In the Swing dancing scene there was a prominent "scandal" where a dance instructor had gone to a dance workshop in Senegal (as a participant) and befriended local dancers.
Those Senegalese women braided her hair in their traditional style, which said instructor posted on social media.
After that she lost several high-profile workshop appearances in America (because of massive boycotting demands by American dancers), because obviously that's cultural appropriation.
That hair style is African-American. How dare Senegalese women use it themselves and decide who gets to wear it?
I'm a west African who's frequently bemused by the small but very strident minority of African-Americans who get to decide who's "black enough" or not black enough or who gets to appropriate what culture. The whole notion is ridiculous to me. Rappers name themselves after mafiosi, italian handbags and swiss luxury watches. We all wear western style clothes and speak European languages, not to mention writing in Arabic numerals, worshipping middle eastern deities and what not. On the other side I'm always annoyed when I see snarky comments from cultural snobs on youtube when some new classical musician from Asia comes up about how they can't possibly really understand the music because they're not European enough and it's not 'their' music.
Those Senegalese women braided her hair in their traditional style, which said instructor posted on social media.
After that she lost several high-profile workshop appearances in America (because of massive boycotting demands by American dancers), because obviously that's cultural appropriation.
That hair style is African-American. How dare Senegalese women use it themselves and decide who gets to wear it?