Appreciating culture

Sana Chaudhry

Appropriating Culture vs. Appreciating Culture; where is the line?

Robert. That was the name given to Paul Smith’s version of the peshawari chappal , priced at a cool £300. What one would expect, hearing the name Robert, would be a smart, lace up shoe made from finest leather; the epitome of the modern, English man. I mean it certainly came with the price tag of one. However, what we got instead was a something that looked more like a Rizwan than a Robert.

Saying that the designer shoe bears a slight resemblance to the chappals worn by men all across Pakistan would be an understatement. The design adds only a thin stripe of neon leather on the sole, the lack of which would make it look exactly like the chappals our fathers and brothers wear every time Eid rolls around. Naturally the fashion designer faced backlash from the online community. But, one would argue, isn’t imitation the greatest form of flattery?



Not in this case. Allow me to introduce to you the concept of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation, as defined by a quick Google search, is the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture. Basically, elements of a minority culture are adopted by members of a majority culture, thereby stripping them of their context and identity. In the case of Robert, by failing to acknowledge that the design was inspired by Pakistani indigenous footwear, Paul Smith appropriated the culture and craft of its original makers.

What makes cultural appropriation wrong, you may ask? The answer is simple; you are reducing the culture to being nothing more than exotic as well as dehumanizing those who belong to that culture. Often times you are taking elements that have a certain context and meaning, sometimes using them in a manner that others would consider offensive. Furthermore it serves the purpose of reinforcing stereotypes, homogenising a group of people by portraying them all as the same. And lastly, it is reducing somebody’s cultural heritage into nothing more than a fashion statement.

Most recently there was an outcry over Coldplay and Beyonce’s music video for ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ which showed the band traipsing around the slums of India and the songstress clad in a sari and henna tattoos. Again an entire country and its population were reduced to nothing more than an “exotic playground” where there is poverty around every corner and people play holi every day.

‘The Paul Smith issue’ was hardly a blip on radar when you think about it. Cultural appropriation is a common habit that most of us indulge in. Whether it be adopting certain aesthetic values or choosing to dress in a certain manner, all of us are guilty. And that is something that is unavoidable. The very nature of culture itself is fluid, meaning that people living in different parts of the world may share cultural similarities. It then becomes our duty to be aware of the impact of our actions.

21st century is the age of information. There really is no excuse for ignorance at this point. Cultures will always have crossovers, but there still remains a fine line between appreciating and appropriating.

Sale!

Sana Chaudhry

Recently, one word has caused distress in the Pakistani female population. The mention of the word alone causes women and girls alike to start perspiring, pupils dilating as all the blood rushes to their face. It is as though one can hear the cogs and wheels turning in their brains as they try and assess the situation. Their body goes into combat mode, preparing to tackle beasts twice their size, and to use their nails as weapons. The word, of course, that is having the less- than-desirable effect is ‘sale’.

One who is reading this may consider my words hyperbole, but let me assure you, there are videos of ladies displaying such animalistic behavior. The year 2015 was not lacking in its fair share of sales, and unfortunately profit margins were not the only things that some stores had to deal with. Agha Noor, a well known boutique, had its doors bulldozed down after announcing a sale; Khaadi experiencing the same with a sale celebrating their birthday. And those who did not participate in the fun directly got their kicks online where videos surfaced of women battling it out over the last 50 % off kurta.



Now don’t get me wrong, I, like any other Pakistani, enjoy a good sale or two. It’s just that I am not willing to lose my two front teeth for something that’s going to start looking worse for wear after a couple of washes. And yes, I most definitely do not like being pushed around by women twice my age; a practice I apply when I go to weddings and the food is served. But what I found most amusing, were the online comments on the videos of these women going ham at the sales. The keyboard warriors, as always, did not hold back, criticizing the women and their behavior. However, consider this; how about instead of blaming the women for acting like ‘animals’, we call out these stores for not handling the situation better? I mean anybody with foresight could have anticipated the outcome, when you have no queues for the most anticipated sales of the year.

But alas, asking a Pakistani to do the logical thing is like asking a fish to survive out of water, almost impossible. The only thing we can do, I suppose, is learn from our mistakes. And by us, I mean these corporate monsters that prey on the innocent, hypnotizing us so that we willingly fork over thousands of rupees for the same clothes that everybody has. But we must say thanks, for we learnt a valuable lesson; there is a correct way to do everything, and a little bit of foresight never hurts anybody.

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