For the past week, I’ve read so many comments and heard from so many people that culture can’t be owned. In response, I’ve drawn from my middle school writing lessons and given them Merriam-Webster’s definition of culture as being “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious or social group.” So, yeah – about that whole “cultures can’t be owned” thing.
A lot of this talk is paired with comments about how trying to distinguish between the cultures of different races is nothing more than an exercise in racism. This is just as illogical, however, as trying to claim that pointing out differences between the lifestyles of members of a country club (a social group) and those of the residents of a government-assisted living community would be an example of classist thinking.
Obviously, acknowledging that rich people generally drive expensive cars and eat at restaurants more often than those who are financially underprivileged is objective. No judgement is being drawn; only facts are being recognized.
So when it is said that jazz music is a manifestation of black culture and expression, why would anyone claim racism? Why would anyone say that black people of the early twentieth century don’t own jazz music? Now, of course they don’t own it in the way that you or I own, for example, our vehicles or laptops — we have exclusive rights to our material items if we so desire, and there is nothing wrong with that. Black people, however, are indeed responsible for the idea of jazz, and to say that they do not own it is, at least in my opinion, a form a plagiarism.
Now, before the privileged dissenters come running at me, none of this is to say that only minority groups can own the rights to a cultural practice. As the definition of “culture” describes, such practices can also be owned by social groups, which are oftentimes blind to factors such as ethnicity and religion.
The United States’ culture, for example, is, in part, defined by American football. Just like non-African Americans can enjoy and create jazz music, non-United States citizens can play American football, and this does not detract from the fact that the sport is inherently a product of United States culture. Indeed, we own and are responsible for football, and, as obvious as it may sound, acknowledging this does nothing to perpetuate xenophobia. Likewise, acknowledging what today’s black Americans own, culturally speaking, does not perpetuate racism.
Clearly, much concern is generated when it is suggested that attributing “beliefs, social forms and material traits” to certain social groups, particularly those defined by uncontrollable biological characteristics, is an acceptable practice. After all, one of our main focuses of the last century as a society has been the striving for equality, and, understandably, it might seem counterintuitive to associate various cultural phenomena with social groups defined by race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. in light of this movement.
I, however, strongly believe that our collective progression away from the ideas of racism and other forms of discrimination can actually be expedited by understanding and respectfully appreciating how ideas, forms of expression, lifestyles and other shared behaviors are derived specifically from the interactions between members of social groups defined by race, religion, gender, sexuality and other things. Indeed, celebrating these differences will inspire each of us to value more highly fellow human beings.
Reid Black is a biochemistry and philosophy major from Pascagoula.
