Now that Halloween has passed, it’s important to reflect on how cultural appropriation often becomes especially visible during the holiday. Each year, some people wear costumes that turn entire cultures into outfits or jokes. These costumes can mock traditions that carry deep meaning and history. While Halloween is meant to celebrate creativity and imagination, turning someone’s culture into a costume sends the message that their heritage is something to be worn and taken off at will.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day passed in October, and for years, it was known as Columbus Day. That only represents the beginning of colonization, loss, and cultural erasure. Celebrating Christopher Columbus without acknowledging the harm caused to Native communities turns a painful history into a false celebration. While it is not on as great a scale, people around the world are taking pieces of cultures and colonizing them.
As a white woman from the deep countryside of New Jersey coming to Hawaii for school, it had taken a lot of learning and adjusting to be able to live respectfully around an abundance of Pacific Island cultures. Majority of my friends are from different cultures and being able to have conversations with them about respecting culture, has taught me boundaries and lessons that have helped me live respectfully around these backgrounds.
These conversations with friends have revealed where the line is in order to be able to find a balance of respecting a culture and going overboard too far into a culture that wasn’t mine. One important sign that cultural appreciation has gone too far is when people start to lose their own identity in the process of adopting another culture. When someone takes on another culture’s clothing, accent, or traditions so fully that others begin to confuse where they’re from or what culture they belong to, that can be a sign of disrespect. It shifts from learning about a culture to performing it, and that performance often overshadows the voices of the people who actually live that experience.
For example, missionaries who live in Samoa for years, learn the language, and participate in the culture may be showing appreciation. Their intention is often to understand and engage deeply with the community they’re present in. However, if someone starts adopting Samoan attire or traditions without understanding the history or meaning, that can be seen as appropriation.
“But here is where it gets dark, confusing and wrong. Cultural misappropriation is unauthorised use of a culture,” said writer Arieta Tora Rika in a 2015 blog post. “When we use aspects of a culture (that is not ours) without permission and for our benefit – it’s stealing. There is no grey area or question about it.
Cultural appreciation involves honoring, respecting, and learning from another culture. It’s about genuinely engaging with traditions, symbols, or practices in a way that acknowledges their meaning and gives credit to their origins. Cultural appropriation, on the other hand, happens when people outside of it take elements of a culture without understanding or respecting their significance. This often turns something meaningful into a shallow trend, stripping away its history and reducing it to an aesthetic. Understanding the difference is essential.
“To take unthinkingly these objects and artifacts from other cultures, or to try to dress up as something that you want to perform … we have to be able to say, where are we different?” scholar Paisley Rectal said in an interview with PBS Utah. “And respect those differences too, because all of these objects and items that we’re attached to have historical meaning and value, and oftentimes when we move into cultural appropriation, it’s because we’re not actually paying attention to the historical meanings of the people who have these items, wear these items, and who they are.”
The way people respond to cultural practices or aspects varies because the line between appreciation and appropriation often depends on intent, environment, and respect. For example, wearing traditional clothing at a cultural festival or ceremony can be a sign of respect and admiration. But wearing the same attire as a costume for entertainment or personal style without understanding the meaning crosses into appropriation.
The key question is not only can you do it, but should you do it? Technically, anyone can wear what they want or try elements of another culture, but ask yourself, why are you doing it? If the reason is curiosity, learning, or genuine respect, that leans toward appreciation. If it’s for attention, profit, or aesthetics without acknowledgment, that leans toward appropriation.
Hawaii offers a clear example of how appreciation and appropriation coexist. For decades, Hawaii has been sold as a destination, from tourism ads in the 1940s to the images still used today.
Pegge Hopper is a transplant from California who often depicts Native Hawaiian women in her artwork. She is often praised for her work; however, she is a perfect example of people profiting off of Polynesian culture. Hopper admitted that “I know nothing about the Native Hawaiian community,” and she only uses Hawaiians for profit.
“I am merely using them as a beautiful thing, just like an orchid,” she said.
In today’s world, cultures are constantly mixing, sharing, and influencing each other. But while this exchange can lead to a greater understanding and beauty, it can also lead to harm when respect for the culture is lost. The line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation is blurry, and that’s what makes this conversation so important.
There’s no universal line separating appreciation from appropriation; it often depends on the individual and their intentions. The most important question to ask yourself is: Am I respecting this culture, or am I using it for my own benefit? Learning about the meaning behind cultural elements, acknowledging their history, and giving credit to their origins are small but powerful ways to show appreciation rather than appropriation.