The Illegitimate Casting of Culture

What is appropriation? Is it even possible to truly understand a separate culture without having spent your life being integrated into it?

In a society, there seems to be general organizing principles by which all social, political, and economic institutions are centered around. In the United States, it can be argued that one of these principles is capitalism. Clearly capitalism has an effect on our political and economic institutions. However, it is with the social where things get interesting. If someone asked me point blank why I go to college – I’d probably say that it’s because I like learning and I also want to make sure that I have a stable future. However, to merely state these as my only reasons would be to ignore a larger truth that underlies my motivations to go to school. I also attend college because I grew up in a capitalist society. This type of society has ingrained in me the belief that happiness is to be successful and to be successful is to make money and to make money one usually needs a college education. So, I have established my goal of having a secure job and making money as my top priority because in the society in which I live happiness means success. The existence of principles governing society in fact deeply relates to the appropriation of “oriental culture” in the United States.

As there are hegemonic institutions guiding society and permeating our subconscious, it seems unlikely that we can ever completely integrate ourselves into another culture. Thus, the appropriation of yoga, Buddhism, and Asian culture cannot truly occur – as we have not grown up in it, we can only hope to mold ourselves to some aspects of it. In the United States, the molding of Asian culture to ourselves becomes selfish. Generally, the elements taken from Asian culture and the light in which it is cast (with special regard to the “ideological caregiver”) serve only ourselves (Iwamura, 2000). The common theme in media of a peaceful caregiver or mentor who tutors a white disciple plays into the notion of rugged individualism – which is pervasive in our nation’s collective conscious. In films like The Karate Kid, an element of Asian culture is manipulated and taken out of the context of its culture for the purpose of making Ralph Macchio look like a hero (Iwamura, 2000). A hero who pulls himself up by his bootstraps and through hard work. Thus, demonstrating how Asian culture is molded to fit the American theme of rugged individualism. Although most appropriation is generally selfish and serves only to mold another culture to one’s self, I do not want to negate the possibility of appreciating other cultures. There are certainly many people who have the capacity to relate to another culture without essentializing it. However, we must strive to recognize when we are using another’s culture to posit ourselves in a better light – when we are using it selfishly.