It is Monday evening. The Dominicanenkerk slowly fills up. The talk show, organised by a group of honours students from the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, is part of the Wellbeing Week at UM, mental health being the focal point. “First they laugh, then they copy, then they cash,” the quote used by fashion activist and fashion journalist Janice Deul to start off the evening. By way of example, she shows a picture: to the right Elvis Presley, the King of rock ’n roll, to the left Rosetta Tharp. According to Deul, she is the real Queen of rock ‘n roll. “And that is exactly what happens to cultural appropriation. How can you possibly ‘discover’ something that already existed? Tharp never became famous.”
Albert Heijn
Words such as racism, stealing, possession and fusion appear on the monitor with the question: “what is cultural appropriation?” And according to Deul (Surinam parents “but I never thought about that then”), that is one of the reasons why this theme is so difficult. “The definition first has to be clear. Also, what are the stakes? People are wiping out history by taking over certain clothing or hairstyles.” Still, there are other views from the audience. “So, am I no longer allowed to wear a braided hairstyle, if I think it is beautiful?” That depends on the context, answers panel lid Branco Popovic, founder of Fashionclash. Deul adds: “You can actually dress for an Indian wedding. Then you are celebrating their culture, as it were.”
Panel members Tessa Yen and Yên-Nhi Lê have Vietnamese parents, but they themselves were raised in the Netherlands. They looked into their origin and Tessa Yen, who recently became a chef, focuses on traditional dishes. “Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, which requires a lot of preparation time. Albert Heijn recently sold a steam soup as if it was ‘Pho’, but that is not what it was. It made me angry, so I wrote them a letter,” says Yen. “They took the product off the shelves,” Lê adds, smiling.
Nuance
A blonde guy raises his hand. “Is it actually possible for a Western person to appreciate a culture without appropriating it?” Deul thinks it isn’t. “You would be better off developing your own style.” Still, the question remains for many: where is the nuance and where is the end? “I’m not from here, but I always wear orange clothes to celebrate the King’s birthday. I don’t think I am appropriating the culture,” another student says. There is applause. Someone else adds: “I am from Curaçao, our culture is exactly that, a melting pot of cultures.” Emotions are running higher now. “I just don’t get what is so difficult about this, why can’t we just stop stealing each other’s cultures?” an emotional student shouts. This evening will not lead to a broadly supported conclusion.