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Essay on cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation introduction
Cultural appropriation in american society
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During the late 1900’s, an aesthetic movement known as primitivism integrated itself into Modern art. African and Pacific Island motifs, fetishes, and design elements were adopted into the work of Modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Moore.19 The rise in popularity of these primitive inspired artworks helped to influence Black Americans in investigating and reconnecting with their own cultural heritage.20 One of the concerns facing Black Americans was how to merge the heritage of their ancestors with being an American. Through music, the Blues evolved from African tribal songs to songs workers would sing while laboring in the fields before and after slavery. When Black American migrated north, the Blues transformed into Jazz
In a time where sampling is a staple of hip-hop and other predominant, modern genres, it is not unreasonable for an artist to take ownership of past artifacts, even those which once were oppressed or used for oppression, as a way to reclaim the artifact itself, to subvert it, or otherwise reconstitute meaning. When we examine remixing and sampling in pop music in an academic way, we must consider how it is consumed by and therefore affects a non-academic audience. Understanding the audience is foundational to communication, after all. Radio listeners will not necessarily know where sampled pieces originate from, let alone their original contexts. And those effects should be further examined in the future.
America is one of the most diverse nations in the world. It is a melting pot of cultures, which has made it a great nation. This variety of cultures has helped impact and build America into the great nation we are today. One of the cultures that has influenced America is the Black Culture. This particular culture is known for their evolution of music and fashion and also their trendsetting skills in hair and dance.
Now, jazz musicians are renowned for professionalism, refinement, and culture. Jazz is a fine art, a representation of humanity’s progress. As jazz musicians, we need to maintain a higher set of values than any other type of musician. So if we, Manouche Jazz musicians, don’t care about the fate of the Romani, yet we play their music, then our profession is hypocritical. If we pretend to hold ourselves to the level that jazz is defined by, while also appropriating the music of an already struggling culture, Manouche Jazz musicians, in particular, are hypocritical appropriators.
Despite Jazz being formed out of two cultures, the issues of social stratification and racial identity never had to be addressed in early jazz history. But as Jazz grew in popularity in a prewar 1930s America, the issue of racism started to form. As Jazz prospered within the economy and as a musical style, it’s roots revealed it’s racial identity. Jazz emerged from the music used formerly to entertain slaves and was a tool of rebellion against the white man, Jazz’z roots were very much embedded in slave culture. As free slaves moved north, they brought their Jazz influence to parts of the country such as Chicago and New York.
The history of people of African descent within the United States is long with many highs and lows. In the early times of American history, thousands of Africans were bought to work on plantations in southeastern America. While the slaves were taken from their homes in Africa, their culture, especially their music, remained within them and was passed on from generation to generation. These people eventually created a specific type of music that helped many carry on with their work efficiently, helped them relieve the monotony of their job either while out in the cotton fields or working on the railroads, and allowed them to communicate with other slaves and express their emotions. This great form of music eventually would lead to the creation
Over the course of human history, music has been an integral part of life. Music’s impact can be seen in every facet of the world today and it is a way to express feelings, tell a story, or prove a point. It can bring people together and can transcend communities, cultures, and ideologies. Although many do not realize it, music has had a profound impact on all human lives, and the lives of all others that have since died. Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come’ is a song that defined a generation while bringing the oppression and injustice that African Americans experienced, on a daily basis, to the forefront of society.
Apart from the Afro-American culture, Herbie Hancock was also a pioneer in accepting contemporary cultural phenomena. In The Music of Herbie Hancock: Composition and Improvisation in the Blue Note Years (2010), Johannes argues that Hancock’s mega-hit song, Rockit (1983) was the first pop hit track to adapt the “scratching” recording method only used in emerging rap music at that time (Pond, 2000,
Percival Everett’s short story entitled, “The Appropriation of Cultures” explores themes of irony and absurdity. The irony lies within each and every page. The story begins with Daniel, who is a young and successful black man with a degree from Brown University. He is also a musician and frequently played old tunes with a group of musicians. The story then shifts as white frat boys make suggestions of what the musicians should play, “One night, some white boys from a fraternity yellow forward to the stage at the black man holding the acoustic guitar and began to shout, ‘Play ‘Dixie’ for us!
A psychedelic soul duo, the Black Pumas, found recognition at the Grammys. They ended up receiving “Grammy nominations for the Big 4 categories” but “many reactions were with surprise and confusion” (Conway 643). This explains how the Grammys have already created racist narratives, also influencing the fans. The fans are so used to seeing a duo like this being relegated outside the Big 4 categories, that it is hard to respect these artists because of the view that they don’t belong. The Grammy's influence also goes further than fans, as we can see the internalized racism on Billboard charts.
Due to the constant contact between various people of the nation, there is some kind adaptation of one kind of culture from other. The impact of such contribution of culture is known as the culture legacies. Each national history and culture unfolds in its own particular way. Sometimes it could be the explanation for people’s previously inexplicable behaviors. In Chapter six of Outliers, Gladwell claims that cultural legacies “play such a role in directing attitudes and behaviors that we cannot make sense of our world without them”(175).
Throughout American history, the population of the country has become more and more diverse, and with this growth in diversity comes the growth of the diversity of cultures in this society. However, cultural appropriation has become a problem as the American society became more and more diverse throughout the course of the years. Cultural appropriation is the theft of one culture’s intellectual property or key beliefs, generally by a larger culture, and then this larger culture using what is taken from a minority culture incorrectly or inappropriately. Cultural appropriation perpetuates many of the stereotypes found within American society, and it also is a main contributor to the misinterpretations of minority cultures within the country.
This discussion of artistes taking from black culture is shown in Macklemore 's song, “White Privilege II”. In the second verse of the song it states,“You 've exploited and stolen the music, the moment/The magic, the passion, the fashion, you toy with/The culture was never yours to make better/ You 're Miley, you 're Elvis, you 're Iggy Azalea” (White Privilege II). What Macklemore is saying in this verse is that Elvis Presley stole his music from black culture and used it to their own advantage. Elvis Presley was a famous musician in the 1950s known for
There are countless definitions of cultural appropriation, and whether or not is it bad, however in reality many people are unaware that they are using it. To put it simply, cultural appropriation is taking someone else’s cultural expressions or knowledge from their very own culture, without permission. This can be seen in numerous forms which are familiar to this day and age. This includes music, dance, fashion, language and food. Nonetheless these are obvious examples, art on the other hand, is something that many people don't notice.
