Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels

By: Ananiya Narmathan

Halloween costumes, pop culture, school mascots, fashion—  without even realizing, we’re often surrounded by cultural appropriation every turn we take. However, cultural appropriation is vastly different from cultural appreciation, and unknowingly impacts individuals negatively if we are not aware of our actions. The idea of cultural appropriation vs cultural appreciation has been a popular topic over the course of this year. Once you understand and appreciate other people’s cultures, you can connect with them more.

Cultural appreciation is when you strive to learn about and explore another culture different from your own. You take the time to learn. You take the time to listen. You take the time to understand.

To contrast, cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. In other words, it’s when someone takes elements from a culture that is not their own, and reduces it into a meaningless pop culture item. For instance, non-Black music artists may appropriate Black culture into pop culture by using their cultural slang, behaviours, and clothing.

As a school community, we can work together to eliminate cultural appropriation and project cultural appreciation as we honour other arts and cultures, learn about people’s collective history, as well as take the time to learn and interact with others to gain understanding of different cultures. You can learn more by watching a video about it here. Together, we can make St. Augustine a better community for everyone.

Works Cited

“Cultural Appreciation vs. Cultural Appropriation: Why It Matters.” Greenheart International, greenheart.org/blog/greenheart-international/cultural-appreciation-vs-cultural-appropriation-why-it-matters/#:~:text=Appreciation%20is%20when%20someone%20 weeks,for%20your%20own%20personal%20interest. Accessed 09 Nov 2021.

Pann, Quan. “Don’t Mess Up When You Dress Up.” The Issuu, The Scope, 20 Nov. 2017, issuu.com/quanphan94/docs/cultural_20costume. Accessed 10 Nov 2021.

“My Culture Is NOT A Costume | Teen Vogue.” Teen Vogue, 27 Oct. 2017, youtu.be/d6Y5cARFJw8.