FRÖKEN MISSNÖJD

Lending expressions from other cultures is seen as something violating the meaning of other cultures. I do not agree. From my perspective I’d say by taking or lending expressions, symbolisms or fashion from one another in a transnational and cultural field we can create meetings between people.

I was in this discussion in a feminist facebookgroup where there was a person who was about to change his name and the common swedish names did not feel right to him. He was concerned by being guilty of “steeling culture” if he choose a name from another country.

My opinion was that why should that be a problem, isn’t that a great compliment to the culture the name would be taken from?

The opinion in the thread was quite similar between most of the people in it, that cultural appropriation was something really ugly and it should even be regulated by law. Culture’s should be held separate from one another, because using another cultural expression than the one you are born within or raised in would be racist and oppress other non western cultures in relation to a postcolonial perspective. A white (swedish) person could not use clothing, name’s (on one self or one’s children), or use anything that was taken from a culture which is oppressed in a western cultural society. Examples could be India (Pick example’s from Transnational America), Thailand, Buddhism, yoga, meditation, “hippie clothing”, African culture’s, muslim culture’s, Indians (American native culture), or something else.

It is popular with artefacts in white, western home’s to use to interior design, like buddha, african masks made of wood, chinese and other asian chandeliers and so on. It is also common with fashion designers who lends a lot of traditional clothing’s and transforms it to something new.

Those who are against the cultural appropriation think’s that the use of these expressions in art, design, fashion, music and so on is stealing something that is not theirs, without having the knowledge of the original meanings of the expressions or artefacts in the culture’s that they are taken from. They call it to exploit cultural minorities in order to take advantage of something that isn’t theirs to start with.

These critiques could be valid, but on the other hand what happens if we are not allowed to use expressions from parts of the world that we do not belong to?

In the discussions about migration for example nationalist claim the right to separate people depending of what culture they belong to. They mean that a homogen society is what creates social security, and by knowing where and in which group you belong you feel safe. Mixing culture’s is therefore bad and create’s insecure people who have no roots. In a way I see the same discussions from essential nationalism that i can find from a anti-nationalist and anti-racist perspective. Don’t mix cultural expressions. Don’t take away people’s roots. Don’t mix. Separate. Make people know where they belong.

My question is: Are the anti-racist activists doing the errands of essential nationalists (as the Sweden Democrats for example) when they claim that culture is not for taking advantage of and mix together?

Is there a taboo to create new cultural expressions?

Why?

Anyway, when I openly said in that facebook group my thoughts about forbidding cultural appropriation could separate people and create a new “otherness” I was immediately thrown out. I was therefore excluded from a antiracist feminist network of activists because I did not cencour my opinion and my questions in the way that was accepted in the group. There was only one perspective which was accepted, and that was that taking advantage of other culture’s was the same as marginalization even though it could separate people from each other. My thoughts about this is also that this process of social interaction is interesting when it comes to power relations and the act of speech. Who has the power to speech and what is allowed to say and what is not?

What is the message from anti-racist and feminist groups? Do they claim to have the absolute and only truth?

Another thing that came up is the matter of interpretative prerogative, those who was not racialized was somewhere in the discussion asked to back off, their “useless opinions did not matter” and they (also I) was told to “shut the fuck up”.

Another interesting part was the fact that the one who said that taking names from another culture did not have a swedish name herself, instead she had a name from a common town in greek mythology and she was not from Greece. She had also made up that name herself, but claimed the right to the name since it was taken from a culture which now is “dead”.

I get curious then. When is a culture “dead”? In Sweden there are still people believing in the old Gods of Nordic Mythologies. How can we know that there is noone left to believe in the mythology of Greece? how do we know it is “dead”? Were is the limit supposed to be drawn? Should we forbid to name a caucasian boy Mohammed? Is Mohammed a name only for middle east/muslim boys? Can a migrant name their children Swedish names or is that only for native’s?

Can a muslim woman wear pants? Can a christian wear a jewish hat? Can a buddhist inThailand make food from Morrocco/Iran/Palestine?

Where do we draw the line? Forbid falafel or Pizza or tacos?

I don’t think so. We have to share culture over the lines. That’s the only way for the human race to create only “us” and not “us and them”. We have to lend expressions and create something new, where everyone can take place. Separatism is never the way to move away from oppression.
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(genderingpractice)

Det där med snoppbilder...
Alltid lika roligt när de ramlar in som DM. Vad tror de - att jag ska bli chockad eller. Tja, mitt standardsvar brukar rendera i generad tystnad/ursäkt. Jag tar en skärmdump och skickar tillbaka med texten "Tack! Den bilden kan jag använda både i sex och samlevnadsundervisningen och när vi samtalar om nätetikett." (På engelska om det inte är en svensk) Nu när DM har med än 140 tecken att förfoga över kan jag även lägga till att jag inte är feminist/genusvetare - jag vet att kön inte bara är en social konstruktion...

Dessa genustroll - inte utan att man ibland undrar om de har kortkommandon eller särskilda tangentbord...