Commenting on the unresolved issue of cultural appropriation in K-pop is a tricky affair. Any criticism of its heavy-handed use of aesthetics from other cultures often results in severe backlash, particularly affecting marginalised fans of colour. The interplay of South Korea’s homogeneity, globalisation and ethnic nationalism in Korea reveals a cycle in which K-pop severely…
Afrofuturism was once a hip retort to the erasure of Africans in futuristic narratives. It incorporated elements of science fiction, history and fantasy to highlight the African-American experience and reestablish connections with African heritage. However, the movement has faced criticism for oversimplifying and commodifying African cultures, with its Western-centric focus on privileged experiences and detachment…
“Symbols matter. Especially for oppressed people.” Khaled Beydoun Last week Louis Vuitton began selling a “monogramed keffieh” on their website despite the luxury fashion brand’s commitment to remaining “neutral” in the face of Palestinian oppression by the settler-colonial state of Israel. While Louis Vuitton may be coming under fire now, the keffiyeh has a long…
Trigger warning: this article contains discussions of body shaming and fatphobia Nay not once did I ever imagine myself writing about the Kardashians…Yet, here I am. I’m trying to find some kind of redeeming solace in the fact that as much as this train of thought/writing is about the Kardashians, it’s also essentially not about…
Up-and-coming rapper Costa Titch is a polarising musician to say the least. He has been at the centre of a cultural appropriation debate on the Twitter hemisphere, as many have accused him of using Black South African culture and aesthetics to further his career. It doesn’t help his case that he has admitted on his…
In 2015, Amandla Stenberg (now a social activist, but back then of Hunger Games fame) put out a video on Youtube called “Don’t Cash Crop on My Cornrows: a crash discourse on black culture”. In the 4 minute video, Stenberg explains how privileged white society has been mining black culture for monetizable cool, while simultaneously…
As an artist and a researcher, Salome Asega‘s practice is a celebration of multivocality and dissensus. The relationship between her practice as an artist, and her roles as a researcher and teacher, is an interconnected one. Each of these aspects inform and filter into one another. Asega explains that this connection comes from their collective…
