Sensitivity Writers. AKA: avoiding cultural appropriate in writing

[Sacrosanct]

I think people should read this article. The problem isn't solved by just "being respectful and avoid stereotypes." A lot of people are unaware of just how many microaggressions are being perpetrated, and just how harmful those are.

This Halloween, Remember Native People Are Watching

Racism is normalized, but it's not normal.

www.teenvogue.com

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I can agree on the respecting part, which is pretty easy to do. But the understanding part is more problematic and creates an impossible bind: claiming you understand could be deemed as a form of appropriation.

It doesn't need to be that complex: just be respectful, be sensitive, but if you end up doing everything possible to not offend anyone, you're going to handcuff yourself creativity and chances are there's someone out there who will be offended.

If you don’t claim to understand EVERYTHING about what you’re borrowing and are open to learning from mistakes, you’re probably good. Nobody has a perfect understanding of any culture. Just know and admit your limitations.

If, however, your claims of understanding are at odds with your actions, that will put the lie to your claims. Ditto if your claims are patently false- for example, I don’t claim to understand the finer points of parenting because I have no kids. At best, I can claim empathy, not understanding.

 

[Mercurius]

I think people should read this article. The problem isn't solved by just "being respectful and avoid stereotypes." A lot of people are unaware of just how many microaggressions are being perpetrated, and just how harmful those are.

This Halloween, Remember Native People Are Watching

Racism is normalized, but it's not normal.

www.teenvogue.com

OK, but part of the problem is you're framing the discussion as if everyone agrees that "microaggressions" are a thing. The term itself is jargon coming from a specific ideological framework. If you don't subscribe to that framework, they aren't really a thing, or at least not as much of a thing than if you subscribe to the framework within which they are a thing.

All that said, I agree that Native Americans are one of the most marginalized, under-respected groups in North America. I'm not sure that worrying about Halloween costumes is the way to rectify that, however. I'd rather see that energy put into transforming and empowering Native peoples, reservations, etc.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I’m saying that doing so without understanding & respecting what you’re using is problematic, and THAT is the core of criticisms of cultural appropriation.

That’s literally the gist of my initial post in this thread.

But why? What if I am a very simple and not particularly worldly musician and I walk by a monastery and hear Gregorian Chant. I instantly start emulating it without understanding its original context but I create something new and vibrant. Why is that problematic. The same would be true if I walked by and heard Buddhist chants in Sanskrit or walked by a house playing salsa music and decided to emulate the scales played on the keyboard. We can like things and borrow them without necessarily understanding them. Borrowing aesthetics isn’t a sacred act that has to be officiated by a priest class (which is what I think is going on and why I pointed to how social class plays a role in navigating this issue)

 

[Mercurius]

If you don’t claim to understand EVERYTHING about what you’re borrowing and are open to learning from mistakes, you’re probably good. Nobody has a perfect understanding of any culture. Just know and admit your limitations.

If, however, your claims of understanding are at odds with your actions, that will put the lie to your claims. Ditto if your claims are patently false- for example, I don’t claim to understand the finer points of parenting because I have no kids. At best, I can claim empathy, not understanding.

I think that's the most important point: Understanding that one cannot understanding the Other, not fully - whether that is your spouse, a friend, a colleague, or a group of people. That starts us off in a place of mutual respect, or at least the possibility of mutual respect.

 

[Sacrosanct]

OK, but part of the problem is you're framing the discussion as if everyone agrees that "microaggressions" are a thing. The term itself is jargon coming from a specific ideological framework. If you don't subscribe to that framework, they aren't really a thing, or at least not as much of a thing than if you subscribe to the framework within which they are a thing.

Clearly you didn't bother to read that article. If you don't think microaggressions are a thing (they are objectively provable), then we are so far off that I don't know why you're in this thread when I was asking for other opinions and advice on how to avoid pitfalls of cultural appropriation.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I think that's the most important point: Understanding that one cannot understanding the Other, not fully - whether that is your spouse, a friend, a colleague, or a group of people. That starts us off in a place of mutual respect, or at least the possibility of mutual respect.

I don’t think we ever have perfect understanding of anyone, but doesn't this attitude just turn people into more of an other? Essentially it starts from ‘this person is so different from me, they are ultimately unknowable’. That doesn’t seem like it is healthy or likely to produce empathy. My wife is from another country, from another culture and a different language. Somehow we have managed to bridge that. I think if we viewed one another as do alien neither of us could understand the other truly, we’d have no real human connection.

 

[Mercurius]

But why? What if I am a very simple and not particularly worldly musician and I walk by a monastery and hear Gregorian Chant. I instantly start emulating it without understanding its original context but I create something new and vibrant. Why is that problematic. The same would be true if I walked by and heard Buddhist chants in Sanskrit or walked by a house playing salsa music and decided to emulate the scales played on the keyboard. We can like things and borrow them without necessarily understanding them. Borrowing aesthetics isn’t a sacred act that has to be officiated by a priest class (which is what I think is going on and why I pointed to how social class plays a role in navigating this issue)

I personally dont see anything wrong with that, but obviously some people do. You can't please everyone. But then again, I'm not really all that sensitive or concerned about being appropriated, mostly because I don't strongly identify with specific groups, ideologies, tribes, etc (largely due to my general adherence to my algammation of various strains of nondual philosophy - Buddhism, Vedanta, Sufism, etc...hey, I'm appropriating!).

I suppose the only time I get triggered is when people say some variation of "All X are" or "You're such a Y" in a pejorative manner. But that isn't cultural appropriation - that's stereotyping. And I would never try to censor or punish or de-platform someone from speaking their truth, even if I disagree with it or find it ugly.

But here's the thing: From one perspective, concerns about cultural appropriation are the flipside of stereotyping: they are separating, tribal, and divide people from each other. In my view, the big task of the 21st century is to find our underlying unity as one species (among other species), as inhabitants of the same home. If we don't, we're doomed. Stereotyping and complaining about cultural appropriation only serve to further separate us.

 

[Mercurius]

Clearly you didn't bother to read that article. If you don't think microaggressions are a thing (they are objectively provable), then we are so far off that I don't know why you're in this thread when I was asking for other opinions and advice on how to avoid pitfalls of cultural appropriation.

Did you read the article I posted in reference to your OP? Probably not, so no need to get upset.

But your attitude just furthers the point I'm trying to make: "Either you agree or get out." Either you agree with the basic ideological framework I'm coming from or you don't belong in the conversation. How well does that work?

Oh yeah, I didn't say microaggressions aren't a thing. I said some people don't think they're a thing, and many people disagree on to what degree they are a thing. And by "a thing," I don't really mean whether they exist or not, but how important they are. That is not objectively measurable.

EDIT: I skimmed through the article and agree and empathize with the gist of it. I have had arguments with sports fans about the usage of "Redskins" and "Chief Wahoo" before and frankly find it unfortunate (to say the least) that the NFL and MLB haven't changed them.

But my concern is on the monolithic approach to this issue, as if there's only one way to understand this and that is through "microaggressions" and "cultural appropriation" and other such jargon. Adherents to this underlying ideology tend be antagonistic and dismissive of anyone who holds a different view.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I am not saying you cannot use elements of another culture within your own creative works. Synthesis is crucial to both culture and science. That’s why Soil & Pimp Sessions plays killer jazz in Japan, why rap is a worldwide phenomenon, why the Beatles & Led Zeppelin’s dabbling in eastern musical modes is celebrated, how Blues became rock & roll.

But a lot of those things wouldn’t have happened if the concept of cultural appropriation had currency when they were developed.