Appropriation is complicated.
Deborah Root's Cannibal Culture was one of the first major explorations of cultural appropriation.
Defining it is problematic, and conceptually it can be blurry or a moving target. In a nutshell, cultural appropriation is the use (and frequently modification) of one culture's practices, arts, and traditions, by another culture, in a manner that is perceived as inappropriate and/or unacknowledged. The latter, 'unacknowledged,' is objectively simpler to avoid and repair, but is not sufficient to wave away the former. As for ‘inappropriate’, it is more subjective and can't be remedied simply by acknowledging/crediting originators of arts and practices. Largely, because almost always, when speaking of appropriation in a critical manner, we are discussing disparity between the two cultures being discussed: one group has more political influence, economic power, military and bureaucratic forces, etc. and therefore only that group has the power to alter, redefine, and otherwise claim (appropriate) said practices as their own -- much like the victors tend to control history, Colonizers tend to control cultural exchange and attribution.
So, in many ways, appropriation in the negative sense is Colonialism by another name.
In The Dawn of Everything, anthropologist David Graber and archaeologist David Wengrow challenge traditional theories of ‘social evolution’ (Hunter Gatherers to Nomadic semi-agriculturists to Sedentary societies). Using archaeological and anthropological evidence they show that humans have been far more adaptable, complex, diverse and innovative, in how they organize themselves the way they do (and why). they reveal not an inevitable turn towards agriculture about 10,000 years ago after a quarter-million years of hunting and gathering, but rather a non-linear and responsive set of social arrangements reflecting varying challenges across space and time humans have encountered.
In the novel, Eartha, raised in an elven wood, explains, “Elves don’t sell art to each other.” Individual acts of unique creation are never commodified among elves but rather, there is a perpetual exchange of Gifts. This is only possible because in Gaearth, Elves do not engage in capitalist economies in their woods. Elves being practically immortal will likely have many ‘careers’ in their life and achieve expertise in any number of arts or disciplines (medicine, military, arts, magic, etc.). No one who lives forever is interested in short-term gains and constant competition for finite resources - that would be eternally exhausting. Elves also control their own population size very closely. In Gaearth, no pair of Elves can conceive without consent of their commune. This is a built-in bit of magical evolution. Given these very different biological traits (as compared to humans), the cultural practices of elven societies developed to contend with radically different ontologies. Preservation supersedes acquisition, equitable access over time supersedes temporary accumulation and hoarding, and these moral values result in universal access to resources superseding individuality. These are not either/or binaries, but rather an ever-adaptive correlation between the types of challenges faced by a given community and the types of practices they might develop to contend with said challenges.
An easy target for discussions of cultural appropriation is the practice of Yoga in the US. Yoga as a multi-millennia old tradition out of India, is not what we practice in the US. Nor was Yoga ever meant to be a commodified product restricted to those who can afford it. Yoga, historically and traditionally, includes body practices, meditative practices and spiritual practices, and is tightly linked to sacred texts of ancient India, likely originating with Jainists who did not subscribe to the later strict caste system of Brahmanism.
What we largely practice in the US is one part of traditional Yoga (Hatha, made up of postures, asanas). That is, what the West calls “Yoga” is not the same as the many practices originally called Yoga. In a global society, obviously not all cultures possess equal impact, power, or influence over one another and so, for many westerners, Yoga is a type of ‘workout’ with usually a premium price tag attached to it.
Make no mistake, even Western Yoga is pretty awesome. It does do many excellent things for the practitioners and even with just the aspects the West appropriated, Western Yoga is still something that almost all practitioners acknowledge improves their physical and mental health.
The oldest known image of a Yoga pose from Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley (now part of Pakistan) dating from the 3rd millennium BCE (4000-5000 years ago). It may be worth noting that Harappan culture, which Mohenjo-Daro was a part of, had a script or proto-language of some sort that has still not been deciphered. If someday a consistent grammar and/or lexicon were to be worked out, it would likely be the oldest known written language on earth.
But it is a white-washed version of the original practices stripped of cultural markers that may make it less attractive to the West (like the religious component). In the US, Yoga is not generally consumed as a millennia old tradition intertwined with ethics, spiritual practice, and mental discipline. Yoga lessons are a commodity, and the business of providing Yoga lessons has become a multi-billion dollar industry of which the originating culture and practitioners have hardly benefitted from in the way Western entrepreneurs have.
And this is a key piece of appropriation: that the culture which originated a given practice did not have the political, economic, or other power to prevent another culture from appropriating its practices, modifying them, repackaging them, selling them to folks who have no history with the traditions, and then claiming this new white-washed commodified product is the ‘real thing’.
Another example near and dear to my heart: Rock and fucking Roll.
At least 55 languages and two dozen styles of music from around the world including, "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry.
Rock and Roll can be accused of appropriating the Blues. But not quite as thoroughly as many other appropriations of African-American culture by white folks because some of the first and most memorable players of Rock and Roll were African Americans. It is Chuck Berry’s voice, not Elvis’, that the Voyager Spacecrafts are carrying beyond the solar system (track 11). Add Jazz, R&B and Hip Hop, and essentially all popular music in the US is black music – and yet, look at who wins Grammys. In almost 75 years the album of the year has only been won by black artists 11 times. Taylor Swift has won the same award four times herself. That is, Taylor Swift has won the Grammy more times this century than all African American artists combined since the inception of the Gram,my's.* This is not meant to diminish Taylor Swift's accomplishment as a musician and entertainer, but clearly the originators and inventors of all popular music in the US have historically not received the recognition they deserve.
Ella Fitzgerald never won album of the year despite being "The First Lady of Song", composing for others and establishing a film career as well. She won Grammys, but almost exclusively in 'Jazz' despite being a recognizable genius and star far beyond America's modest jazz scene.
That there is appropriation.
An industry led and owned by primarily wealthy white guys, and which is entirely reliant on African American cultural invention and innovation for almost all of its wealth, poorly recognizes the culture, the progenitors, the originators, the artists, from who they have appropriated. And of course, the appropriators made far more money than most black musicians in the 20th century did.
A fascinating look at the difference between appropriation and appreciation is to take a look at two classic rock bands who owed everything to the Blues: Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.
Led Zeppelin was sued multiple times by Blues artists in the US because Zep used lyrics and riffs from what they thought (or claimed they thought) were ‘traditional’ songs. Turns out they were using the copyrighted works of numerous early Blues players in their songs, including Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon (the latter of whom wrote an enormous number of Blues tunes for other artists at Chess Records back in the day).
The Rolling Stones on the other hand made sure every Blues cover they did was properly credited. They went to Chicago to record at Chess Records with their Blues heroes, and invited folks like Buddy Guy on tour with them so Stones’ fans could meet and witness the originators of the form.
Both Zep and the Stones were amazing rock bands with no small amount of talent among the members themselves. But both bands were beholden to decades of African American music and chose to acknowledge that fact (or not) in very different ways.
In this novel we are introduced to “Greymusic”. It’s the Blues for Gaearth. I’ve borrowed from the history and origin stories of the Blues, stories of African American life and struggles in the South from Jim Crow onward, and lent the heart of the music and its makers to Gaearth where Greymusic music plays a very similar role for the hardworking, hardscrabble folk living in The New Dale, trying to avoid being enslaved or indentured by warring royals.
The Blues were invented/developed by African Americans in the Mississippi Delta around the turn of the 20th century. During the ‘Great Migration’ the primarily acoustic style made its way north with millions of blacks as they migrate out of the South, in particular to Chicago, to get the fuck out of the land of Jim Crow. In The Windy City, the Blues are electrified, and the Chicago Blues are established: A genre of music which at times differs only from rock and roll in the name of the category.
This novel is at times no small allegory for the worst excesses of capitalism, colonialism, racism, etc. My borrowing from art forms that have also laid bare the painful truths of being ‘other’ in a world that often delivers tremendous violence to anyone who might threaten the status quo is meant to be edifying, homage and appreciation on my part. I hope that the discussions of Greymusic in the novel are read as acknowledgement and admiration for a form of music that without which I would not be the person who I am today.
But that remains to be seen. I’m also open to the possibility that I still managed to redefine another culture’s traditions to simply be ‘useful’ in my reality/worldview.
Being human is hard work. Failure is a constant. But so is improvement.
- This was written before Beyonce's wins at the 2025 Grammy's and before Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl performance in early 2025.