Spirituality and Cultural Appropriation.
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.
Further Resources:
GENERAL UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION:
- “The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” by Jarune Uwujaren
- A Guide to Understanding and Avoiding Cultural Appropriation by Nadra Kareem Nittle
- Cultural Appropriation in Spirituality zine from Reclaiming Witchcamp
- Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows by Amandla Stenberg
- The 3 P’s of Cultural Appropriation [Property, Privilege, Profit] by Kayne Kawasaki
- What’s Wrong With Cultural Appropriation? 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm by Maisha Z. Johnson
TOOLS FOR TEACHING ABOUT CULTURAL APPROPRIATION:
- Cultural Appropriation flowchart
- “White Like Me: 10 Codes of Ethics for White People in Hip-Hop” by J-Love
- “Appreciation or Appropriation?” printable pamphlet by Dixie Pauline and Hillary Lehr
- American Indians in Children’s Literature
SETTLER COLONIALISM & DECOLONIZATION
- Native Land interactive map – for North Americans, learn about the local Indigenous territory and languages where you live
- Decolonial Atlas – a growing collection of maps which, in some way, help us to challenge our relationships with the land, people, and state. It’s based on the premise that cartography is not as objective as we’re made to believe. The orientation of a map, its projection, the presence of political borders, which features are included or excluded, and the language used to label a map are all subject to the map-maker’s bias – whether deliberate or not. Because decolonization is a process of unlearning and rediscovering, we’re especially committed to Indigenous language revitalization through toponymy – the use of place names.
- Land Reparations & Indigenous Solidarity Toolkit from Resource Generation
- LAND BACK – a Project of NDN, Building a Movement for Collective Liberation
- Settler Fragility: Why Settler Privilege is So Hard to Talk About by Dina Gilio-Whitaker
- Land Back by Eric Simons, “Indigenous land repatriation is much discussed and little practiced in the Bay Area. Why is it hard to return stolen land?”
- Decolonization Homework + Questions for Aligning Climate and Environmental Work with Indigenous Sovereignty from Catalyst Project: anti-racism for collective liberation
- Accomplices not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex by Indigenous Action
- Decolonization is not a Metaphor, Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang
ON THE APPROPRIATION OF NATIVE CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY:
- “For All Those Who Were Indian in a Former Life” by Andy Smith
- Indian by David Shorter
- Sweat Lodges Part II: No, you can’t. Here’s why. by Native Appropriations
- NANAs – On Medicine Women and White Shame-ans: New Age Native Americanism and Commodity Fetishism as Pop Culture Feminism by Laura E. Donaldson.
- Reflections on Whiteness and the Ecospiritual Movement
- “An Open Letter to My Local Hipsters” by Sara Hunt
- The Ethics Of Burning Sage, Explained by Nylah Burton and Jay Polish
- Witches Urge Alternatives to Sage amid Concern about Appropriation, Overharvesting by Emily McFarlan Miller
- White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men: documentary on the popularization and commercialization of Native American spiritual traditions by non-Indians.
- When (Everybody Wants To Be An Indian) poem about Native American identity and stereotypes
- Native Appropriations
- Eco-Feminist Appropriations of Indigenous Feminisms and Environmental Violence by Lindsay Nixon
- The Wolf I Feed, White Noise Collective blog
ON GENDER AND TWO SPIRIT IDENTITY:
- A Letter to White People Who Use the Term “Two Spirit” by Toran Ailisheva and others
- Toward an End to Appropriation of Indigenous “Two Spirit” People in Trans Politics: The Relationship Between Third Gender Roles and Patriarchy
- Rethinking Gender and Sexuality: Case Study of the Native American “Two Spirit” People
ON ORIENTALISM & THE APPROPRIATION OF EASTERN FORMS OF CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY:
- “Beyond Bindis: Why Cultural Appropriation Matters” by Jaya Sundaresh
- “Why I can’t stand white bellydancers” by Randa Jarrar
- “Gentrifying the dharma: how the 1% is hijacking mindfulness” by Joshua Eaton
- Whiteness, Buddhism and Safe Spaces: Hands off our sitio y lengua! by Tassja
- Corporate mindfulness is bullsh*t: Zen or no Zen, you’re working harder and being paid less
- White Privilege and the Mindfulness Movement
- How to Decolonize Your Yoga Practice by Susanna Barkataki
- You Are Here: Exploring Yoga and the Impacts of Cultural Appropriation with nisha ahuja
- Ghosts of Yogas Past and Present by Prachi Patankar