From Appropriation to Appreciation to Acknowledgement: How to Respectfully Engage with Other Cultures

By Daniella Nayyar

In an increasingly globalised world, we are growing more and more connected. Whilst this creates the opportunity for development and innovation through learning from one another and integrating learnings and traditions, it also cultivates the space for cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is defined as the use of elements of another’s culture inappropriately or without acknowledgement.

Elements of my South Asian culture that I was teased for growing up have become a part of the mainstream. I see fashion, yoga practice, chai spices, meditation, mindfulness, and hair oils for hair health all bandied around as new ideas and new trends as if they haven’t been passed down through the generations of my family and many others like mine. Often, those adopting these practices have no understanding or acknowledgement of the rich history from which such practices have come.

I am a teacher by profession and adore the sharing of understanding and knowledge, but I wish to express the importance of sharing accurate knowledge that acknowledges the triumphs and challenges from which that knowledge has come. In this article, my goals are to define appropriation, discuss whether appreciation is enough and encourage acknowledgement as a solution for the associated emotions attached to watching your culture filter into mainstream practice.

The first thing to say here is that this is an impossible task. To understand and so be able to acknowledge the varied experiences of anyone who has grown up within a culture takes a lifetime of connection and learning. I do not wish to create an impossible situation for anyone. Instead, I wish to provide ideas on how to begin this journey. As with many things, a little effort goes a long way. It is a wonderful thing that we can engage and learn from each other’s cultures: my trips to other countries have influenced the way I cook, the way I move, and the way I see the world. But acknowledging where those influences have come from holds more power than one can imagine.

There is a huge impact to acknowledging the power that a culture has had on how you live your life. Mostly, this impact is on those who belonged to those spaces long before you started to delve into them. If someone says to me that they learned how to use Indian spices in food and it has changed their culinary experience, I excitedly talk about how they use them and how we can learn from each other. But if someone tells me they have discovered how garam masala adds rich flavour to sauced foods, they are doing so by taking ownership of something that has been in practice for centuries.

One of the solutions to solving the huge emotional and psychological impact this can have on those not belonging to mainstream or accepted cultures is ‘cultural appreciation’. Cultural appreciation is the enjoyment of or understanding of a culture and its practices. It is often associated with celebrating the good qualities of a culture. Whilst this seems a step in the right direction, there are gaps in this practice. By only celebrating the good and not understanding the bad, there is no balanced view to one’s cultural understanding.

There are social media trends of oiling one’s hair without acknowledging the beautiful intergenerational connections between Mother and Daughter it has created for my family, without acknowledging the ayurvedic practice it came from within my culture. So how do we ensure that those who have had a lifetime of such cultural practices don’t feel pushed aside as soon as something becomes popular in the mainstream? Through acknowledgement we can share where these ideas have come from, and even better share resources to learn more about these practices. Cultural acknowledgement is respect for the culture one is learning from.

The first step of this respect is as small as stating where the practices you have learnt or built upon come from. If you are teaching mindfulness, state the origins of the practice to your students and be open to accessing resources to understand more about how the practice has developed across space and time. Build libraries filled with resources to share with others.

Next, understand the experiences of those who have partaken in such practices before you. Talk to people about their lived experiences and understand the impact of your practice on others. Most people love to share rather than gatekeep so be open to discussions and suggestions. A further step could be to bring people from spaces within which cultural practices originate into the spaces you are in. This will facilitate respect for the past and pathways into the future.

This is by no means an extensive list of what we can do. Those who are more capable and those who are less will engage with this on various levels. But it is important we move away from using cultures inappropriately and moving past using only the parts we enjoy and into genuine respect. Buy cookbooks or follow social media pages from those that belong to the cultures of the foods you are trying to learn. Engage with those who speak the language you are trying to learn. Try new things and be open to learning the good and bad that come with all cultural experiences. We won’t all have the time, space or capacity to do this so it is a collective responsibility to move away from egocentric narratives of discovery and into values of sharing practice.