Cultural appropriation has been a subject of global debate, especially in diverse regions like India and its neighbouring countries. While cultural exchange fosters inclusivity, appropriation often leads to misrepresentation, erasure of historical significance, and commercialization without credit. The discussion becomes crucial in the modern era, where traditional elements are commodified by industries like fashion, music, and entertainment, leading to decline of cultural importance.
While cultural exchange enriches societies, the line between appreciation and appropriation is often blurred, leading to ethical and social conflicts. Both cultural appreciation and appropriation involve interacting with traditions, symbols, and practices from different cultures, emphasizing the need for understanding and respect. While they often overlap, the key difference lies in their impact — one fosters connection and respect, while the other can lead to harm or exploitation. Recognizing this distinction helps us engage with different cultures in a way that honours their significance rather than diminishes them.
In contrast, appropriation occurs when dominant groups adopt cultural elements without understanding or respecting their significance. For an instance, wearing a traditional Indian saree to an Indian wedding is considered appreciation, while using the same saree as a Halloween costume could be seen as appropriation. Cultural appreciation involves engaging with different cultures respectfully, acknowledging their origins, and giving credit.
Understanding Cultural Appropriation
Cultural appropriation happens when people from outside a culture adopt things like traditional clothing, spiritual symbols, language, or customs without really understanding their meaning. It often becomes a problem when those doing the borrowing have more influence or power especially if they profit from it or misrepresent the culture they’re taking from.
This imbalance plays out in many areas, like music, sports, and fashion, where the original culture can be overlooked or stereotyped while others benefit from its richness. Like many social issues, it’s a controversial topic. Some people see it as a sign of cultural exchange in a globalized world, while others believe it’s a form of exploitation if respect and context are missing.
Historical context
The term “cultural appropriation” was first used in the 1970s, when Western colonialism was being discussed academically. Gradually, the term also started to be used in common parlance and popular culture. The term “cultural colonialism” was introduced by British historian Kenneth Coutts-Smith in 1976.
“Cultural appropriation” was initially used to explain how larger or dominant cultures take things from smaller or weaker cultures and use them, often without understanding or respecting their significance. It is usually associated with economic exploitation, colonization, and imbalances of power.
There is a difference between cultural appropriation and cultural exchange. Exchange is two-way and with mutual respect, while appropriation is one-way and often ignores the significance of the culture from which things are being taken.
Certain examples of Cultural Appropriation
Fashion and Traditional Attire: Luxury fashion brands have frequently drawn inspiration from traditional Indian weaves, embroidery, and motifs without crediting or benefiting the artisans.
Bollywood and Stereotypes: Indian cinema has often been called out for misrepresenting North-Eastern Indian and tribal cultures. Movies sometimes portray these communities through a narrow, exoticized lens, reinforcing stereotypes rather than fostering genuine cultural appreciation.
The Yoga Debate: While yoga originates from India’s ancient spiritual traditions, its commercialization especially in Western countries has led to concerns. Many yoga studios around the world teach yoga purely as a fitness exercise, omitting its spiritual and philosophical roots.
Understanding Cultural Appreciation
Cultural appreciation is different because it involves learning, respecting, and engaging with a culture in an informed way. Appreciation acknowledges the origins and contributions of the culture rather than treating it as a passing trend. Cultural Appreciation can be defined as act of understanding respectfully and celebrating cultures other than ours. It deeply makes us understand the importance of cultural elements of others along with sharing ideas, thoughts, belief, deed and practices between various cultures.
Instances of Cultural Appreciation
Celebrating festivals of other cultures, sharing meals with others, respecting Observance Day in schools and colleges, learning about diverse cultures present in our country, by listening to stories of other traditions.
Learning and promoting cultural traditions (e.g., learning a language, celebrating cultural festivals with proper understanding).
Collaborating with cultural representatives (e.g., hiring local artisans rather than copying designs).
Where is the line? Gray Areas and Debates
The debate between cultural appreciation and appropriation isn’t always clear-cut. Some cultural exchanges are widely accepted, while others spark intense debates. The real challenge lies in the gray areas — those situations where it’s hard to tell if something is respectful appreciation or exploitative appropriation. These discussions often depend on historical context, power dynamics, and the intent behind the action.
Wearing a Kimono: Appreciation or Appropriation?
A common debate centres around whether non-Japanese people can wear kimonos. The answer isn’t black and white — it depends on how and why they’re being worn.
When Wearing a Kimono Is Cultural Appreciation
Learning and Respecting the Culture: If you wear a kimono while understanding its significance, history, and traditional wearing methods, you’re likely showing appreciation.
Participating in Cultural Events: Wearing a kimono at Japanese festivals, tea ceremonies, or cultural events where kimono-wearing is encouraged is generally welcomed by Japanese people.
Purchasing from Japanese Artisans: Buying a kimono directly from Japanese makers supports the culture rather than exploiting it.
Being Invited to Wear One: If a Japanese person offers or helps you wear a kimono, it’s usually seen as a sign of cultural exchange rather than appropriation.
When Wearing a Kimono May Be Cultural Appropriation
Disrespecting the Meaning: Wearing a kimono as a costume in a stereotypical or mocking way is cultural appropriation.
Altering the Kimono’s Meaning: Wearing a kimono in a way that strips it of its cultural roots — like turning it into a sexualized outfit or misrepresenting its significance — can be offensive.
Ignoring the Cultural Context: Wearing a kimono without knowing or respecting its history and tradition reduces it to mere fashion, ignoring its origins.
Commercial Exploitation: Non-Japanese brands mass-producing and profiting from kimonos without crediting or benefiting Japanese artisans is appropriation.
Can Non-Indians Wear Bindis?
A bindi is not just a decorative symbol — it holds deep cultural, religious, and spiritual significance in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It represents the third eye, wisdom, and, in some traditions, marital status.
When it is Cultural Appreciation
Wearing a bindi in a respectful cultural or religious setting, like as a guest at an Indian wedding or during Diwali, and understanding its significance. Learning about its religious and spiritual meaning rather than treating it as just an accessory.
When it is Cultural Appropriation
Wearing a bindi as a fashion statement, such as at music festivals like Coachella, without knowing its significance. Using it for aesthetic purposes while ignoring the fact that South Asians have been mocked or discriminated against for wearing it.
Can Non-Indians Practice Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient Indian spiritual practice with roots in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is much more than physical exercise. It includes philosophy, meditation, and ethical principles, like the Eight Limbs of Yoga.
Cultural Appreciation
Practicing yoga while acknowledging and respecting its Indian origin, and learning about its philosophy, not just its physical postures. Studying yoga from authentic sources or Indian teachers and using traditional Sanskrit terms. Supporting Indian voices and businesses that are part of the yoga tradition.
Cultural Appropriation
Treating yoga only as a workout trend while ignoring its spiritual root. Re-packaging yoga as something completely divorced from its Indian origin, like “goat yoga” or “beer yoga.”
Social Media and Cultural Exchange
Social media has changed the way we talk about and share cultures. On one hand, it makes it easier to share traditions and learn from each other, but it also brings issues like cultural appropriation to light more often. Social media can be a great tool for education and appreciation, but it can also lead to misrepresentation, exploitation, and commercialization of cultures.
How Social Media Promotes Cultural Appreciation
Education & Awareness: Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube let people share their cultural traditions directly from their communities. This makes it easier for everyone to learn about different cultures from authentic sources.
Supporting Marginalized Communities: Social media has given a voice to Indigenous artists, Black-owned businesses, and other marginalized groups, allowing them to sell their work, share their stories, and correct any misrepresentations.
Cross-Cultural Exchange: When done respectfully, social media helps spread awareness and appreciation for traditions, music, fashion, and languages from around the world.
How Social Media Encourages Cultural Appropriation
Trendy Without Context: Cultural elements often become trends and lose their original meaning. For example, traditional bindis, cornrows, or sacred tattoos are sometimes adopted by influencers without understanding their cultural or religious significance.
Credit & Profit Issues: It becomes appropriation when creators from dominant cultures profit from cultural elements while the original communities are overlooked or even face discrimination for the same practices.
Erasing Cultural Struggles: Some influencers adopt aesthetics from marginalized cultures but ignore the historical struggles behind them. For instance, wearing traditional Black hairstyles while not acknowledging the discrimination Black people face for the same style.
Where the law draws a line?
The law does not clearly state where cultural appreciation (respectfully paying homage to a culture) ends and cultural appropriation (taking things from a culture without permission or understanding) begins. It is a spectrum with varying levels of harm and ethics.
Cultural appropriation occurs when a powerful group uses things from another culture for their own benefit or entertainment without understanding, respecting or giving credit.
On the other hand, cultural appreciation means learning about another culture, respecting it and using it in a way that acknowledges its true identity and significance.
There are some important points to understand the fine line between cultural appreciation and appropriation:
Context: In what environment and manner is an object from a culture being used? Is its true meaning being expressed or is it being used only for display and entertainment?
Power Dynamics: Oftentimes, powerful societies take over traditions from weaker or minority societies, and when those traditions are adopted by members of that minority community, they are often ostracized or discriminated against.
Representation: It is important to represent a culture accurately. It is wrong to portray it as a joke or a fashion statement. We must show its depth and diversity.
Intention: It is important to know why you are using a cultural object—is it for genuine learning and respect, or is it just for show, profit, or to be a part of a trend?
Impact: Even if your intentions are good, the impact can be negative. Sometimes doing so can harm a community, promote stereotypes, or silence the voices of real people from that culture.
Hence the question, “Where the law draws Line?”, can be answered as—
The line is drawn at respect, understanding, and acknowledgment. If you are honouring the culture, learning about it, and engaging with it in a way that respects its origins, it is likely appreciation. If you are using cultural elements superficially, profiting from them, or disregarding their significance, it becomes appropriation. While laws try to protect cultural expressions like traditional art, music, or knowledge they often fall short of capturing the deeper emotional and historical meaning behind them. Legal rules can help in cases of clear exploitation, but they don’t always address the everyday ways culture is shared or misused.
So, the real line is drawn by how we act. If you’re engaging with a culture by learning about it, showing respect, and giving credit where it’s due, that’s appreciation. But if you’re using cultural elements just for style, profit, or without understanding their meaning, that’s when it becomes appropriation. In the end, it’s not just about what’s legal—it’s about what’s respectful.
One of India’s most powerful pushbacks against cultural and biological appropriation didn’t happen in a courtroom in Delhi but in Europe.
In the 1990s, an American company, W.R. Grace, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was granted a European patent on a pesticide made from the neem tree, A plant Indian communities have used for centuries for everything from medicine to pest control.
To Indian farmers, this wasn’t innovation. It was everyday wisdom passed down through generations.
So, when a multinational claimed exclusive rights over something that was already deeply embedded in Indian life and culture, the backlash was swift. Environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva and the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology led a global campaign, arguing that this was a case of biopiracy taking traditional knowledge, rebranding it, and profiting without acknowledgment or consent.
After a long legal battle, in 2005, the European Patent Office revoked the patent. They agreed: the so-called “invention” wasn’t new. It was already known and used in India. The victory sent a clear message traditional knowledge deserves protection, too.
This case became a turning point. It wasn’t just about neem it was about who owns culture and wisdom, and how to keep it from being exploited.
Ethical And Respectful Engagement
How to Truly Respect and Appreciate Cultures: Respecting and appreciating a culture means more than just enjoying its traditions. It is about truly understanding and honouring where they come from. Here is how you can do it in the right way-
Take the Time to Learn: Dive into reading, watching, and listening to people from that culture to grasp its history and significance. Explore books, documentaries, and articles to get a well-rounded understanding.
Engage Directly: Attend cultural events, support local artists, and connect with communities rather than just observing from a distance. Immerse yourself in the experiences and build genuine connections with people from that culture.
Give Credit Where Its Due: When sharing cultural elements whether it is food, fashion, or music always give credit to their origins. Acknowledge where it comes from and uplift the voices and contributions of the people who have shaped it. When buying cultural items, support local artisans instead of big brands that might be copying their work.
Be Mindful of What is Sacred: Understand that some symbols, clothing, or rituals have deep spiritual meaning and are not meant for casual use. If you are unsure, take the time to ask or do some research to understand their significance.
Avoid Stereotypes: Remember that cultures are rich and diverse, not just trends to be picked apart. Avoid reducing a culture to stereotypes.
Collaborate Instead of Imitating: If you love a cultural dance, music, or art form, share the work of those who belong to that culture instead of claiming it as your own. Engage in collaborations that honour and respect the cultural context.
Listen and Learn: If someone from that culture tells you something is offensive or inappropriate, listen and take it to heart. Appreciation is about learning and growing, not just taking what looks interesting.
Conclusion
In an increasingly interconnected world, cross-cultural exchange helps us connect and learn from one another. But it’s important to understand the difference between “appreciating culture” and “misappropriating culture.”
When we appreciate a culture properly, it fosters understanding, respect, and cooperation. But when we use a culture without understanding or permission, it can become exploitation and harm the people who live in that culture.
In this article, we’ve looked at history, real-life events, and ethical considerations to help explain why this topic is so complex. We’ve also looked at how power and influence can determine whether appropriating from another culture is respectful or harmful. It’s important to make sure our intentions are understood, the context is understood, and the culture is credited.
Ultimately, we should promote cultural exchange that builds bridges, not walls. When we educate ourselves, recognize the cultural roots of others, and communicate with an open heart, we can create a world where the diversity of every culture is respected not just accepted as a trick to attract attention. True appreciation is what lifts a culture up, not puts it down.
