By | Phil Santos
There’s no point in explaining cultural appropriation to the military community. This isn’t because it’s futile, but rather the opposite. I served in the Navy for long enough to say that the military community has an intimate understanding of what cultural appropriation is, particularly when it’s their culture. But there’s a possibility that they don’t know this is the case as the military doesn’t come up in these conversations.
Cultural appropriation is hard to explain because there’s not really a definitive line where it is or isn’t happening. But in short, it’s when one culture takes elements from another culture without permission. It’s problematic for a number of reasons. Two of them are that cultural appropriation creates a type of cultural reverse engineering. It allows others outside a culture to benefit from the identities that don’t belong to them.
With cultural appropriation, it’s important to ask who is doing the taking and why. Most of the time, the culture that takes is the dominant culture (mainstream society), while the culture which is taken from is usually a marginalized culture (Indigenous, Black, Asian and so on). The result is a dominant culture that rejects marginalized cultures at large, except for select elements that become attributed to or “reinvented” by the dominant culture. Translation: /rock-n-roll is attributed to white people, but its pioneers were Black.
A more individualized example of cultural appropriation is easier to understand when we consider a specific kind of imposter. In 2009, under the guidance of James Arthur Ray, three people died during a “sweat lodge ceremony” he held in Sedona, Arizona. Imposters like Ray cherry pick elements of various cultures to sell to others in the form of “spiritual retreats” or “healing ceremonies.” They may call themselves a “medicine woman” or a “certified shaman.” They often go as far as claiming the culture they appropriate.
This is where the military comes in. Ask someone in the military how they feel when someone pretends to be a veteran or active duty member. The responses you’re likely to get will echo the conversations surrounding the topic of cultural appropriation. The military community even has its own term for this: Stolen valor.
Stolen valor happens when people pretend to be military members or lie about their military background. If you search “stolen valor” on YouTube, you’ll find plenty of videos showing military members confronting imposters who have appropriated their identities. Putting yourself in the shoes of a soldier who lived through war makes it easy to understand why stolen valor is outright wrong. The imposter didn’t earn the uniform, they didn’t go to war, so they should take it off. They might want to be part of military culture, but they’re not. They have no place pretending like they are.
If stolen valor is so easy to understand and relate to, what’s the hiccup with cultural appropriation? I think it’s because people understand and respect military culture more than other marginalized cultures. But they are all cultures, and one isn’t better than the other. You can say being Asian isn’t the same as being a soldier. This is the same as saying that cultures are different from one another, which is obvious and redundant. If you can understand why no one should wear a fake Medal of Honor, you understand why no one should wear a fake headdress. They both hold cultural significance that no one else is entitled to. So if you ever find yourself having difficulty explaining cultural appropriation, a comparison to the military might be what you need.
2 Comments
Nice article! Awareness, awareness, awareness!
This seems….of base. As someone who is also a veteran (and black, and jewish) the appropriation of those cultures vs military culture isn’t the same thing. One, no one is demonizing those wearing the uniform while simultaneously wearing the same uniform. There are those against the military yes, but they aren’t the same ones making it a fad. Whereas the same people calling black women ghetto for wearing braids, are praising Kylie Jenner for those same braids. Secondly, you can’t fully take over the culture of the military in the same way you can with a marginalized community. Take your rock and roll example. Most people don’t know that the pioneers of Rock N Roll were black, but we all know a military uniform when we see it, and for the most part, this country is still (or at least pretends to be) very fond of its military members, whereas this country has NEVER been found of people of color and our cultures, except to take what they liked from them.
What your speaking on (while still absolutely not ok) is more along the lines of being an imposter, rather than appropriating something. In order to appropriate, you must hold social power over someone, you must be capable of getting away with wearing the item and even popularizing it while the original person it belonged to cannot. These are key points of appropriation that I think you missed. Otherwise, great article!