One of the topics that tends to raise controversy is that of cultural appropriation. Although this phenomenon is not recent, it has generated more controversy in recent years. Cultural appropriation is seen as crossing the fine line between admiration and intercultural usurpation. While it cannot be denied that it is inevitable (thanks to globalization) that one culture is enriched with elements of another, there are people who believe that there should be a limit. These same people consider that cultural appropriation is a passive way of trying to dominate another culture by adopting some of its cultural elements. This of course, without giving them the religious, spiritual or ritual meaning that they would originally possess. Difference between Cultural Appropriation and Exchange
On the other hand, a cultural exchange can be understood as the exchange of cultural elements between countries that make them enrich and flatter each other. Likewise, cultural exchange is a program in which students of different degrees, institutions and countries carry out a stay that can last from weeks to years, in a country other than their own. Difference between Cultural Appropriation and Exchange
Both concepts, of course, are relative. It is up to each person or group of people and each culture or society to differentiate what enriches from what offends.
Cultural exchange | Cultural appropriation | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cultural exchange is that phenomenon in which different cultures exchange elements consensually or willingly. In this, no party is considered to be disrespectful. Thanks to the different types of cultural exchanges that exist, people can learn about other ways of doing things, other ideas, beliefs, practices and more. In addition, thanks to these, people can make known the best and most representative elements of their countries to enhance their image in the eyes of the world. It can be said that exchange and cultural appropriation are two sides of the same coin. | On the other hand, cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of one culture by another. Cultural appropriation has rather negative connotations. This is because it is considered to infringe the intellectual property rights of the culture that is imitated. However, it is rather the lack of respect for this culture that provokes outrage. Of course, everything is relative. For some, an attitude related to cultural appropriation could be offensive, others could see it as flattering and there may even be those who do not provoke anything or consider that it is not a case of cultural appropriation. |
| Connotation | Positive | Negative |
| Examples | The international fairs of cultures, in which exhibitors from various countries bring to other cultural, gastronomic and artistic elements, among others. Difference between Cultural Appropriation and Exchange | The tribal tattoos of the Polynesian tribes, the African braids, the dreadlocks or dreadlocks of the Rastafari in Jamaica, the Mexican indigenous embroidery, the Native American clothing, etc. |
