Appropriation Lacking Appreciation
Social Memory (cncpt.)—the collective understanding and shared narratives about about a group’s history that influence identity and culture, both internally and externally. These shared memories aid in the formation of a community’s identity, guide present-day interactions, and act as a foundation for future aspirations.
During my Undergraduate studies at Gonzaga University, I took a course called “Politics of Social Memory”. Below is one of the many essays I wrote. It concerns Black and Brown appropriation and the implications thereof on a grand scale.
Many of us understand what appropriation is; however, I don’t think we always realize the weight of it. Hopefully with this piece, I can emphasize the gravity of taking culture without giving credit where it’s due.
Appropriation Lacking Appreciation
In the words of a wise Malcom X, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected woman in America is the Black woman. The most neglected woman in American is the black woman.”(1962) He was right, and this paper examines how MalcomX’s infamous quote still bears great relevance today as it pertains to how Black (and Brown) culture continues to get stolen, appropriated, and profited off of. The purpose of this paper is to examine and analyze the ways in which Black and Brown culture has been historically defined and shaped in the White America, specifically as it pertains to the female body and what it means to be a Black/Brown woman. In turn, I will look at the ways in which their (black and brown women) culture, or overall existence in their body, is and has been appropriated and exploited, deemed as evil or deviant or sexually immoral; further more I will examine how the same behavior, mannerisms, and existences when acted out by white women (or any other non-colored woman) it’s the goal post for them in. It follows, naturally, that I will address the implications of such appropriation without so much as a sliver of appreciation. This paper, if I’m successful, will address the following question: In what ways does the White majority in popular culture harness and appropriate black and brown culture? By what means and for what reason(s)?
The Smithsonian published an article titles Widespread and Pervasive Stereotypes of African Americans, wherein which it discusses the development, perpetuation, and implications of historical tropes an stereotypes of African Americans, particularly as they’re displayed in popular culture. The article argues that majority of the harmful stereotypes we see today were “created during the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and were used to help commodify black bodies and justify the business of slavery.” (Smithsonian) Similarly, Patricia Hill Collins writes about these stereotypes and how they emerged from and as a product of slavery in her article Controlling Images and Black Women’s Oppression: “The dominant idea logos of the slave era fostered the creation of four interrelated…controlling image of Black womanhood, each reflecting the dominant group’s interest in maintaining Black women’s subordination.” (Collins, 1991) She goes on to explain that, though Black and white women both played a role in the continuation of slavery, the ideologies of womanhood that did prevail functioned as type of masking regarding the reality of social relations that affect(ed) alll women. Collins calls our attention to the cult of true womanhood which has four tenants it believes “true” women possess: ‘piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity’. Apparently, these are the traits/virtues elite and ‘emerging middle class’ white women were encouraged to pursue. On the other hand, African American women were faced with a whole other set of ideologies and expectations: “The sexual ideology of the period as is the case today ‘confirmed the differing material circumstances of these two groups of women… by balancing opposing definitions of womanhood and motherhood, each dependent on the other for its existence.’” (Carby as cited in Collins, 1991) It also becomes apparent the contradictions white people were making when assigning these stereotypes to African Americans: “For instance, an enslaved person, forced to work from sunrise to sunset, could hardly be described as lazy. Yet laziness… [a host of other negative traits/qualities]… historically became stereotypes assigned to African Americans.” (Smithsonian) Black women in particular have historically been categorized into four different stereotypes: the Mammy, Sapphire, Jazebel, and Matriarch. Smithsonian tells us that the Mammy stereotype was mainly developed during slavery and it became a popular portrayal in minstrel shows.
What makes the Mammy caricature its own category is it’s portrayal as a black woman as having “undying loyalty to their slaveholders, as caregivers and counsel.” Ironic, though, because when a white woman has “undying loyalty” and alleged ‘solidarity’ with their ‘black friends’ they don’t get a stereotype or caricature in the media— they just get called ‘allies’. Referring back to Collins, she asserts in her article that “The mammy image is central to interlocking systems of race, gender, and class oppression. Since efforts to control the African American family life require perpetuating the symbolic structure of racial oppression, the mammy image is important because it aims to shape Black women’s behavior as mothers.” (Collins, 1991) In addition to the potential of Black women internalizing, and therefore perpetuating, this racially oppressive stereotype, the mammy image also functions symbolically in the maintenance of gender oppression particularly against Black women. Collins refers to Barbara Christians work wherein which argues that “images of Black womanhood serve as a reservoir for the fears of Western Culture (Collins, 1991), ‘a dumping ground for those female functions a basically Puritan society could not confront’” (Christians, 1985 as cited in Collins, 1991). Juxtaposing the ideologies set by the cult of womanhood against the Mammy stereotype (or any other trope, for that matter), it becomes apparent that Black women have historically been sexualized which, naturally, “symbolizes the oppositional difference of mind/body and culture/nature thought to distinguish Black women from everyone else.” (Colins, 1991)
The Mammy stereotype was further perpetuated after the Civil War as evidence of The Pearl Milling Company’s “incarnation of the smiling domestic, Aunt Jemima” (Smithsonian) which, over time, became the staple example of this particular stereotype. Aunt Jemima served as a “trusted figure in white imaginations” and was considered nostalgic for whites in favor of racism and slavery. This and all the other caricatures were further propagated as fact with the help of and alongside films like “Birth of a Nation,” which displays black people in very specific negative lights, and “Gone With the Wind,” a movie that’s essentially about a white woman and her property.
The second caricature is Sapphire. This stereotypes portrays women as audacious and bold. She emasculates and dominates— that’s the trick of her trade. She is depicted as overly aggressive. She is the modern day “angry black woman” which the article points out is “direct(ly) [a] violation of social norms. During the Jim Crow era, CBS as well as other streams of media managed to depict slavery as “not overly oppressive” by using the sapphire trope as propaganda and by having them appear to chastise white people. In response to the chastisement, the whites appeared to accept the sassiness as indicative of their “acceptance as members of the white family.” It was all a hokes, again, to justify racism.
With this, I call our attention to an article by Maeve Eberhardt and Kara Freeman where they discuss linguistic appropriation and the concept of white women benefiting from behaving in a manner that would otherwise not be acceptable. The article demonstrates the notion that when White women display particular mannerisms it’s “cool” or “popular”. Through analyzing the constructed hip-hop persona of Iggy Azalea, the two women argue “that even seemingly authentic language use involving appropriation of racially-linked forms is at its core not different from the linguistic minstrelsy and mock language that reflects whites’ ongoing participation in and upholding of the status who racist structure”. (Eberhardt, Freeman, 2015) Furthermore, they wager that the language used in Iggy Azalea’s music, along with the discourse of race and the general contents of her music (which typically “subscribes to stereotyped notions of blackness”) support the idea and claim that she represents “a particularly salient example of white hegemony that views black cultural resources as ripe for the strategic picking”. (Eberhardt, Freeman, 2015) For starters, the “hip-hop nation” is known for their stylistic choice (AAE) but scholar, Edward’s, as stated in this article, conducted a survey of hip-hop and found “that AAE features are used only on a token basis in the music… in the U.S. and globally, this has the effect of making the music accessible to a wide audience, which comprises many non-speakers of AAE.” (Edwards as cited in Eberhardt and Freeman) Essentially, since hip-hop is globally thought of as an “autonomous market” it invites individuals to perceive the use of its’ historically stylistic language and then use it in their music— this isn’t ok, though:
“While it would be be dangerous to racialize rap music completely, given its widespread reach…the genre without doubt retains its primary ties to (the) Black experience and artistry (Cutler 2003; Morgan and Bennett 2011); moreover, stemming from historical and current circumstances of race relations in the U.S., there may be a great deal of tension and suspicion surrounding white participation in and gain from the hip-hop industry.” (Eberhardt, Freeman, 2015)
With that, we can do a close examination of Iggy Azalea and the implications of her (frequent) use of AAE. The article goes into the technicalities of AAE and breaks down examples of her using them but overall, the idea is that Iggy Azalea capitalizes off sonic blackness. She is close friends with rappers like T.I. who is from the south which scholars think may contribute to her perpetual appropriation of black language. Here I think it’s important to mention that the same vernacular she uses in her music, is the same vernacular that constitutes many black people as “ghetto” or “country” in popular society and culture.
Moving on to the Jezebel trope which depicts the Black woman as overly and hyper-sexual. Jeevan Sivasubramaniam argues “the myth of voracious sexuality helped antebellum society excuse the routine sexual exploitation of enslaved black women.” (Barrett-Koehler, 2017) The implications of this trope has probably been the most detrimental to the Black woman as its correlated with high rates of sexual assault and low rates of any government authority taking their word for what happened. The Matriarch on the other hand, as asserted by Sivasubramaniam, is best summarized by a statement in the 1965 Moynihan Report, which was released by the U.S. Department of Labor: “The greatest threat to the black community is woman-headed households’. (U.S. Department of Labor as stated in Sivasubraniam) I wager this means the Matriarch trope is the strong-willed black woman. She’s independent; she doesn’t need help— she’s (as assigned by popular stereotypical gender roles in society) masculine. Going back to the article which discussed the cult of womanhood juxtaposed to tropes of black women, we can look at the social memory of what it means to be a woman: the cults’ tenants of womanhood were based directly in contrast with what it means to be black, or at least from a westernized social perspective. White woman were pious and pure while black women were made out to be mammy’s and jezebel’s, etc. Historically speaking, the politics of social memory here are clearly set out to deteriorate the dignity of the black female body and existence, generally.
Now that we know the four historical tropes of Black women and the implications of socially hegemonic systems and groups, we can shift our focus to other ways in which Black culture and existence is harvested. Staying with the topic of linguistic appropriation, the Article Blackvoice and Adele’s Racialized Musical Performance: Blackness, Whiteness, and Disscursive Authenticity by Amanda Nell Edgar juxtaposes Adele’s (very) white appearance with her use of black stylistic choices. In the public eye, race is often automatically associated with genre category (talking bout music specifically, here) and Edgar points out that this is usually only the case for non-white artists. She brings up the concept of “racialized boarders” in the music industry which essentially identifies genre categories as the musical equivalent as racial segregation. It speaks to the freedom and privilege of white people in the music industry— similar to racial segregation, and just racism generally: black people need to stay within their confines, while white people have the freedom and agency to roam wherever, whenever, and however they want. Bracket argues, as stated by Edgar that “these charts historically privilege white performers in the ‘Hot 100’ lists, while ghettoizing non-white performers in separate categories like ‘R&B/Hip Hop’ and ‘Latin’.” Privilege is the reason Adele is able to assume black voice and win awards on ‘her own merit’— the categories are designed and structured around radicalized generic boarders. While Adele’s voice is soulful, and technically more fitting for the ‘R&B’ category, she is often placed in the Pop category— this puts her at a direct opposition from Black performers in other categories even though she literally appropriates and performs the fundamentals of their craft to a ‘T. These award shows are systematically racist and oppressive to black artists, in that they purposefully and strategically create space between Black and White artists, regardless of accuracy: “Through these awards, Adele was distances from black performers with similar sounds, demonstrating and reinforcing racial bordering mechanisms within the structure of popular music.” (Edgar, 2014) Simply put, what most people understand to be a “black voice” is challenged by Adele’s music. People will easily accept Adele appropriating soul music; they’ll play it all day long on all the radio stations (Pop and R&B) and in turn, her music will climb the charts resulting in awards. Best explained by Edgar: “By approximating (what certain audiences understand to be) black female performance, Adele challenges popular music’s racial boarding… this transgression is ultimately silences through her ascribed visual whiteness and relegation to the white feral-dominated pop category, this act of passing opens a space for discussion”. (Edgar, 2017) Keeping in mind the stereotype of Black women as loud, masculine, and inherently sexually pervasive, it is ironic that White singers aren’t viewed as such when they steal the exact same stylistic choices, behaviors, and mannerisms of negative, dehumanized historical caricatures. In summary, we see white women strategically utilizing negative stereotypes to their benefit, all while envying and fetishizing blackness, particularly in the female body. They use these tropes and tailor it to their expansion and purification of the “true woman” while simultaneously dismissing all the negative components of those very same tropes: mammy, matriarch, welfare queen, jezebel, and sapphire. They derive, harness, and tailor the positive attributes of these caricatures and manipulate them to their benefit without having to associate with the entirety of these tropes.
Moving from vocal appropriation, Maha Ikram Cherid writes about blackfishing as it relates to capitalism in her piece titled “Ain’t Got Enoguh Money to Pay Me Respect”: Blackfishing, Cultural Appropriation, and the Commodifications of Blackness. Recall one of the greatest scandals in 2015: a white woman, Rachel Dolezal, in Spokane claimed and had been operating as though she was, in fact, not white but actually Black on the basis of being ‘transracial’. She argued that there was nothing wrong with her behavior and deception because she had done good things as a ‘black’ activist. It is worth noting that the benefits she received from her deceptive lie could have been better allocated to someone who was actually black and needed those benefits. (Cherid, 2021) Another scandal was reported when Vijay Chokalingam “pretended to be Black in his medical school applications to benefit from affirmative actions intended to support Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students.” (Pearson 2015 as stated in Cherid 2021) In addition to several other instances of people pretending to be Black to reap the ‘benefits’ that accompany existing as such, and the rise of people faking their identity on the internet such behavior was coined and given its own term: blackfishing. It’s catfishing but with race. This concept easily goes hand in hand with cultural appropriation (which is defined as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you near stand or respect this culture.” (Cambridge Dictionary)
From here, I want to focus on how appropriation is present in the fashion industry. Aria S. Halliday calls our attention to the experience of young Black and Latina girls who have to navigate a society “built on their objectification, so consumption, and familial connections, as well as the so start appropriation of their creativity for neoliberal consumerism.” (Holliday 2021) The article starts by looking at “Quinceañera Style” by Rachel Valentina Gonzalez which discusses U.S. American and Mexicanx cultural practices. Essentially, she argues that these celebratory traditions are more “contemporary” which, in this case is post 1950’s. Additionally, she argues that the practice “acts as a process of social integration and a bridge to the imagined homeland of US Latinx communities.” The argument is that these parties mark these 15-year-old girls as sexually available and “adult”. These celebrations also “(mark) their allegiance to heritage within a cultural landscape that rewards proximity to whiteness.” Gonzalez additionally asserts that style plays a big role in the ordeal in that they teach the girls to “modify and control social perceptions by claiming experiences for themselves that are ‘neither wholly ethnoracial nor fully USAmericanized.” (Gonzalez as cited in Halliday) In summary, we need to take away from this the fact that Gonzalez’s subject (quince girls) are interpolated to understand the(eir) bodies as products “in the capitalist-driven Western marketplace where local and global relationships, traditions, and sociopolitical status constructed based on one’s body particularly the bodies of girls.” (Halliday 2021)
Referring back to “Ain’t Got Enough Money to Pay Me Respect” we can look at the harm of cultural appropriation as it pertains to the fashion industry.The implications in this regard would be closely linked to capitalism and commodification(s) of blackness. To drive this point I’ll use Cherid’s example of the Kardashian/Jenners. For clarity: Cultural Appropriation (as defined by Cambridge Dictionary) is “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.” So, (1) the person ‘appropriating’ has to not be a part of the culture/group to which the element (fashion, linguistic, etc.) belongs, (2) there are clearly power-struggles at play because the appropriator is able to engage with the stolen element by choice— on their own terms, and finally (3) appropriation runs the risk (and almost always does) inherently disrespect the culture from which the element is stolen. So, back to the Kar/Jenners: both Kylie and Khloe are notoriously known for stealing designs developed by black people and never giving credit where it’s due. Additionally, they have made countless jokes and remarks about the fact that they’re white but are deeply obsessed with blackness. The implications of their thievery is as follows: “without crediting the creators of the clothes more paying them to use the designs, their appropriation of elements of Black culture simultaneously infringed on intellectual property rights owned by Destiny Bleu and Plugged NYC” (Cherid 2021)
On a separate note, Nandi Howard published an article in 2021 called “White and Whimsical” where she examines the ways that appropriation essentially makes the fashion industry successful— moreover, it serves as a means of inspiration for many brands who never give credit or extend/offer representation to those groups/cultures from which it derived said “inspiration”. For example, it talks about the popular “Prarie Dress” style that was recently very popular. This style of dress actually reaches back to 1740 when South Caroline passed the Negro Act. This required all black people to conform to a dress code or run the risk of serious consequences. Here, we can how the politics of social memory work. Culturally, they’ve erased or chosen to look past the origins of the style of dress, and have reclaimed the style as “cool” and :trendy”. It fully erases the reality of the history of the dress: “They were required to wear the cheapest of clothing, including ‘Negro cloth, duffels, jerseys, osnaburgs… or Scottish plaids.” (Howard 2021) Even better, these clothing mandates were used as social markers and distinctions among enslaved African Americans and “between the masters and their slaves.” The truth of the matter is, slaves wore these dresses as a means of not being punished. Their dresses also were not made with soft, breathable fabrics designed for comfortability— they were actually made with the cheapest of fabrics.
We can, then, look at appropriation as a means of White Supremacy as it asserts that one race dominates over the other; therefore, implying power relations where white people have more agency and control. This has its own implications which is that white people are somehow better or more powerful.
Work Cited
Cherid, Maha Ikram. “‘Ain’t Got Enough Money to Pay Me Respect’: Blackfishing, Cultural Appropriation, and the Commodification of Blackness.” Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, vol. 21, no. 5, 2021, pp. 359–364., https://doi.org/10.1177/15327086211029357.
Collins, Patricia Hill. “Controlling Images and Black Women’s Oppression.” Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 1991.
Eberhardt, Maeve, and Kara Freeman. “‘First Things First, I'm the Realest’: Linguistic Appropriation, White Privilege, and the Hip-Hop Persona of Iggy Azalea.” Journal of Sociolinguistics, vol. 19, no. 3, 2015, pp. 303–327., https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12128.
Edgar, Amanda Nell. “Blackvoice and Adele's Racialized Musical Performance: Blackness, Whiteness, and Discursive Authenticity.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 31, no. 3, 2013, pp. 167–181., https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2013.863427.
Halliday, Aria S. “For the Girls in the Place with Style and Grace: Excess as the Catalyst for Liberation.” American Quarterly, vol. 73, no. 4, 4 Dec. 2021, pp. 857–866., https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2021.0058.
Lopez, Qiuana. “Aggressively Feminine.” Gender and Language, vol. 8, no. 3, 2014, pp. 289–310., https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v8i3.289.
Nandi HowardView profile »Nandi Howard is a fashion editor from Houston, et al. “Fashion Tried to Reckon with Its Racist Roots in 2020-and Failed.” Bitch Media, 21 Dec. 2020, https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/fashion-prairie-dress-cultural-appropriation-roots.
“Popular and Pervasive Stereotypes of African Americans.” National Museum of African American History and Culture, 19 July 2019, https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/popular-and-pervasive-stereotypes-african-americans.
Sivasubramaniam, Jeevan. “The Four Destructive Stereotypes about Black Women.” Berrett-Koehler Publishers Blog, Berrett-Koehler, 25 Feb. 2021, https://ideas.bkconnection.com/four-destructive-stereotypes-about-black-women.
Spillers, Hortense J. “Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book.” Diacritics, vol. 17, no. 2, 1987, p. 64., https://doi.org/10.2307/464747.