CFP: Cultural Appropriation

Artists, musicians, writers, chefs, and inventors often borrow ideas from cultures other than their own. In some cases, they are blamed for cultural appropriation, as when Miley Cyrus borrowed twerking from black culture in 2013 and Valentino fashion designers borrowed patterns from Maasai culture in 2016.

We seek papers addressing what cultural appropriation is and whether and when it is wrong. Papers might address (but needn’t be limited to):

1.     The relationship between cultural appropriation and the wrongs of racism, exploitation, identity theft, and copyright infringement.

2.     Who (if anyone) is blameworthy for wrongful cultural appropriation.

3.     Whether and what rights are violated when artists engage in cultural appropriation.

4.     Whether cultures can own ideas and, if so, what implication this has for the ethical use of these ideas.

5.     Whether and when it is wrong to tell the story of a culture other than one’s own.

6.     The interaction between cultural appropriation and the production of aesthetic value.

Please send abstracts of no more than 1,000 words to Aaron Meskin at [email protected] and Mollie Gerver at [email protected] by October 1st 2017.

Decisions will be made by October 14th and the workshop will take place on December 18th, 2017 at the University of Leeds

Papers of no more than 5,000 words will be circulated two weeks prior to the workshop.