57-year-old white British guy here. I don't know if this is cultural appropriation, but in my childhood in the 1970s I was fascinated by Native Americans (who were still often called "indians" then), African tribes (especially Zulus and Maasai) etc. When we played "cowboys & indians", I wanted to be an "indian" whereas most boys wanted to be cowboys. When I saw the films _Zulu_ and _Zulu Dawn_ I was cheering on the Zulus rather than the British soldiers. I think I know why. From the age of four (when I started school), I felt victimised (by teachers and by bullies), so I came to identify with groups of people who were downtrodden but bravely pushing back. I kind of mentally mapped this onto my own life. The teachers and the bullies were the cowboys and British soldiers, and me and my friends were the Zulus and "indians" fighting back (or in my case mostly fantasising about fighting back).
A different angle: I think that being autistic has made it easier for me to adapt when living in different cultural contexts - because I have a lot of practice... masking and accommodating to neurotypical expectations as much as I can. Living in a different cultural context just means that I have to observe and adapt to a new (but not necessarily more "foreign") set of behaviours and expectations.
First of all: thank goodness this video exists! I’ve just stumbled across it today when I was contemplating about my past of being in an online spiritual community and ngl I wished I’ve watched this sooner. When I was in that place, I met an autistic person who has been having a special interest on Native American culture (specifically the Wendigo, a mythical creature that murders people according to the canon lore) and everyone else just basically bashed her away and calling her out even after she discloses her autistic identity. Guess what she got from others? It’s just a simply “oh your autistic? That doesn’t exempt you from this sin!” It is rather heartbreaking because I could have helped her, as a fellow autistic person, on understanding why such things is not politically appropriate. Being autistic and considered a member of an ethnic minority in the west myself, there exists an intersection in such topics, and the anger is real (it’s more intense if your own culture is one of your special interests, if you get what I mean). Nevertheless, growing up in a community where my own ancestry is the majority, I do feel relate to the experiences that you have mentioned. In my case, it’s European culture (which stemmed from my special interest in European history): I have been trying to find a place in this world yet I have also made the same mistakes as you have mentioned in the video, and I did get called out by someone in that aforementioned online community (saved by some allies who knew me much that helped me dodging a bullet), as well as all the scrutiny that I have received. Eventually, I left that place, jagged and weak (not sure if it’s traumatised but I am very sure that I do not wish to touch anything spiritual-related for a good while), because that place just makes me feel unwelcome (like gives me the feeling that I have to be “fixed” or “re-educated” in an institution even if they don’t really have ill intentions) and I’m jaded by such continuous speculation and scrutiny on my own life. Now that I’m out of that place, with lessons learnt, and honestly I just kind of resigned to the fact that I do not fit in anywhere even in the autism community (I don’t feel relate to that place sometimes given that I have a very different upbringing from most of others), and that is okay. When I am learning French, I realised that my autism is still there, no matter how much knowledge I have on the social cues and protocol in the target culture, and this is just the part of me that will never change (just like how I never understand racism which is sort of a social norm, according to a BAME autistic content creator on social media). So like, as Taylor Swift said, “scary news is: you’re on your own now; cool news is: you’re on your own now.” Even if one cannot truly find their place in this world, one can still find themselves making a lot of friends who are amazed on the knowledge that they have.
I went to a primary school with a lot of deaf students, and everyone in my school learned some Auslan (Australian Sign Language), I basically just remember how to count and do the alphabet now. I saw one of the deaf kids from my year level as I was walking past to the train station, and we had a conversation together. Which was cool, I was able to do the whole very expressive body language and miming, and do a little bit of spelling out words I didn't know. And I was able to show him some pictures I drew in my sketch book. It was super cool being able to connect with him for 5 minutes :3 I guess as a deaf person he doesn't get to just stop on the street and have a random conversation with someone he recognises very often
It's weird because if I imagine people making a fad out of stimming or something, I can see how that would be upsetting. But at the same time, if neurotypicals want to try certain stims (I know technically everyone stims but I guess there's some difference) and it end up benefitting them and they want to keep doing it, I think that's totally fine. If they want to raise awareness about that, I think that's fine too, so long as the information is accurate and respectful. I think that's really where the risks come in. Without consulting multiple people with these lived experiences or going through it yourself, it's really easy to mess up. But yeah, I guess it's hard for me to see how people can own culture. Culture develops and changes over time. At the same time, it's sad when a culture dies (like extinct languages) because who knows what it had to offer. Every culture has things to learn from and things that should be changed. Culture should be respected and not misrepresented. Maybe I'm just biased because I'm obsessed with Chinese and Korean culture, but I don't know what to do if I have more interest in that than in the culture of my heritage (I mean, I know American culture, kind of, from lived experience but I hardly know anything about Mexican culture. Not that I have anything against it, all cultures have awesome stuff, but it hardly interests me). Also, I first got interested in these cultures while doing research for my Mulan fanfiction. I just saw your video about the Disney princesses being autistic and I can't wait for the Mulan video (I don't know if deleted scenes count, but one of them kind of shows Mulan as a dreamer and I think that's something people tend not to notice about her since it's not obvious like it is with Belle. I picked up on it before seeing the deleted scene although I'm not entirely sure how or if it even means anything)! It's the greatest news I've heard in a while.😁 Anybody reading this, please let me know if I said anything offensive.
Right now I'm into Japanese poetry like haiku and tanka. I try to be careful so that I won't do cultural appropriation so I try to learn deeply about the origins of Japanese poetry.
The concept of 'cultural appropriation' seems to be a largely North American thing. I cannot help but think that it is not particularly healthy. Not doing anything crass or insulting to any cultural group would seem to be a better ideal. I am ethnically English/Irish, grew up in England and as a child I wore lederhosen, a gift from a Viennese uncle by marriage (very hardwearing). My daughter wore a sari to school on a number of occasions, it was made for her by a Sri Lankan friend of mine. I rather think that these were entirely benign expressions of interest in other cultures.
Those are proper cultural exchange. (some people call it "cultural appreciation" but I personally think it sounds cringy.) Cultural appropriation is imbalanced. Things like learning a language and eating food is not cultural appropriation. Things like non-black people wearing black hairstyles, koreaboos using the names of Kpop idols as online nicknames, and gentiles wearing a Star of David are cultural appropriation.
I have a special interest for artistic geometry and architecture. Especially with geometry using compass and straight edge construction. So I could get culturally appropriaty with ancient Greek and Roman geometric art, Arabic geometric tiling patterns, a Japanese traditional craft called kumiko making 3D sculptures out of overlapping strips of wood. I don't know if this counts as appropriation, but I'm also really into reading very old architectural guide books written from the renaissance through to the American Greek revival. Obviously during the Renaissance intellectuals were appropriating a culture that they weren't a part of by artists/craftsmen/architects working in an Ancient Roman style, and reading ancient Latin and Greek books, and writing in Latin as the language of scholars. After the Renaissance that appropriation of Ancient Greece and Rome became a core part of European culture, continuing to evolve into different styles, and I'm wondering, is it even possible for me to appropriate a nonactive traditional art from "Western culture" as someone born in "the West"? I feel fine appropriating Greek or Roman culture, it was even taught in our schools, but I feel less comfortable appropriating Arabic culture in the same way. I really love Arabic architecture and geometry, and how so much of it's style has come from a merging of Greek and Indian and Middle Eastern culture, especially how Arabic architecture was strongly based in precise compass and straight edge geometry, from studying Euclid and building upon him themselves. I do have some Middle Eastern/ North African ancestry on my paternal grandma's side, but I don't know if that gives me license to dive into Arabic architecture and tiling patterns. Because I wasn't raised to that culture. And again, during the Arabic Golden Age many people from across the Middle East regardless or ethnicity or religion collaborated in science and art together, so I feel like the people practicing their art were to collaborating and exchanging with people, regardless of who they were.
Oh it’s awful, but it helped me blend in while moving all over the country (USA) as a kid…. Put me in a room w a bunch of Southerners & I’ll have a “drawl” in under ten minutes! 😂 Good video, thanks!
It feels like you need more views and I heard comments help. Here's a comment, I hope the algorithm finds you. I think we have very little in common, but you feel relatable nonetheless and seem kind. Also linguistics is super rad and at the risk of being too kind to a stranger on the interest I'll stop here.
As long as you aren't mocking a culture (which, to me, requires intent going along with it) my perception is it isn't appropriation, but appreciation, and an attempt to understand. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Perhaps the biggest risk of being misperceived is getting it not quite right: that uncanny valley that masking gets us in trouble with non-autistics, but in this context, specifically culture-related. It's quite easy to miss a fine detail and have someone get offended: for example, don't stick chopsticks into food, standing up, crossed, as that represents death.
I love Rock'n'Roll but it is a text book cultural appropriation from the African American Rhythm'n'Blues... But at least here in Brazil both where and to certain degree are colonizing cultural movements... a hole new cultural can of worms...
Yes!! I actually studied the impact of the slave trade on music (on all the continents involved) in high school and it's fascinating. Cultural appropriation is a whole messy grey area that we could really talk about forever
![Ancient(ish) Autism [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4LhFOeiK9Pw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Ancient(ish) Autism [CC]](/img/tr.png)
![Who Actually Was Helen Keller? [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/06E6Afje5s4/mqdefault.jpg)
I forgot to mention this in the video but a perfect example of this phenomenon is Ariel in The Little Mermaid
57-year-old white British guy here. I don't know if this is cultural appropriation, but in my childhood in the 1970s I was fascinated by Native Americans (who were still often called "indians" then), African tribes (especially Zulus and Maasai) etc. When we played "cowboys & indians", I wanted to be an "indian" whereas most boys wanted to be cowboys. When I saw the films _Zulu_ and _Zulu Dawn_ I was cheering on the Zulus rather than the British soldiers.
I think I know why. From the age of four (when I started school), I felt victimised (by teachers and by bullies), so I came to identify with groups of people who were downtrodden but bravely pushing back. I kind of mentally mapped this onto my own life. The teachers and the bullies were the cowboys and British soldiers, and me and my friends were the Zulus and "indians" fighting back (or in my case mostly fantasising about fighting back).
A different angle: I think that being autistic has made it easier for me to adapt when living in different cultural contexts - because I have a lot of practice... masking and accommodating to neurotypical expectations as much as I can. Living in a different cultural context just means that I have to observe and adapt to a new (but not necessarily more "foreign") set of behaviours and expectations.
First of all: thank goodness this video exists! I’ve just stumbled across it today when I was contemplating about my past of being in an online spiritual community and ngl I wished I’ve watched this sooner.
When I was in that place, I met an autistic person who has been having a special interest on Native American culture (specifically the Wendigo, a mythical creature that murders people according to the canon lore) and everyone else just basically bashed her away and calling her out even after she discloses her autistic identity. Guess what she got from others? It’s just a simply “oh your autistic? That doesn’t exempt you from this sin!” It is rather heartbreaking because I could have helped her, as a fellow autistic person, on understanding why such things is not politically appropriate.
Being autistic and considered a member of an ethnic minority in the west myself, there exists an intersection in such topics, and the anger is real (it’s more intense if your own culture is one of your special interests, if you get what I mean). Nevertheless, growing up in a community where my own ancestry is the majority, I do feel relate to the experiences that you have mentioned. In my case, it’s European culture (which stemmed from my special interest in European history): I have been trying to find a place in this world yet I have also made the same mistakes as you have mentioned in the video, and I did get called out by someone in that aforementioned online community (saved by some allies who knew me much that helped me dodging a bullet), as well as all the scrutiny that I have received. Eventually, I left that place, jagged and weak (not sure if it’s traumatised but I am very sure that I do not wish to touch anything spiritual-related for a good while), because that place just makes me feel unwelcome (like gives me the feeling that I have to be “fixed” or “re-educated” in an institution even if they don’t really have ill intentions) and I’m jaded by such continuous speculation and scrutiny on my own life.
Now that I’m out of that place, with lessons learnt, and honestly I just kind of resigned to the fact that I do not fit in anywhere even in the autism community (I don’t feel relate to that place sometimes given that I have a very different upbringing from most of others), and that is okay. When I am learning French, I realised that my autism is still there, no matter how much knowledge I have on the social cues and protocol in the target culture, and this is just the part of me that will never change (just like how I never understand racism which is sort of a social norm, according to a BAME autistic content creator on social media).
So like, as Taylor Swift said, “scary news is: you’re on your own now; cool news is: you’re on your own now.” Even if one cannot truly find their place in this world, one can still find themselves making a lot of friends who are amazed on the knowledge that they have.
I went to a primary school with a lot of deaf students, and everyone in my school learned some Auslan (Australian Sign Language), I basically just remember how to count and do the alphabet now.
I saw one of the deaf kids from my year level as I was walking past to the train station, and we had a conversation together.
Which was cool, I was able to do the whole very expressive body language and miming, and do a little bit of spelling out words I didn't know. And I was able to show him some pictures I drew in my sketch book.
It was super cool being able to connect with him for 5 minutes :3
I guess as a deaf person he doesn't get to just stop on the street and have a random conversation with someone he recognises very often
I am 78. I discovered my autism when I was 45. I am an Aspie (genius IQ). JUST FOUND YOU TODAY!
It's weird because if I imagine people making a fad out of stimming or something, I can see how that would be upsetting. But at the same time, if neurotypicals want to try certain stims (I know technically everyone stims but I guess there's some difference) and it end up benefitting them and they want to keep doing it, I think that's totally fine. If they want to raise awareness about that, I think that's fine too, so long as the information is accurate and respectful. I think that's really where the risks come in. Without consulting multiple people with these lived experiences or going through it yourself, it's really easy to mess up. But yeah, I guess it's hard for me to see how people can own culture. Culture develops and changes over time. At the same time, it's sad when a culture dies (like extinct languages) because who knows what it had to offer. Every culture has things to learn from and things that should be changed. Culture should be respected and not misrepresented. Maybe I'm just biased because I'm obsessed with Chinese and Korean culture, but I don't know what to do if I have more interest in that than in the culture of my heritage (I mean, I know American culture, kind of, from lived experience but I hardly know anything about Mexican culture. Not that I have anything against it, all cultures have awesome stuff, but it hardly interests me).
Also, I first got interested in these cultures while doing research for my Mulan fanfiction. I just saw your video about the Disney princesses being autistic and I can't wait for the Mulan video (I don't know if deleted scenes count, but one of them kind of shows Mulan as a dreamer and I think that's something people tend not to notice about her since it's not obvious like it is with Belle. I picked up on it before seeing the deleted scene although I'm not entirely sure how or if it even means anything)! It's the greatest news I've heard in a while.😁
Anybody reading this, please let me know if I said anything offensive.
Ooh! I will keep that in mind for my Mulan video! The first princess profile will be out in a few weeks :)
@@disabled.autistic.lesbian Awesome. I can't wait!😁
Right now I'm into Japanese poetry like haiku and tanka. I try to be careful so that I won't do cultural appropriation so I try to learn deeply about the origins of Japanese poetry.
The concept of 'cultural appropriation' seems to be a largely North American thing. I cannot help but think that it is not particularly healthy. Not doing anything crass or insulting to any cultural group would seem to be a better ideal. I am ethnically English/Irish, grew up in England and as a child I wore lederhosen, a gift from a Viennese uncle by marriage (very hardwearing). My daughter wore a sari to school on a number of occasions, it was made for her by a Sri Lankan friend of mine. I rather think that these were entirely benign expressions of interest in other cultures.
Those are proper cultural exchange. (some people call it "cultural appreciation" but I personally think it sounds cringy.)
Cultural appropriation is imbalanced. Things like learning a language and eating food is not cultural appropriation. Things like non-black people wearing black hairstyles, koreaboos using the names of Kpop idols as online nicknames, and gentiles wearing a Star of David are cultural appropriation.
I have a special interest for artistic geometry and architecture. Especially with geometry using compass and straight edge construction.
So I could get culturally appropriaty with ancient Greek and Roman geometric art, Arabic geometric tiling patterns, a Japanese traditional craft called kumiko making 3D sculptures out of overlapping strips of wood.
I don't know if this counts as appropriation, but I'm also really into reading very old architectural guide books written from the renaissance through to the American Greek revival.
Obviously during the Renaissance intellectuals were appropriating a culture that they weren't a part of by artists/craftsmen/architects working in an Ancient Roman style, and reading ancient Latin and Greek books, and writing in Latin as the language of scholars.
After the Renaissance that appropriation of Ancient Greece and Rome became a core part of European culture, continuing to evolve into different styles, and I'm wondering, is it even possible for me to appropriate a nonactive traditional art from "Western culture" as someone born in "the West"?
I feel fine appropriating Greek or Roman culture, it was even taught in our schools, but I feel less comfortable appropriating Arabic culture in the same way.
I really love Arabic architecture and geometry, and how so much of it's style has come from a merging of Greek and Indian and Middle Eastern culture, especially how Arabic architecture was strongly based in precise compass and straight edge geometry, from studying Euclid and building upon him themselves.
I do have some Middle Eastern/ North African ancestry on my paternal grandma's side, but I don't know if that gives me license to dive into Arabic architecture and tiling patterns. Because I wasn't raised to that culture.
And again, during the Arabic Golden Age many people from across the Middle East regardless or ethnicity or religion collaborated in science and art together, so I feel like the people practicing their art were to collaborating and exchanging with people, regardless of who they were.
Oh it’s awful, but it helped me blend in while moving all over the country (USA) as a kid…. Put me in a room w a bunch of Southerners & I’ll have a “drawl” in under ten minutes! 😂 Good video, thanks!
It feels like you need more views and I heard comments help. Here's a comment, I hope the algorithm finds you. I think we have very little in common, but you feel relatable nonetheless and seem kind. Also linguistics is super rad and at the risk of being too kind to a stranger on the interest I'll stop here.
As long as you aren't mocking a culture (which, to me, requires intent going along with it) my perception is it isn't appropriation, but appreciation, and an attempt to understand. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Perhaps the biggest risk of being misperceived is getting it not quite right: that uncanny valley that masking gets us in trouble with non-autistics, but in this context, specifically culture-related. It's quite easy to miss a fine detail and have someone get offended: for example, don't stick chopsticks into food, standing up, crossed, as that represents death.
I love Rock'n'Roll but it is a text book cultural appropriation from the African American Rhythm'n'Blues...
But at least here in Brazil both where and to certain degree are colonizing cultural movements...
a hole new cultural can of worms...
Yes!! I actually studied the impact of the slave trade on music (on all the continents involved) in high school and it's fascinating. Cultural appropriation is a whole messy grey area that we could really talk about forever
Hence, weebs.
this happens with many white people regardless if they’re autistic or not, this is more of an example of white entitlement as well
cultureeee
vulture culture mulch...er