Cultural appropriation is supposed to be a power dynamic of a majority culture taking from a minority culture. This is where things become interesting. Culture is made by people and people are made by their culture aka culture is a social construct. Culture is what we make it and while it shapes us, we also have the power to change culture.
Not everything a culture does is good either. Slavery used to be a cultural norm and now it's not. Sati used to be widely practiced but now it's not. Culture can be bad, like how India is very patriarchal and rape is very common and considered the woman's fault. Or how Jehovah's Witness's do not take blood transfusions even if a child needs it, they would rather let the child die. Or even cultures in cults where maiming and cannibalism is acceptable and normal.
Culture is pieces of many
things. Food, music, clothing, rituals, and beliefs are all parts of a culture.
To say you can't use another person's culture means you can't have access to
any of it. That means you can't go get Thai food for breakfast, then go
shopping for jeans, and drive home listening to rap music. Everything contains meaning at some level. They are all part of
culture. Pieces of a whole. Pieces which have been mixed, shared, and redefined
throughout the centuries, and will continue to be long after you're gone.
Language is a great example. English borrows words from many different
languages. Holidays have changed over the years as well. The Day of the Dead is
a mix of ancient Aztec traditions and assimilation to colonization. Yule is now
Christmas. Oysters used to be for poor people, but now considered luxury food. The Japanese used do Seppuku but don't anymore. East Africans preform genital mutilation which is a disgusting cultural practice. These beliefs change with time. People rebel against their own cultures too.
Also, nobody owns a culture. Cultures have mixed since the beginning of time. Silk Road - Wikipedia Even Third-culture kids are proof of that. Whether through conquest, trade, or war. There is no "pure" culture. We are all influenced by each other and will continue to be. Spanish tile designs have Islamic influence, Buddhism came out of India and it's influence mixed with Japanese culture and now it's all over Japan, and Malaysia is a complete mix of Indian, Chinese, and European cultures. The Taj Mahal, the very symbol of India, isn't even Indian. It was created by the Mughals. Cultures change and evolve. The meanings can change too sometimes. Lolita fashion was created in Japan but it heavily draws on elements of Victorian clothing. Now Lolita fashion is everywhere and people style how they see fit.
To say that
"appropriation" is an unequal exchange of power, then you need to be
specific. Every group has been oppressed at some point in time. If you are
going off of historically, then at what point in history are you going off of?
If you are talking about today, then today is based off of the culmination of
history. There is nothing wrong with changing cultures, even if that culture was changed through power. Change is always inevitable. Hijras used to be respected until the British showed up. Things change, not always for the better but it cannot be stopped. Hijras are now slowly gaining respect. The caste system is also a British invention of exoticism. This will change in the future again.
Culture is made up of many things. Geography affects the food we eat. Religion can affect the way we dress. Language effects the music we make. War and conquest create new ways of living. Technology and globalization connected us more than ever before. In one click I can fly around the world. I can order Japanese food and read Plato at the same time. If I study abroad or live somewhere else for a period of time, I will likely adopt that culture, their mannerisms, and quirks. Like how in Spain they eat late compared to America or how in Japan, they bow out of propriety.
Cultures have disappeared and been changed and erased over the years. The meaning of certain things will fade or change with time. Foot-binding used to mean that you were beautiful and now it is looked on as a shameful historical practice. Different things have different meanings to different people. Things have meaning because we give them meaning. It truly is as simple as that. Things that mean a lot to us, we will fight to protect. Things that don't mean anything to us, we will let go. Every culture has mixed and changed meaning so much that today's culture would probably unrecognizable to our ancestors.
Wear your hair in braids, get Henna done, eat Chinese food, and listen to
K-pop. At the end of the day, we are all human. We should treat each other with
respect and help each other out instead of dividing ourselves. You make your
own culture.
Interesting Wiki articles:
Japanese street fashion - Wikipedia