Cultural Misappropriation

Cultural misappropriation is the term given to the set of injuries marked by:

• using music, reading, symbols, ritual, or iconography of a group without a willingness to engage in their struggle and/or story and connecting their struggle and/or story with our own (UU and community).
• the use of cultural practices as bait rather than an as organic part of our cultural experience
• an unwillingness to respect the community of origin or dishonoring the refusal of a community to share
• disrespect or casual engagement with a practice, or
• unwillingness to share the pain caused by intentional or unintentional misuse.

UUA Task Force on Cultural Misappropriation – September 2006 (report - requires Adobe^® Reader^®)

Links to helpful web resources on Cultural Misappropriation:

http://archive.uua.org/re/reach/winter01/social_justice/reckless.html