Cultural Appropriation?

I’ve chosen this title for my blog, although strictly speaking, I don’t think it is correct. Which is also the point of this blog. I know I’m speaking in riddles, so I’ll explain…

Cultural Appropriation or cultural misappropriation as it should more properly be called is, as per the definitions I have sought out, essentially where elements of an oppressed culture are adopted and used by members of a dominant culture, which has the effect of reinforcing the power imbalance between the two, or credits and rewards the dominant culture for something which originated with, and should rightly be credited to, the oppressed. An example of this might be where white Australian businesses took Aboriginal designs and used them on their products, such as clothing, thereby profiting from them but without benefiting the original artists. 

Voluntary cultural assimilation and cultural exchange in their truest sense, are different to misappropriation as in these cases there is choice and mutual benefit, without oppression and stripping benefit and reward from the disadvantaged. I think all decent people would agree that cultural misappropriation is unacceptable in all its forms and it is absolutely right to call incidences of this out. 

You might be wondering where I’m going with this - please bear with me! 

When I was writing my novel, People Like Us aka Daughter of the Reich, I questioned myself regularly on whether I had a ‘right’ to pen this novel. I am not Jewish. I did not suffer from living through the Holocaust. I had a happy, stable childhood in England with no trauma. Was this story ‘mine’ to write? Besides, my manner of telling it, that is, from the perspective of a girl brainwashed into Nazism was risky. Given our perspective now, and what we know went on in Nazi Germany (even if people had no idea in the early 1930’s what atrocities were to come) it would be difficult to garner a reader’s sympathy for a character who holds reprehensible beliefs. What sort of reception would I receive for this book?

The issue of cultural appropriation is often discussed in the realm of literature. There are several high-profile cases/authors who have been accused of it. I want to make it clear that I am absolutely a supporter of the concept that authors from all backgrounds, racial groups, cultures, nationalities, religions, abilities and disabilities should be given the opportunity to be heard and should not be disadvantaged. Every effort should be made to support authors who have in the past been ignored or sidelined through race, culture or lack of means. But what I am very concerned with, is the growing concept that one should not be permitted to write about an issue which is outside of one’s own culture or experience. 

I think this is a very concerning trend, and I venture has nothing to do with cultural misappropriation. If we are all to be limited to writing within a narrow sphere, literature, culture, the arts in general, will become much poorer for it. Imagination and creativity should not be curtailed and the concept that this is protecting or promoting those hitherto disadvantaged is, in my view, totally misguided. Authors have a duty to write the best work they can, and that’s it. If this means writing something they have not direct experience of, as all historical fiction writers do, they must carry out research to bring authenticity to their work. Where there are gaps in knowledge and research, the imagination must fill these in. 

The focus must and always should be, on the best writing because this brings to readers the true magic of literature, in whatever genre, era or subject matter. If I read a good book, it is the story, the characters, the world created which matter. Who wrote it, whatever their age, race or background, should rarely matter. 

The day after publication of my novel, I discovered an unpleasant thread on social media about me as an author and my book. The writer of this thread and all the many who piled into it agreeing with the original poster, berated the book, its author and publishers (the language was not polite). How dare I, a non-Jew, write such a disgusting book. Clearly, nobody in the thread had read it, as if they had, they would soon realise all the things they slated it for were in fact the opposite in reality. But it was just what I had dreaded when I was writing it. 

With the benefit of hindsight, I can see that I was wrong to worry about this. If we bow to unreasonable pressure about what we should or shouldn’t do in the name of ‘cultural appropriation’ we are entering a dangerous era of, frankly, mob rule and unhealthy curtailment. Free speech, and the ability to explore subject matters is a freedom which must be protected at all costs. People may say or write unpleasant things which we don’t agree with, but if we don’t have the ability to read or debate about these issues calmly or openly, this is deeply unsettling. The social media intolerances of views different to each bubble are of great concern. In my view, it is the substance that is important. If it is cultural appropriation (misappropriation) in the real sense, then of course this must be called out. But writing about something outside of our own experience is not that. Nobody should own thought, ideas, imagination or the ability to research a subject matter we care about.

In literature, writing a good book should be the only focus, and if that book starts an open conversation or debate, well surely that can only be a good, culturally enriching and important matter.