In early 2016, I was invited by Mark Ouellette, Director of Arcadia’s English Language Institute, to deliver a lecture for visiting students from DaeJin University in South Korea specializing in American Studies. My brief lecture, “All Culture is Appropriated,” uses the example of American popular music and fashion to discuss the concept of “cultural appropriation” as both a normal, natural, and valuable driver of creativity and connection, as well as a tool of exploitation and marginalization. Given the dual nature of “appropriation,” then, I argue for understanding it not as a moral transgression but rather through its specific and contextual impacts.

For members of Arcadia’s P&T committee, a password-protected document of my lecture notes is available here.