Jeeves Has A Question for You!

Replies to This Conversation

Permalink Reply by Kathy Scheiern on May 30, 2010 at 3:25pm

I agree with her. I have always been personally uncomfortable with cultural appropriation of spiritual traditions. And it is happening the world over. For example, I have seen First Nation traditions being appropriated in Germany.

I do understand the desire to find a spiritual path that is more "connected" than modern-day Western religious practices. But whenever I try to adopt something that is not from my original cultural upbringing, it is never as powerful as it is for those raised in those traditions. If you doubt this, try swearing in a second or third language you have learned in school or later in life, and then say the same thing in your original native tongue and feel the difference in the impact it has on you. Swearing is a powerful practice and the most power derives from the original context in which you learned it. Same for spiritual traditions. I'm not saying they cannot be powerful for non-native practitioners. Just that they will not be as powerful as they are for people who are raised in such traditions from birth.

And while I am uncomfortable with the appropriation aspects, I am downright disturbed by the failure of those making money (lots of it) from selling what they have appropriated and then doing nothing for the people they have appropriated from! If someone wants to make money from someone else's traditions, then at least recognize, honor, and remit a substantial portion of the proceeds to those from whom they have appropriated. It is the Western European conquest all over again only this time instead of taking land, they take traditions and spiritual practices.

All this is why I only use spiritual practices developed by Westerners and anchored in Western mystical traditions. I am of Western European descent, and it is what I need to do to be in integrity with myself. I can speak for no other person but myself. But you asked...

Permalink Reply by David A. Schmaltz on May 30, 2010 at 5:00pm

Americans are chameleons. Always have been. She describes not cultural appropriation, but mimicry. Sure, the chameleon can assume the color of a concrete wall, but that doesn't make them concrete or wall. I can imagine the wall shrugging, smiling wanly, and mumbling f@¢₭'n chameleon.

Look at the history of management, for instance, or organizational development. There you'll see similar 'appropriations' as individuals mimic stunts to achieve legitimacy. Real practitioners can always tell the difference. Yes, bad money chases out good, but real value seems impervious. In the 60s, we called these mimics 'plastic,' and we knew the difference.

Teapot-quality tempest.

Permalink Reply by debbe Kennedy on May 31, 2010 at 4:49pm

Dear Jeevan:

I am not in favor of CULTURAL APPROPRIATION. I do think it is harmful and cruel.

One example is Biafra, in Southeastern Nigeria, a nation in exile --- where 2 million Igbo people died as the world watched, their land and resources stolen --- today they remain a nation in exile working to regain what they lost in 1965 wars. Since then, the aim has been "cultural appropriation." This is a recent picture from Southeastern Nigeria that deeply moved me. Most of these are young people. Hard to see, but it reflects the "darkside" of such "purest thinking" in the wrong hands and it is happening right now...and again we are simply turning our heads. I work with the Biafra Cabinet (Prime Minister et al). Cultural Appropriation also works against the proven truths that putting our differences to work, not minimizing them or blending them into one, is advantageous, because it is a rich source of generating new wealth and innovation of many kinds. My book offers multiple proof points.

However, I don't agree that we need still another angry book, angry author, or still another version of the dark-side to penetrate our consciousness as we work to create a world that works for all. We are saturated with it. It has become a habit. Now we are even witnessing its consequences in the BP Oil Spill and other greedy sorrows around the world. We are covered in darkness from every direction; every day a daily dose of it. Look at our choice in movies, video games, even commercicals include pounding each other with violent talk and actions, our "radio hosts" mock children, we lie, make shows about it, we cheat without consequences, we steal, we kill and our children kill one another. We treat one another with disregard and disrespect. What would indicate we need more of it on our book shelves? The CHALLENGE is to jump outside this dismal place...may our new generation of books take us somewhere, lead us somewhere, rebuild our confidence, ignite our spirit, and shape a new pathway; show the way.

Gandhi offered up a number of traits that he considered to be the most spiritually perilous to humanity. We appear to have them all very present in our current state.

•Wealth without Work
•Pleasure without Conscience
•Science without Humanity
•Knowledge without Character
•Politics without Principle
•Commerce without Morality
•Worship without Sacrifice

We pretty much have books on anyone of the subjects. What we need to do is make a NEW VISION, NEW HOPE, A NEW and DIFFERENT CONSCIOUSNESS as exciting as we make the darkside. There is an INNOVATION project.

If CULTURAL APPROPRIATION is to be taken on, the author should be presenting a SOLUTION or perhaps multiple solutions, exploring the stories of those trying to get their voices heard from various regions of the world --- people who have the ideas, plans, and know-how to do it. Tell the stories from the inside out, establishing an actionable platform upon which to create a world that works for all (i.e., the Biafra Cabinet has an actionable plan based on mutualism and cultural mutual respect, blessed by the United Nations, as an example.) I am certain their are others.

I ran across this WISDOM from Thomas Edison yesterday... It is hard to see how an angry author or still another angry book is going to help us move an inch closer to getting here:

"Be courageous! Whatever setbacks America has encountered, it has always emerged as a stronger and more prosperous nation.... Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith and go forward" Thomas Alva Edison"

Sorry you asked :-)

dk

Permalink Reply by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam on June 1, 2010 at 12:38pm

Wow! What tremendous feedback. Each one of you offered up some gems for further thought...yes, I asked, and I'm glad I did! I'll be back!

And now I finally know what Hendrix was talking about when he sang of people in suits pointing their plastic fingers at him...

Permalink Reply by David A. Schmaltz on June 1, 2010 at 1:42pm

Yea, Jeevan. Exactly. And don't forget the infamous Plastic Fantastic Lover ...

Permalink Reply by Ann Matranga on June 12, 2010 at 9:14am

I haven't read the book but I share the concern about cultural appropriation. It doesn't show up only in the form of white people using Native American practices for 'healing rituals.' It's like this country is one big ad agency and it sucks up every hot new idea and turns it into money. For example - not longer than a year after the Black Panther slogan "Power to the People" hit the airwaves, the electric utility Boston Edison appropriated the phrase for a huge billboard. Even with the best of intentions, misunderstanding based on wrong assumptions takes place in surprising, hard-to-catch ways all the time. Remember when my granddaughter's elementary school class was studying immigration? She had the assignment to interview an immigrant and we suggested you - but you didn't seem like an immigrant because you arrived on a jet plane and went to college - not the profile she had been given. That was a learning!

Permalink Reply by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam on June 12, 2010 at 10:35am

Hello Ann -- I did not know about the Boston Edison story -- that is powerful! And yes, I clearly remember Hannah interviewing me and getting a little stumped by my responses because they didn't fit properly with the image of an immigrant that she was told about -- that was an experience!

I'm seeing you at the shareholder meeting, right? it has been entirely too long!

Permalink Reply by Ann Matranga on June 12, 2010 at 10:59am

Yes, I'm down for the meeting on 7/1 and look forward to it. And at another time soon, I have some very exciting things to share including steady progress on Austin Long-Scott's memoir - and Grace Tiscareno-Sato's too - she's having a burst of national public exposure. Both of which tie in to cultural appropriation in a certain way - like what you share and what you keep and how to do that.