- What is the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation?
- Are they different at all?
- Does the difference between the two matter?
- Is the difference between the two always subjective, therefore there is no way to clearly answer this question?
- Isn’t all culture appropriated? If so, how can you even begin to tell the right from the wrong way to appreciate a culture?
- Jean-Pierre argues that the substantial growth of black men/white woman and white man/Asian woman marriages are the result of social connections and patriarchy, loosely relating to it’s accusation, and semi-truth, of fetisization. Pierre uses the example of having a “trophy wife.” One that gives you unconditional love and is looked at as the most desirable, which white women usually are. Another example used was of the fact that black men use white women as a way to reach a certain power that they could not have originally obtained as a black man alone. Black men, like many other men, crave power, but the amount that you can get as a black man is limited because of that racial difference. White woman give them the opportunity to get closer to that “white power” because of their race. Pierre uses numerous examples of black men leaving black women for a white woman when they have a high level of popularity/money. This topic is controversial because, as Jean-Pierre noted, the cause of this narrative of black men choosing white women over black women is always debated about. It’s looked at as a fetish, a way to assimilate to white culture in order to obtain a certain level of importance/power.
Jean-Pierre uses the quote “A fetish is a story masquerading as an object ” from the book Observing the Erotic Imagination. By examining this source I realized that Pierre’s main goal of using it was to first identify what a fetish is for his article. The article talks about fetishizing in a way to prove how the interracial relationships he mentioned were a result of that. By using this quote, saying a fetish is a story presented as something simple, allowed Pierre to go in depth into the reason why black men and white men fetishize white and Asian women. I think Pierre quoted this source fairly because the mission of this book was to better define and go into depth of topics like fetishizing and “erotic imagination.” The quote wasn’t used out of context of the book. Pierre also uses the article The New Trophy Wife by Ying Chu, using a quote that states that “ for white males, the Asian wife is usually the second or third wife.” This article centers around the relationship between white men and Asian women which directly relates to Pierre’s article. The article talks about why white men desire Asian women and how it relates to how Asian women are presented. Pierre uses this source to provide background on a mini argument within his argument. His use of this article was in support of what The New Trophy Wife was already stating. Pierre used a fair indirect quote from this article because it wasn’t out of context, just like the one he used in the beginning.