what particular aspects are to your personal taste.

3) Don't get defensive or upset by people's anger over the appropriation of their cultures. Try to have some empathy-- if I'd been told for my whole life that I were inferior for one particular aspect of myself, and then people turned around and started taking that aspect as something which is really cool when they do it... I'd be pretty damn annoyed too. Now, if someone is rude to you, personally, by (user)name, then of course you should respond appropriately. But there's something faintly ridiculous about saying, "I can not take it personally when you're angry about the actions of one group of which I'm a member (eg, White people and genocide), but I can't when you're angry about a subset of that same group of which I'm also a member (eg, White otaku)!" Yes, it is upsetting to be on the receiving end of anger when you've done something which you didn't intend to be hurtful, but emotions are not rational, nor should they be, and someone who has been hurt will feel hurt whether or not that hurt was intended. This strikes me as something which White otaku can deal with the same ways that White people in general can deal with racism-- a lot of study, understanding, self-acceptance and anti-racism work. (See Beverly Tatum's Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together In the Cafeteria?).

4) Don't try to explain or defend your taste through anything other than "Because I think (x book, song, dish, etc) is really good." In other words, saying "I like this painting because I really like the color scheme and the imagery" works. Saying, "I like this painting because Guatemala is such an amazing country!" does not.

5) Respect when people say certain things are off-limits. When I was thirteen, my grandparents took me to Australia. One of the attractions there is Ayer's Rock-- a huge, round, stone standing up in the middle of the desert-- and one of the big tourist things to do is to climb it. I was all psyched to do this. However, when I got there, I saw a sign saying that Ayer's Rock was one of the sacred sites of the Aborigines, and that they really wished stupid tourists would stop climbing it, because this defiled it (especially when the stupid tourists got heart attacks and died on top of the sacred site). So we stayed at the bottom and looked at an emu instead. If a thirteen-year-old can figure this out, there's no reason anyone else should have that much trouble.

6) Don't, for the love of God, try to educate other people about their own culture. I mean. Honestly.

7) Learn more about history. As I re-read Jenn's essay, I'm struck again by her conclusion; that the thing that gripes her most is when people claim love for all things Asian without understanding the context, either in Asia or in America. (She has a point: I didn't actually know who Vincent Chin was until I Googled him. Hate crimes suck, and racially biased judicial systems are worse.) She says that she'd like people to have more understanding, both of what they're talking about and of themselves. And that just doesn't strike me as a bad thing, no matter how you look at it.

--R

Comments

[foleyartist1.livejournal.com]

Absolutely well-said. And I think it's also worth pointing out that while "otaku" has the relatively positive connotations you mention here, it's probably significant to Jenn that "otaku" is NOT a positive term in Japanese. If anything it has negative connotations. It's like any minority part of culture--if someone in America says "Oh, that person plays D&D," the reality is that in the majority of cases, they're saying this in a somewhat derisive way. "Someone who plays D&D" is not the standard kind of a person to be. Now if someone who did play D&D were saying this, they might think it was rather cool. Or if I said it, as someone who didn't play D&D but was sane and rational about it, it would merely be fact. But we are not the actual majority. So American "otaku" culture is taking something that's not only just one piece of Japanese culture and extolling it as the be-all-end-all, we're taking something that would kind of be like if a huge chunk of the nation of China started forming D&D conventions and thinking American culture was really cool for the sole reason that we invented D&D, completely ignoring things we might like them to respect us for like democracy and labor laws.

That said, I think that the lack of context is what's eating Jenn but that she's assigning that lack of context to everyone without truly allowing for the small percentage of exceptions. I think to Jenn, everyone is the kind of Asiaphile that tatoos random kanji on his body because kanji is "cool" without even knowing what the kanji means. Nobody is someone who just rather enjoys manga, thinks Japanese food tastes good, doesn't particularly think that makes Japanese culture cool as a whole, and knows full well about Japanese internment camps (like me). It's true that people like me are a VERY small percentage of the group she's talking about, but even if she said "these are a tiny tiny TINY exception that doesn't really mollify my feelings about the rest of those bastards," her acknowledgment of our existence would have materially strengthened her argument, which is flawed for its lack of recognition of exceptions.

It's easy to make us the bad guys because, as you say far more eloquently than I, in a general sense we are the bad guys because we have all the power. But the thing is, a white person living in Japan would experience almost the same things she's experiencing. Japanese people perform the same actions--wearing T-shirts with horrendous English on them just because English is "cool," feeling extreme curiosity about other cultures without properly knowing the bad parts of their own history (Japanese textbooks lack many facts about the atrocities committed by Japan during WWII), enjoying American movies because Angelina Jolie is hot, etc. So while I think it's partly about the general supremacy of whites all over the globe, it's a more nuanced issue than that--in the context of specific countries sometimes it's more about the "host race," the race that got there first. More Americans should know about Japanese internment. More Japanese people should know about what Japan was doing around the same time. I think we have responsibility as "host cultures"--as members of any culture--to know as much about ourselves as possible when members of a culture non-dominant in our area come along.

It's like how, living in Texas, I should learn more about Mexican culture and America's history with Mexico than I really feel like doing on the average day. That's my responsibility. But if I cross the border and run into someone who thinks hamburgers are cool because they're American, it's not really that different than me thinking a taco is cool because I bastardized it from Mexican culture. It's just when there's a difference in the extent to which each of us can get away with this that things get ugly. Which is a way of saying I agree with your conclusions and think they are quite good.

[trifles.livejournal.com]

So American "otaku" culture is taking something that's not only just one piece of Japanese culture and extolling it as the be-all-end-all, we're taking something that would kind of be like if a huge chunk of the nation of China started forming D&D conventions and thinking American culture was really cool for the sole reason that we invented D&D, completely ignoring things we might like them to respect us for like democracy and labor laws.

Upon reading this I had a flash image of France and Jerry Lewis.

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

Thank you, yay. I think that further down in the comments thread (and it is a long comments thread), Jenn makes it clear that she does acknowledge that not everyone who's interested in any aspect of Asian culture is an idiot or a bastard-- just that she objects to "cultural misappropriation coupled with deliberate ignorance of the original culture's history, politics and issues," and people who refuse to acknowledge that members of that other culture might have reason to object. I think your point about D&D is well-taken... I sort of touched on that in the line about taking labels, but it can definitely use more said about it.

People discuss the issue of Japanese misappropriation of American stuff a lot in Jenn's comments thread, and I think her usual answer to it is a) this may well be true, but it doesn't change how annoying the behavior is just because more/different people are doing it, and b) there is still a difference there just because it was Americans who took over Japan after WWII, not vice versa. Which are both good points, but I think that your model of a "host race"-- that this is more about who has power in the context than being an inherently White thing (yes?) is good.

In short, yay.

[oyceter]

But the thing is, a white person living in Japan would experience almost the same things she's experiencing. Japanese people perform the same actions--wearing T-shirts with horrendous English on them just because English is "cool," feeling extreme curiosity about other cultures without properly knowing the bad parts of their own history (Japanese textbooks lack many facts about the atrocities committed by Japan during WWII), enjoying American movies because Angelina Jolie is hot, etc.

I think this is true, in one sense, but on the other, there's also the context that a lot of the time, it feels like American culture is taking over the world, to put it extremely dramatically and with great hyperbole.

I'm not sure if I personally believe this, but I remember feeling a lot of resentment back when I was in Taiwan about the fact that a lot of the big blockblusters and the popular movies were American imports.

I dunno... I'm not really sure what point I'm trying to make, but I guess part of it is that just as there's a different historical context, there's also a different pop culture context, because Angelina Jolie is much more a global star than Michelle Yeoh and is marketed as such. Which is not to say that I think it's any more right or ok if someone else does it, but just that... it's complicated. *sigh*