I was today years old when I realized that a lot of people don't understand the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation.

That was my post on Threads... and apparently, I opened a can of worms.

What is the difference, you may ask... well, I'm glad you're here. In this post I will be sharing thoughts on what the difference is, what prompted my original thread in the first place, the importance of knowing the difference and how we can all contribute to learning, loving and appreciating other cultures instead of appropriating them.

So let me start from the beginning... what sparked the thought was something I came across on social media. An African woman living in China had been invited to participate in a traditional cultural event. The people hosting the event welcomed her in their traditional attire, welcomed her into the experience, publicly expressed how happy they were to have her there and celebrated her participation.

And yet, in the comments, people were accusing her of cultural appropriation.

I was genuinely confused.

Because what I was watching wasn't appropriation at all.

It was appreciation.

And while conversations about culture can become complicated very quickly, I think somewhere along the way we've made this particular distinction more confusing than it needs to be.

Let's Start With the Words Themselves

Sometimes language tells us more than we realize.

Cambridge Dictionary defines appreciation as recognizing or understanding that something is valuable or important.

Meanwhile, appropriation refers to taking something for your own use, generally without permission. Cambridge's definition of cultural appropriation goes further: taking or using something from a culture that isn't your own, particularly without demonstrating understanding or respect for that culture.

Read those again.

Appreciation recognizes value.

Appropriation takes.

And that distinction is what matters the most when you begin to think about culture.

Cultural Appreciation Requires a Student Mentality

Cultural appreciation is about being willing to enter someone else's world as a student.

You're curious.

Listening.

Learning.

Experiencing.

Maybe you're travelling and connecting with locals. Maybe someone invites you into a cultural celebration. Maybe you're learning about the food, clothing, music, language, traditions or customs of another community.

You understand that you're experiencing something that existed before you encountered it.

And you're okay with that.

You don't need to become the expert.

You don't need to position yourself as the originator.

You don't need to take ownership of what you're learning.

You can simply say:

This is beautiful.

Teach me.

I want to understand.

That, to me, is appreciation.

And contrary to what some conversations about cultural appropriation might lead people to believe, I don't think we should be afraid of experiencing other cultures.

I believe it's quite the opposite, actually.

We live in an enormous world filled with people who have entirely different histories, customs, foods, music, art, languages and ways of experiencing life.

What a shame it would be to never experience any of it because we're afraid of getting something wrong.

Appreciation Doesn't Require Belonging

You don't have to belong to a culture to enjoy something that culture has created.

I'm Jamaican-Canadian.

I LOVE seeing people enjoy Jamaican culture.

Please listen to the reggae.

Turn up the dancehall.

Eat the curry goat.

Try the jerk chicken.

Get yourself some rice and peas while you're at it.

When someone tells me how much they love Jamaican food or how reggae makes them feel, I don't think, How dare you?

I'm happy you're enjoying it.

That's appreciation.

The problem begins when someone enjoys what a culture created and decides they're going to start moving through life as if they created it.

Simply enjoying a culture does not make you its originator.

That's where attribution becomes important.

If another culture introduced you to something, why be afraid to say so?

If you learned something while travelling, talk about where you learned it.

If a tradition inspired your work, acknowledge the inspiration.

If someone taught you something, honour the teacher.

You don't diminish yourself by acknowledging where an idea came from.

Culture Is Not Just an Aesthetic

This is where I think social media has complicated things.

We live in an age where everything can become an aesthetic.

Someone sees a hairstyle, garment, ceremony, spiritual practice, way of speaking or cultural tradition online and thinks "Oh, that's a vibe." And suddenly the culture disappears while the aesthetic remains.

There's no curiosity about what it means.

No acknowledgement of where it came from.

No interest in the people connected to it.

No understanding of whether it carries spiritual, ceremonial, historical or social significance.

It just looks cool.

So they put it on.

Perform it.

Post it.

Monetize it.

And sometimes even position themselves as an authority on it.

That is very different from appreciation.

Culture is not a costume you put on when it complements your feed.

Participation and Performance Are Not the Same Thing

This distinction became particularly obvious to me in the situation that inspired this article.

The woman I watched wasn't standing somewhere alone pretending to be something she wasn't.

She was living in China.

Chinese people had invited her to their cultural event.

They participated alongside her.

They publicly welcomed and celebrated her presence.

She wasn't performing Chinese culture at Chinese people.

She was experiencing Chinese culture with Chinese people.

That matters.

Invitation matters.

Context matters.

Relationship matters.

Am I implying that you physically need someone from a culture you admire standing beside you every time you experience something from that culture?

Of course not.

I don't think you need to book a flight to Kingston before you're allowed to listen to Bob Marley.

But your relationship to the source matters.

Do you recognize where this came from?

Do you care?

Are you curious?

Are you representing it honestly?

That's very different from taking what looks interesting, stripping away the people and history attached to it and presenting the result as your own creation.

Intent Matters. But Intent Doesn't Make You Infallible.

Someone can have good intentions and still get something wrong.

None of us knows everything.

You could walk into a thrift store tomorrow, find something beautiful, buy it and have absolutely no idea that the garment carries cultural significance somewhere else in the world.

Ignorance can genuinely happen.

What matters next is what you do when you learn.

Do you become defensive?

Do you dismiss the people explaining it to you?

Or do you say:

I genuinely didn't know. Thank you for telling me.

That humility matters.

You don't need a doctorate in another culture before you're allowed to be curious about it.

You do need the willingness to learn.

Context Can Change the Entire Conversation

I've wanted a sari for years.

I think they're beautiful.

I've even seen saris while thrifting.

But I haven't simply bought one, thrown it on and decided I knew what I was doing.

I've asked friends from Middle Eastern countries who are travelling back home to bring one back for me in the past.

When I travel there myself, I'd love to purchase one, learn more about it and have that experience connected to the people and place it came from.

That's what feels natural to me.

Not because I think I'm forbidden from touching anything that isn't Jamaican or Canadian.

I'm curious about other cultures.

I want to experience them.

But I also don't need to pretend their traditions belong to me in order to enjoy them.

There's room for both curiosity and respect.

The Jafakin Jerk Chicken Incident

I once worked somewhere that decided to put "Jamaican jerk chicken" on the menu.

Naturally, I had to investigate.

Baby, I don't know where dem stand fi jerk dat deh chicken deh... just know that Jamaica was not involved lol.

They basically served up some battered chicken breast with some mystery sauce on the side, called it jerk and had the audacity to include Jamaica in the shenanigans.

Trust me, I was offended on behalf of all Caribbean people across the globe who love and appreciate jerk chicken.

Now, obviously, this is a very lighthearted example.

However, it demonstrates something I've been trying to explain.

I have absolutely no problem with someone who isn't Jamaican making Jamaican food.

Learn how to make jerk chicken.

Love it.

Perfect your recipe.

Feed the people.

But if you're going to use the name of an established cultural tradition while completely disregarding what makes that tradition what it is, you're no longer celebrating it.

You're using its identity because the identity has value.

And that becomes especially uncomfortable when money is involved.

Commercialization Raises the Stakes

This is where cultural appropriation becomes much more serious to me.

We have watched companies repeatedly borrow cultural designs, imagery, language, traditions and aesthetics because they believe those things will sell.

But where are the people?

Who was consulted?

Who contributed?

Who was credited?

Who was compensated?

Who is benefiting?

There's an enormous difference between collaborating with people from a culture and building something together versus extracting something culturally recognizable, removing the community from the equation and monetizing the result.

And power matters here too.

It becomes particularly uncomfortable when members of a culture have historically been ridiculed, discriminated against or penalized for a particular expression, and then witness someone with greater social or economic power adopt the same thing and suddenly it's fashionable, edgy or marketable.

That history doesn't disappear simply because the trend cycle changed.

Cultural Exchange Is Not the Enemy

Cultures have always influenced one another.

People migrate.

People marry.

Communities blend.

Music travels.

Food evolves.

Languages borrow from one another.

Traditions cross borders.

Being Jamaican-Canadian, my own existence sits at an intersection of cultures.

The Caribbean itself reflects generations of migration, colonialism, resistance, adaptation, cultural preservation and exchange.

So no, my argument is not that everyone should stay in their cultural corner and never touch anything belonging to anyone else.

That sounds miserable.

And frankly, impossible.

I'm saying:

Be respectful about where you learned things.

That's it.

The goal isn't cultural segregation.

The goal is cultural respect.

Appreciation Doesn't Mean Everyone Will Agree

Here's another uncomfortable truth: not everyone in a culture is going to feel the same way about something.

Ask ten people from the same country whether they find something offensive, and you may receive ten different answers.

One person might be honoured.

Another might shrug.

Another might hate it.

There isn't one cultural spokesperson available to hand you a universal permission slip.

So use your discernment.

Listen to people from the culture.

Pay attention when people from that community are expressing discomfort.

Learn about the significance of what you're engaging with.

And most importantly, examine your own intentions.

Which brings me to what I think may be the most important question in this entire conversation.

What Are Your Intentions?

Before adopting something from another culture, ask yourself why.

Why do I want to wear this?

Why do I want to participate in this?

Why do I want to create content around this?

Why do I want to sell this?

Is it curiosity?

Connection?

Love?

Respect?

A genuine desire to learn?

Or is it ego?

Attention?

Money?

Likes?

Views?

Aesthetic?

Am I interested in the people, or am I only interested in what I can take from them?

That's what the guiding light should be.

Because appreciation says:

I see something valuable here, and I want to understand it.

Appropriation says:

I see something valuable here, and I want to own it.

Fine line.

But an important one.

Don't Let Fear Stop You From Experiencing the World

If you've become so afraid of cultural appropriation that you're nervous to experience cultures outside your own, I don't think that's the answer either.

Travel.

Talk to people.

Ask questions.

Eat the food.

Listen to the music.

Attend the festival.

Learn the language.

Accept the invitation.

Let someone show you how something is traditionally worn.

Learn the story.

Be curious.

And when you don't know something, be humble enough to admit that you don't know.

You don't have to enter someone else's culture as an expert.

Enter as a student.

There is something incredibly beautiful about human beings being genuinely interested in one another.

We have this massive, diverse world available to us, filled with histories and experiences none of us could possibly encounter solely within the boundaries of our own culture.

I don't want us to experience less of one another.

I want us to experience more.

More thoughtfully.

More respectfully.

More curiously.

With less ego.

Because you don't have to own something in order to appreciate its beauty.

Sometimes you can just experience it, honour where it came from and say:

Thank you for sharing this with me.

Thank you for being here. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic in the comments.