Lesson CAA-3
Welcome! Please consider how your attitude affects your and other students' experiences of the lesson.
Be respectful, come prepared, and show interest to have the best possible educational experience.
Lesson goals
Test your vocabulary skills, deepen your understanding of postcolonialism by reading an article on cultural approproation as well as developing your writing skills by discussing the article and cultural appropriation in writing
Lesson activities
Vocabulary spelling quiz
Reading comprehension
Writing practice
Vocabulary spelling quiz
Time for the activity: ~10-15 minutes
During this activity, you will develop your vocabulary and spelling skills
Open Exam.net
Match the vocabulary and definitions
Rephrase the sentences using the word in bold
Bemindful of your spelling; incorrect spelling does not yield any points
Rephrasing - how it works
Read the first sentence. Complete the second sentence so that is has a similar meaning to the first sentence by putting the word in bold in the blank space (...) . Change the word if necessary. You must use between two and five words. For example:
Perhaps we took the wrong way.
Might
We (...) the wrong way.
Correct answer: We might have taken the wrong way.
Reading comprehension
Time for the exercise: ~10-15 minutes
During this exercise, you will develop your reading skills
Take turns reading We need to talk about cultural appropriation: why Lionel Shriver's speech touched a nerve (Stephanie Convery, 2016)
Discuss the questions with your classmate(s) and share your thoughts and conclusions:
What does the article bring to light regarding the debate on cultural appropriation?
How does the historical context, such as the minstrelsy era in America, contribute to understanding the complexities of cultural appropriation?
What do you think about the challenges and ethical considerations faced by writers, particularly concerning representation, publishing opportunities and when writing about marginalized communities?
Writing practice
Time for the exercise: ~30 minutes
During this exercise, you will develop your, listening, writing and discussion skills
Optional: submit what you wrote and I will give you feedback
By yourself or together with your classmate(s), discuss and take notes on:
How do you define cultural appropriation?
Use quotes from the movie to explain how CA can be understood from various perspectives
Finally, discuss at least one of the points below:
What cultural customs or practices are acceptable or unacceptable to mimic?
In what ways can adapting or mimicking lead to cultural appropriation?
How is a person’s identity affected by cultural appropriation and mimicry ? Use examples from our readings.
Quotes from Cultural Appropriation: Whose problem is it? BBC Stories
"I define cultural appropriation as taking something from a culture that isn’t your own and not giving the full or any sort of residue of credit back."
"At the end of the day that is someone’s heritage. And I think in order to understand that on a deeper level I think you almost have to understand racism on a deeper level as well."
"The same people that say it's racist to say that a white person can’t wear a bindi are probably the same people that don’t necessarily understand that people have been aggressively downtrodden on for wearing that item."
"I don’t usually go to festivals, but that was probably the most upset I’ve been about cultural appropriation because I felt powerless being there, being surrounded by a lot of people who wouldn’t understand. And it's just... when I see other people doing it without any repercussions It just makes me think, why can't I just be? I can’t wear that myself and just have people treat me normally."
"When you are part of a culture for example, that society has told you how you look is wrong, for someone to then take that and then say, "Well I’m going to do it because it's fashionable and its cool now but it’s a music festival so who cares?" It’s very ignorant to the people that have had to go through those things. "
"Definitely, if someone was telling me that they felt offended, I would definitely offer to take a seat and to talk about it. But I think being open minded also comes in both ways and maybe they have to understand it's not an offence it’s more like a celebration."
"When people say they are trying to promote diversity and acceptance, I think it's very important to remember that not everybody wants "white validation". The point isn't that white people need to wear things to normalise things."
"We also have to identify when it happens and white people aren't necessarily a part of it. Because I think there's always this demonisation of like, "White people have done this again", or: "White people don't get it". I think it's beyond white privilege and I think you can look at other examples like Nicki Minaj with "Chun Li". I think if you do it, you have to be consistent with it."
If you want a challenge:
Use the vocabulary homework in your answer
Use a large-language model and ask the same questions as above. Compare your answers. How similar are your and the AI's answers to one another?
Homework
No homework
Exit ticket
Present your written comments