I was not surprised, during my recent exhibition on the theme of the Green Man, in Lincoln Cathedral, to be chided by the occasional orthodox Christian for attempting to smuggle in “pagan” images and ideas into a nominally Christian context. I did not expect to be criticised by somebody who evidently would describe himself as a “Pagan” because of my misappropriation of elements of his culture. The experience did set me thinking about a wider controversy which is encountered quite often these days, namely the idea of “cultural appropriation”.
This refers to occasions on which elements are taken out of their original cultural context and “appropriated” by people of a different culture. This provokes controversy because the appropriators are usually members of a more powerful group who then utilise their acquisition for purposes unrelated to its original context. So, for example, dreadlocks (a badge of West Indian identity) become simply a fashion item in the repertoire of a hairdresser, available to any client who wants to have their hair done in that style. It is usually assumed that in this process the appropriated item is somehow devalued, mainly through its reduction to the status of a commodity. This is an interesting and controversial area, particularly in the world of art at the moment, where artefacts from Africa and Asia, which originally were created to serve within a religious or ritual context, are enjoying a remarkable boom as collectors’ items, traded through the art market. I do wonder, however, whether the concept of “cultural appropriation” ought to be challenged, certainly where it is assumed to be invariably wrong.
In an earlier incarnation I worked as a university teacher of sociology and anthropology, and in fact taught courses on Theories of Cultural Identity. Cultures are rarely closed and determinate systems of objects, practices or ideas, but are constantly in process, borrowing from each other as a matter of course. A quick glance at the English language will make the point, which has grown up as a remarkable intermingling of elements from Romance and Germanic traditions, not to mention it is inheritance from Greek and Indian sources. Christianity is a wonderful illustration of this process, building onto its Hebraic foundation elements derived from Greece and Rome, and the entire Middle East, let alone its practice of “baptising” borrowings from local cultures wherever it has spread.
I’ve always been impressed by the line from Latin poetry (I think it is from Horace), “I consider nothing that is human to be alien to me.” It does bring its “ifs” and “buts”, even so, it is a good place to start.