On this year’s fashion runways, Gucci sent white models down the runway in traditional Sikh turbans. Last year, Victoria’s Secret’s fashion show featured models wearing Native American headdresses. And last spring, a Utah high school student made national headlines when she wore a traditional Chinese dress to her prom — and took pictures with her hands in a prayer pose.
Over and over again, incidents like these are met with accusations of cultural appropriation. And outrage ensues as a minority culture is thrust into the spotlight by those who aren’t from that culture.
But is there a way to express appreciation of another culture without appropriating it?
For more on that, The Show got a hold of Melissa Chan. She’s a PhD candidate and a digital humanities fellow at the University of Southern California.
