Should Madonna Wear a Bindi?: Appreciation versus appropriation of South Asian culture

The Sangam Festival is a celebration of South Asian culture and its traditions. Celebrating the cultures of ethnic minorities is one of the richest aspects of life and is a way of promoting multiculturalism, but it has to be done thoughtfully so that it is all-encompassing in its objectives and does not merely promote the surface aspects of culture – essentially the look and style of something – without interrogating its historical and political aspects.

Questions such as when does borrowing become harmful and constitute cultural appropriation will be asked. Cultural appropriation is of continued topicality. It is of critical importance given the prevailing view that the sharing of cultures should be continued but what needs to be brought into consideration are the ethics of this practice.   

Rina Arya is Professor of Visual Culture and Theory at the University of Huddersfield, UK. She has written about the artist Francis Bacon (Francis Bacon: Painting in a Godless World, 2012), abjection (Abjection and Representation: An Exploration of Abjection in the Visual Arts, Film and Literature, 2014; Abject Visions: Powers of Horror in Art and Visual Culture, 2016) and a number of articles on spirituality and contemporary art. Her main area of research now is the crossover between material culture and religious studies and she is currently working on a book about the cultural appropriation of Hindu symbols.