{"id":1219,"date":"2009-10-10T23:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-10T23:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1219"},"modified":"2009-10-10T23:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-10T23:24:00","slug":"who-cares-about-cultural-appropriation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1219","title":{"rendered":"Who Cares about &#8216;Cultural Appropriation&#8217;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the reaction in the Pagan blogosphere to the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chasclifton.com\/2009\/10\/can-you-sue-your-shaman.html\"> &#8220;shamanic&#8221; casualties in Sedona<\/a> have trotted out that old  horse named Cultural Appropriation.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of months ago, one of the Pagan lists in which I participate had a whole discussion of &#8220;cultural appropriation.&#8221; Cultural Appropriation was led by the halter and trotted around the ring, and all the usual arguments were made:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All our ancestors were tribal once.<\/li>\n<li>I can understand Native Americans being upset.<\/li>\n<li>All the spiritual leaders I know and who have  been teaching their spiritual truths for decades welcome students, and their interest is what is important, not what their culture is, nor what they do with the teachings.<\/li>\n<li>Now, I follow Celtic dieties because THEY came to me. I didn&#8217;t go seeking after them. They spoke to me in English and have never demanded that I learn a different language to speak with them.<\/li>\n<li>And of course someone brought up the new Pagan book on the topic, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/190571324X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=chascli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=190571324X\">Talking About the Elephant<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg ybbwsvqpdygpukgekfgg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=190571324X\" alt=\"\" style=\"border: medium none  ! important; margin: 0px ! important;\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Eventually that discussion thread wore itself out. Not two weeks later, someone posted an announcement for a Sun Dance:<\/p>\n<p><em>The Sun Dance is a ritual of community and praise for the sun and the great spirit that the natives of this continent felt drew them together. Regardless of our faith, everyone can appreciate the sun&#8217;s power and importance to all life on Earth. So this will be an upbeat celebration of the sun, the summer we have just had and community. It is also a ritual praising the sun and saying farewell for another year.<br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Since there is no one ritual for the Sun Dance, and so many tribes viewed and  practiced this event differently, we will have a blending of many traditions in our Sun Dance. Please bring drums, bells, noise makers, whistles, rain sticks, musical instruments, or anything else you&#8217;d like to celebrate and make a joyful sound with. This event will be outdoors so please wear appropriate clothing as the weather dictates. Also, as part of the ritual involves body and face painting, if possible please wear something that gives you access to your collarbones.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And ol&#8217; Cultural Appropriation stayed in his stall. No one said a word online.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>In the long run, religious creativity will always trump the kind of finger-pointing accusations that you hear about &#8220;cultural appropriation&#8221; \u2014 even before you come to the theological argument that &#8220;the gods choose whom they will.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We have freedom of religion. You cannot stop someone from holding a Sun Dance and calling it such unless you show up and threaten bodily harm. You can threaten other sorts of consequences\u2014that it will offend the spirits or the Grandfathers and someone will suffer\u2014but you cannot <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">guarantee<\/span> such threats. What if the spirits like the other person better?<\/p>\n<p>As Shawn Spencer, the fake psychic detective, says in the TV series <a style=\"font-style: italic;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0491738\/\">Psych<\/a>, s\u00e9ances\u2014or in this case, Sun Dances\u2014are like garage sales and plastic surgery: Anyone can have them.<\/p>\n<p>Pagans are well-placed to realize that religion is a creative activity.  Writers incorporate the influence of other writers, musicians &#8220;steal&#8221; from other musicians, actors learn from other actors\u2014why should religious practitioners be any different.<\/p>\n<p>I have complained about some &#8220;plastic shamans&#8221; in my time too, but to what effect? Just do it. See what happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the reaction in the Pagan blogosphere to the &#8220;shamanic&#8221; casualties in Sedona have trotted out that old horse named Cultural Appropriation. A couple of months ago, one of the Pagan lists in which I participate had a whole discussion of &#8220;cultural appropriation.&#8221; Cultural Appropriation was led by the halter and trotted around the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[10,11],"class_list":["post-1219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-american-religion","tag-shamanism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-jF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1221,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1221","url_meta":{"origin":1219,"position":0},"title":"&#8216;Cultural Appropriation&#8217; is not a Religious Issue","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Part One here.Arguments about \"cultural appropriation\" are usually dishonest.Although they often take place in venues devoted to religion, spirituality, and magic, they are not about religion, spirituality, or magic.Instead, they are political arguments about cultural survival, usually taking the form, \"We\/You took everything from them\/us, and now we\/you want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1121,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1121","url_meta":{"origin":1219,"position":1},"title":"Handbook of Contemporary Paganism in Print","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My contributor copy of the new Handbook of Contemporary Paganism from Brill arrived. (You can tell from the price that it is intended primarily for the institutional market.) Here is the table of contents:\"The Modern Magical Revival,\" Nevill Drury\"The Influence of Aleister Crowley on Gerald Gardner and the Early Witchcraft\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2184,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2184","url_meta":{"origin":1219,"position":2},"title":"The 14th Thing to Love about Pagans","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing at Pantheon, \"the Pagan blog at Patheos.com,\" Star Foster lists \"13 Things I LOVE about Pagans,\" for example, \"Smaller is Better\" and \"Many Gods, Few Masters.\" I agree with all of them. But I could add one more: \"Borrowing\" with both hands. Mad eclecticism. It is\u00a0 illustrated by her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1445,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1445","url_meta":{"origin":1219,"position":3},"title":"Can You Sue Your Shaman?\u2014Part 2","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Last October 9 I blogged on the deaths at a sweat-lodge ceremony conducted by James Arthur Ray near Sedona, Ariz. There has been a lot of discussion in the Pagan blogosphere about the case, particularly at The Wild Hunt. A lot of people piled on, and there was the usual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11191,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11191","url_meta":{"origin":1219,"position":4},"title":"Call for Papers: American Academy of Religion&#8217;s Contemporary Pagan Studies Unit","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The deadline is March 2nd. For general information, visit this site. Call for Proposal Contemporary Pagan Studies is an interdisciplinary Unit, and we welcome submissions of theoretically and analytically engaged papers and panels relating to modern Paganism and Polytheism, employing scholarly analysis to discuss the topic from any relevant methodology\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/AAR-logo.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/AAR-logo.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/AAR-logo.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=133","url_meta":{"origin":1219,"position":5},"title":"Estonian shamanism site With thanks\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Estonian shamanism site With thanks to the dashing Odious and Peculiar, a link to a site on Estonian shamanism created by Aado Lintrop. Most of the links are in English, some in Estonian. But Lintrop links to the dreaded Michael Harner's site. Quick, call the Culture Police! (No, not them;\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}