Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the practices, customs, or aesthetics of one social or ethnic group by members of another (typically dominant) community or society, cultural appropriation is a murky topic many often choose not to touch, for fear of stepping on the wrong toes. It has been a hot topic as of late in our society, invoking a lot of confusion, inflammatory argumentation, and conflict when brought up in many conversations, whether informal or academic in nature.

Linguistic appropriation and reclamation in particular, which I believe is a specific aspect of cultural appropriation, has become a particularly championed concern in today’s society. The power struggles/relationships between minorities and those more privileged that have been in play through the decades have created this sort of divisional “us vs. them” mindset that many believe dictate how we should act, giving certain groups the rights to monitor or check individuals who they believe don’t have those rights solely based on the fact that they do not belong to the same communities.

 

It is a fascinating aspect of human interaction that has begun to emerge as of late, this controlling and micromanagement of word choice — perhaps as a still lingering after-effect of empires, both modern day and long gone.

Said’s The Politics of Knowledge and Orientalism explains briefly. Throughout the piece, Said hints at the fact that the Orient isn’t so much a place as it as a way to analyze the relationship between the Occident (the East) and the Orient (the West). Given their sheer power and influence over the centuries, either through conquest or imperial domination, the Occident has had the sole ability to shape and craft the identity of the Orient, dictating them to be wild and barbaric simply because the culture present was different from that of the civilized, clean-cut Westerners (Orientalism, 12).

However, the identities that the Occident established for the multitudes of peoples under its rule soon became their defining point. In the midst of attempting to draw lines between the conquerors and those that they conquered, the various nations of the Orient became armed with ideals like nationalism and independence, hinging on the very fact that they believed themselves separate from their suppressors (The Politics of Knowledge).

What initially was meant to ostracize and ridicule these various groups for being different became a badge of honor. Something to be proud of.

The same thing can be seen in the modern day movements to reclaim words such as “queer”, “b*tch”, and the n word cropping up in LGBTQ+, female, and African-American communities respectively. The power resides in the words themselves, derogatory and hurtful, used that way for decades on end, to degrade the identities of those who are as such. But something has shifted in the power dynamic between the oppressed and those doing the oppressing. No longer are people cowering behind these sharp words. Instead, they carry them like shields, proudly standing behind them and integrating them into the very foundation of their identity so that these words begin to adopt more positive connotations.

The words themselves have not changed, just the context and meaning behind them. And that makes all the difference.

As I write this blog post, I can see the green of the UCI-promoted poster informing me about “Words & the Communities that Can Reclaim Them” hanging up on the wall of my hall, listing which words I am able to use and which ones I am, based on the groups I identify myself under. Though this reclamation of previously derogatory language is an admirable movement, I think we as a society must become careful not to attack others for using words they think socially acceptable in the wrong context. It is our responsibility to educate, to be gentle, to shape the habits of others in society.  

Otherwise, it will become a matter of who can say what, located somewhere within (what some may feel are) the convoluted unspoken rules of society, to the point where the unforgiving nature of the system can lead to a mockery and downright parody of a rather important issue. Sometimes, I fear it has already begun.

Works Cited

Said, Edward. Orientalism. Vintage Books, 1978.

Said, Edward. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Harvard University Press, 2000.

Nunn, Gary. “Power Grab: Reclaiming Words Can Be Such a Bitch.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 30 Oct. 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/oct/30/power-grab-reclaiming-words-can-be-such-a-bitch.

Frost, Jacqui. “Nasty Women and the Reappropriation of Stigmatized Labels – There’s Research on That.” Theres Research on That Nasty Women and the Reappropriation of Stigmatized Labels Comments, 1 Nov. 2016, thesocietypages.org/trot/2016/11/01/nasty-women-and-the-reappropriation-of-stigmatized-labels/.