When white people practice yoga, Native American ceremonies, Buddhist meditation, West African drumming, or other spiritual practices from non-European cultures, what are the impacts? 

As Jarune Uwujaren points out in The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation, “we have a responsibility to listen to people of marginalized cultures, understand as much as possible the blatant and subtle ways in which their cultures have been appropriated and exploited, and educate ourselves enough to make informed choices when it comes to engaging with people of other cultures.”

This workshop is offered to develop a shared understanding of cultural appropriation and its diverse impacts, directly informed by voices from BIPOC communities. We explore common patterns, effects on the community/culture of origin and why this topic is so highly charged with meaning.

Through dialogue, engagement with written and video pieces, and creative activities, participants will be invited to consider our own histories and the meaning of cultural material in our personal spiritual paths, as well as how relationships, power and historical context can inform this critical conversation. We’ll end with some tools and questions to guide and support more ethical relationships with other cultures’ spiritual traditions and to develop intervention strategies to reduce harm on both individual and collective levels.