Cultural Appropriation VS Cultural Appreciation by Alabo Tekenate.

Culture is very often defined as the way and life of a people. It involves everything from language, to the rituals, festivals, dress, and goes down even to the meals and songs sang by a particular group of people. It defines a people, and distinguishes them from others. 

Cultural appreciation is learning about a culture of others and also finding out why certain cultural practices are done by a certain people for the purpose of learning or research. 

Cultural appropriation which is also called cultural misappropriation is when one adopts the culture of another people it could be the fashion, language, style etc but it is sometimes termed harmful when the adopted culture is from a minority or oppressed culture. Its is safe to say that cultural appreciation leads to the appropriation of culture, and it is very prevalent in the entire world today. Take for instance, the black man is originally not accustomed to cutleries and technology but with interactions with the whites, we have come to  learn about the use of those things and now it seems like we just cant do without them. This misappropriation of culture is also very evident in the way we go about our marriages today.  The original African marriage ordinarily revolved mainly around the payment of dowry, and entertainment of guest. There was nothing like honeymoon in a faraway fairytale land, no emphasis on a white  wedding dress, elaborate receptions etc. But with the knowledge of the culture of the whites and their pattern of weddings, we seem to have lost sight of the importance of our own traditional wedding. 

Some have dared to say that there is no difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation, because no culture is totally uninfluenced by another, but there really is. We can learn about a thing and it ends that way, we need not totally forget ourselves, who we originally are because of a knowledge acquired. Granted, some knowledge might have helped us become better, but, our culture is what makes us uniquely different from others, so we must not forget who we are.

The key to cultural appreciation rather than appropriation is understanding the culture you are borrowing from.

ABOUT THE WRITER 

Name: Alabo Tekenate Junior 

State Code: OS/19C/0978

Course of study: Electrical/Electronics Engineering 

School: Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island. Bayelsa State