Strategic Acts in the Study of Identity - Towards a Dynamic Theory of People and Place - Vaia Touna
5. Response to K. Merinda Simmons: When is it OK to Borrow? Discourses on Syncretism and Cultural Appropriation
Strategic Acts in the Study of Identity - Towards a Dynamic Theory of People and Place - Vaia Touna
Craig Martin [+]
St. Thomas Aquinas College
Craig Martin, Ph.D., is Professor of Religious Studies at St. Thomas Aquinas College. He writes on discourse analysis and ideology critique; his most recent books include Capitalizing Religion: Ideology and the Opiate of the Bourgeoisie (Bloomsbury, 2014) and A Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion, 2nd Edition (Routledge, 2017).
Description
Leftist criticisms of “cultural appropriation” negatively value a cultural phenomenon that is structurally analogous to what other leftist discourses laud as subversive creolization or hybridity. This chapter compares the two phenomena and their competing evaluations in political discourses and suggests that an alternative set of critical questions would provide a more sophisticated point of entry for cultural critique.