Been thinking this morning about whether there is a tension between critiques of the concept cultural appropriation (eg all cultures appropriate, adapt, evolve) and moderate nationalist @epkaufm-esque arguments against immigration (eg US culture is changing too fast/too much).
These positions don’t have to be in tension, but in practice I think they often are. Both turn (at least in part) on the idea of “feeling at home”, on the claim that one has a right to feel part of a community, or even the right to have one’s community persist over time.
I’m not saying these things are equally just, equally right, etc. And to put my cards in the table, while I have qualified sympathy for cul. app. concerns, I have zero for cultural nationalism. Still, I’m interested in whether, to a certain extent, these distinct ideas rhyme.
Ok, maybe “zero” is too strong. I’ve read too much Charles Taylor for that, the consequence of a misspent youth in Montreal. But very, very little sympathy, and certainly none for state coercion on a culture’s behalf.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
