Cultural Appreciation vs. Cultural Appropriation
When does sharing a culture become taking from it
I was sitting in a small café in the streets of Hoi An, watching the world go by.
Across the street, an elderly woman was selling nón lá - the iconic Vietnamese conical hats. Two white tourists walked past. The woman smiled, held up two hats, and jokingly pointed at their already sunburnt noses. With plenty of charm, laughter, and persistence, she eventually convinced them to buy one each.
The two men seemed a little awkward at first, but after the vendor encouraged them, they put the hats on. The old lady laughed. The tourists laughed. People nearby laughed. It was one of those small travel moments that makes everyone smile. The two men continued down the street, still chuckling and looking at each other.
A few moments later, another couple approached from the opposite direction. As they passed, they looked at the tourists with visible disapproval. Loud enough for everyone nearby to hear, one of them remarked that it was cultural appropriation. That brief encounter stayed with me. The elderly woman had been delighted to sell her hats. The tourists seemed genuinely happy to wear them. Everyone directly involved in the exchange had walked away smiling. So why did someone else see the situation so differently?
The line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation is often much thinner than people think, but it is also more nuanced. Unfortunately, these terms are sometimes used without a clear understanding of what they actually mean.
Listening to the People Who Lived It
The scene in Hoi An reminded me of a story from Laos. The Oma people have become part of one of the best-documented discussions about cultural appropriation. After a global fashion brand reproduced their traditional textile designs without acknowledgement, the community worked with the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) to document their story and explain why the issue mattered to them. Rather than trying to summarize their perspective or add another opinion to the debate, we'd encourage you to hear it directly from the people involved. Watch their documentary, visit the TAEC website to explore the resources they've created, and, if your travels take you through Laos, consider visiting the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre in Luang Prabang or, if the opportunity arises, the Oma communities themselves. There is no substitute for listening to people tell their own story.
Conversations about culture are rarely black and white. They deserve curiosity rather than assumptions, questions rather than accusations, and understanding rather than outrage. Perhaps, after learning more about the Oma story, you'll find yourself looking at that simple scene in Hoi An a little differently.
To explore the topic in greater depth, we highly recommend learning directly from the Oma community and the resources below.
A note about the thumbnail image
The photograph accompanying this article was taken in Hanoi, Vietnam. It shows a human skeleton displayed in the shop window of a local pharmacy, wearing a traditional nón lá. The display was created by the business itself and was not staged or altered by us. We chose this image because it immediately raises the same question explored in this article: where do we draw the line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation?
