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We have discussed this issue in several contexts and I always enjoy the different views we have on this forum.......this, however, is, well,.........interesting....
Appreciation becomes appropriation: Is deeming yoga politically incorrect a complaint too far?
Adrian Humphreys | November 24, 2015 11:48 PM ET
“In the case of something like yoga, it is not possible to return economic control and ownership to the originating culture,” one professor says.
Fotolia“In the case of something like yoga, it is not possible to return economic control and ownership to the originating culture,” one professor says.
Pundits from around the globe weighed in on the death of a yoga class for students at the University of Ottawa over questions of cultural sensitivity, often awkwardly squeezing in “bending over backwards” or “tying themselves in knots” puns in lampooning out-of-control political correctness.
Student yoga joins a long list of art, fashion, music, sports and activities chastised as insensitive or racist acts by a Western or white majority cultural appropriation from minority communities.
Cultural appropriation, as a term, was once largely confined to academic critiques of colonialism, but has become an increasingly popular watchword in social media and among activists.
But is yoga one complaint too far?
It leaves campus administrators, public relations experts and, perhaps, almost everyone else pondering when appreciation became appropriation, mimicry exploitation and cultural interest insult.
Kelly McParland: ‘Appropriating’ cultures is what Canada is all about
Marni Soupcoff: There’s nothing wrong with yoga on campus
University of Ottawa students derided for cancelling yoga classes over fears of cultural appropriation
“Culture is fluid. In order for any cultural group to be a part of a multi-cultural landscape or multi-cultural nation, like Canada or the U.S., there has to be some kind of cultural contribution,” said Susan Scafidi, a law professor at New York’s Fordham University and author of Who Owns Culture?
“How would we recognize Italians if it weren’t for spaghetti — we all make our cultural contributions and the more voluntarily they are the better,” she said of her own heritage.
“In the case of something like yoga, to some extent, the genie is already out of the bottle.”
Clearly, not everyone agrees.
Every few months, a public controversy erupts, some popularly seen as more overtly egregious and confounding than others.
It’s a regular narrative of music award shows.
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesJennifer Lopez in her DSquaw outfit at the 2015 American Music Awards.
On Sunday, Jennifer Lopez opened the American Music Awards wearing a tribal print outfit and coat with feathers and fur trim — from a collection by Canadian designers Dean and Dan Caten — already criticized for its name, “DSquaw,” using a derogatory name for First Nations women.
In Canada, the most common complaints of cultural appropriation involve First Nations culture.
Costume companies producing highly stereotypical Indian costumes for Halloween provoke annual ire, for instance.
When they go further, offering a female “sexy Indian” costume in the face of the high incidence of sexual abuse of aboriginal women in Canada and the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women, a problem becomes easier to grasp.
Ian “DJ NDN” Campeau, a member of the Ottawa-based electronic music group A Tribe Called Red and a member of Nipissing First Nation, says damage from cultural appropriation is real.
“When a culture is being used by somebody outside of that culture and the benefit of it is not going back to the culture that is being used, that’s cultural appropriation,” he said.
It is not confined to the arts.
Campeau led a campaign against sports team names that use aboriginal terms and stereotypical imagery without having aboriginal roots.
Based in the Ottawa area, he was disappointed the youth football league his daughter would have to join to play was called the Redskins.
His protests led to the name being changed. Then he tackled another local team, the Tomahawks, also since changed. An Arnprior, Ont., school team called the Redmen is under similar scrutiny.
For him, the question is the origins.
“Who named them? The Vikings in Minnesota, the man who named them was of Scandinavian descent,” he said. “
The guy that came up with Fighting Irish was Irish. But the guy who came up with the Redskins was not native, the guy who came up with the Indians was not native, the guy who came up with the Chiefs was not native.
“There’s a big difference.”
Campeau supports the call to refocus yoga.
“You can never be too ‘politically correct,’ as far as I am concerned because it is just showing respect.”
Bruno Schlumberger/PostmediaIan “DJ NDN” Campeau: “You can never be too ‘politically correct’.”
Scafidi says some manifestations are more damaging than others.
“Who’s the source community? Are we talking about WASPs, a group traditionally in power?” she asked. “Are we talking about Vikings, a group that no longer exists? Or are we talking about a living people that has been subject to oppression and discrimination?”
Yoga was brought to the West by gurus from India. Over decades, it morphed into a form of exercise or relaxation without much of the original Hindu spirituality.
“In the case of something like yoga, it is not possible to return economic control and ownership to the originating culture,” said Scafidi.
“It’s spread much too far and become part of too many people’s lives in different ways to say only people who have certain religious observances, growing out of mostly Hinduism, can practise yoga.
“On the other hand, I do see that it might not be entirely comfortable for someone who is a religious practitioner of yoga to go a secular yoga class and hear the namastes at the end.”
National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/appreciation-becomes-appropriation-is-deeming-yoga-politically-incorrect-a-complaint-too-far
Appreciation becomes appropriation: Is deeming yoga politically incorrect a complaint too far?
Adrian Humphreys | November 24, 2015 11:48 PM ET
“In the case of something like yoga, it is not possible to return economic control and ownership to the originating culture,” one professor says.
Fotolia“In the case of something like yoga, it is not possible to return economic control and ownership to the originating culture,” one professor says.
Pundits from around the globe weighed in on the death of a yoga class for students at the University of Ottawa over questions of cultural sensitivity, often awkwardly squeezing in “bending over backwards” or “tying themselves in knots” puns in lampooning out-of-control political correctness.
Student yoga joins a long list of art, fashion, music, sports and activities chastised as insensitive or racist acts by a Western or white majority cultural appropriation from minority communities.
Cultural appropriation, as a term, was once largely confined to academic critiques of colonialism, but has become an increasingly popular watchword in social media and among activists.
But is yoga one complaint too far?
It leaves campus administrators, public relations experts and, perhaps, almost everyone else pondering when appreciation became appropriation, mimicry exploitation and cultural interest insult.
Kelly McParland: ‘Appropriating’ cultures is what Canada is all about
Marni Soupcoff: There’s nothing wrong with yoga on campus
University of Ottawa students derided for cancelling yoga classes over fears of cultural appropriation
“Culture is fluid. In order for any cultural group to be a part of a multi-cultural landscape or multi-cultural nation, like Canada or the U.S., there has to be some kind of cultural contribution,” said Susan Scafidi, a law professor at New York’s Fordham University and author of Who Owns Culture?
“How would we recognize Italians if it weren’t for spaghetti — we all make our cultural contributions and the more voluntarily they are the better,” she said of her own heritage.
“In the case of something like yoga, to some extent, the genie is already out of the bottle.”
Clearly, not everyone agrees.
Every few months, a public controversy erupts, some popularly seen as more overtly egregious and confounding than others.
It’s a regular narrative of music award shows.
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesJennifer Lopez in her DSquaw outfit at the 2015 American Music Awards.
On Sunday, Jennifer Lopez opened the American Music Awards wearing a tribal print outfit and coat with feathers and fur trim — from a collection by Canadian designers Dean and Dan Caten — already criticized for its name, “DSquaw,” using a derogatory name for First Nations women.
In Canada, the most common complaints of cultural appropriation involve First Nations culture.
Costume companies producing highly stereotypical Indian costumes for Halloween provoke annual ire, for instance.
When they go further, offering a female “sexy Indian” costume in the face of the high incidence of sexual abuse of aboriginal women in Canada and the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women, a problem becomes easier to grasp.
Ian “DJ NDN” Campeau, a member of the Ottawa-based electronic music group A Tribe Called Red and a member of Nipissing First Nation, says damage from cultural appropriation is real.
“When a culture is being used by somebody outside of that culture and the benefit of it is not going back to the culture that is being used, that’s cultural appropriation,” he said.
It is not confined to the arts.
Campeau led a campaign against sports team names that use aboriginal terms and stereotypical imagery without having aboriginal roots.
Based in the Ottawa area, he was disappointed the youth football league his daughter would have to join to play was called the Redskins.
His protests led to the name being changed. Then he tackled another local team, the Tomahawks, also since changed. An Arnprior, Ont., school team called the Redmen is under similar scrutiny.
For him, the question is the origins.
“Who named them? The Vikings in Minnesota, the man who named them was of Scandinavian descent,” he said. “
The guy that came up with Fighting Irish was Irish. But the guy who came up with the Redskins was not native, the guy who came up with the Indians was not native, the guy who came up with the Chiefs was not native.
“There’s a big difference.”
Campeau supports the call to refocus yoga.
“You can never be too ‘politically correct,’ as far as I am concerned because it is just showing respect.”
Bruno Schlumberger/PostmediaIan “DJ NDN” Campeau: “You can never be too ‘politically correct’.”
Scafidi says some manifestations are more damaging than others.
“Who’s the source community? Are we talking about WASPs, a group traditionally in power?” she asked. “Are we talking about Vikings, a group that no longer exists? Or are we talking about a living people that has been subject to oppression and discrimination?”
Yoga was brought to the West by gurus from India. Over decades, it morphed into a form of exercise or relaxation without much of the original Hindu spirituality.
“In the case of something like yoga, it is not possible to return economic control and ownership to the originating culture,” said Scafidi.
“It’s spread much too far and become part of too many people’s lives in different ways to say only people who have certain religious observances, growing out of mostly Hinduism, can practise yoga.
“On the other hand, I do see that it might not be entirely comfortable for someone who is a religious practitioner of yoga to go a secular yoga class and hear the namastes at the end.”
National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/appreciation-becomes-appropriation-is-deeming-yoga-politically-incorrect-a-complaint-too-far
