Essay. Cultural admiration or cultural appropiation. TOEFL

 

There was a controversy recently because a famous clothing store called Zara was using the designs of the fabrics of an indigenous community from Mexico. There was another situation that included a famous singer wearing the Jamaican flag and African hair style. Those cases are called Cultural Appropriation. According to Wikipedia, Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. I would like to give my opinion about this topic in the following paragraphs.

Cultural Appropriation is used to create money for a few people instead of benefiting the general communities. They adopt symbols or things from another culture to get an economic benefit. I would like to talk about seeds to explain this point. There are some companies who go into communities in order to observe the farming practices of local farmers to steal their ideas. These companies then try to use copyrights to pretend as though they are the rightful owners of these seeds and knowledge. However, they are from the communities. They have been saving their seeds and sharing their knowledge from generation to generation. These companies take advance of the innocence and ignorance of the farmers to rob them. This is why we have to respect our communities and fight for their rights.

On the other hand, it is okay when some people want to appreciate another culture. Sometimes people admire the things of a culture and they want to get it. Therefore, they pay for the articles and use it. It is also okay when foreigners participate in local traditions. For example, if a tourist wants to wear a vueltiao hat (a typical hat in Colombia) in the Barranquila carnival, they will not be in trouble because the local people will not feel insulted. Hence, Cultural Appropriation is different from Cultural Admiration.

Cultural Appropriation is very bad for the communities because the communities’ members feel used. We have to respect the communities and talk to them about how to interact with their traditions.