Cultural Appropriation in the Fashion Industry: A Critical Examination
Khemaïs Ben Lakhdar on Cultural Appropriation and Domination
Khemaïs Ben Lakhdar, a doctoral candidate in art history at Sorbonne and affiliated with the French Institute of Fashion, delves into the contentious issue of cultural appropriation within the fashion sector. In his recent work titled "Cultural Appropriation: History, Domination, and Creation: Origins of Western Pillaging," Ben Lakhdar posits that cultural appropriation fundamentally involves the dominant group appropriating and recontextualizing cultural artifacts, often from marginalized communities, primarily for capitalist purposes. This process, he argues, not only strips these artifacts of their original context and meaning but also perpetuates stereotypes rooted in colonial histories.
The 19th Century and New Discoveries...