The other day, I was wondering if the (predominantly First-World-Anglophone) concept of “cultural appropriation” seemed as weird to other Caribbean people as it does to me. As such, I grabbed some people at college and gave them a long explanation of what “cultural appropriation” means (since none of them had heard of the concept) and then asked for comments.

Person 1: So, is this for any cultural thing?

Me: Yeah, although they tend to focus more on clothing, emblems, crafts, music, food; that kind of thing. Things that might be easy to package and sell to people who have no roots in the culture.

Person 1: …You mean, the exact same things that we package and sell to the tourists who visit us?

Me: …Yes, actually.

Person 2: So, what, it’s morally wrong for us to sell to tourists?

Me: I think that social justice would be more inclined to say that it’s wrong for tourists to buy cultural artifacts from us, because that would be exploitative, but there’s nothing wrong with us selling to support ourselves.

Person 3: Anyone who says it’s wrong for white people to put money in my hand is a cunt.

Person 4: Yeah, it takes two to trade.

Person 1: Anyway, can we appropriate stuff?

Me: Hmm… Examples?

Person 1: Like, is it wrong for black [Redacted]ians to make Indian food like curry and roti and samosa?

Me: Well, it would depend on who you ask, but I don’t think so. That stuff is now a deeply-embedded part of our culture and you’d need to mutilate Afro-Caribbean culture to get the Indian influences out.

Person 2: …But isn’t that also true when white Americans use black culture?

Me: Well, yes, but the difference is that whites are an oppressor culture who have been stealing black cultural traditions.

Everyone else: ….

Person 4: OK, I had been accepting that this was just some weird bullshit, but nah. You’re joking, right? Americans aren’t really that stupid, right?



Me: Well, hashtag Not All Americans, but you could certainly say that stupidity is part of their “cultural patrimony”.

