{"id":54875,"date":"2013-04-23T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T17:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=54875"},"modified":"2016-11-10T21:20:59","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T02:20:59","slug":"punk-in-burma-cultural-appropriation-and-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2013\/04\/23\/punk-in-burma-cultural-appropriation-and-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Punk in Burma: Cultural Appropriation & Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here at SocImages, we typically use the phrase “cultural appropriation” to describe rather frivolous borrowing of cultural practices and objects for the purposes of fun and fashion. \u00a0We’ve posted on examples ranging from the appropriation of American Indian fashion<\/a>, \u00a0the mocking of the Harlem Shake<\/a>, and an\u00a0Orthodox Jew-inspired fashion show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A slideshow<\/a> of members of the punk scene in Burma, however, offers another version of cultural appropriation. \u00a0Their fashion is clearly inspired by the punk scenes of\u00a0Britain\u00a0and the U.S., which started in the 1970s. Accordingly to an interview with Ko Gyi at Vice<\/a>\u00a0and an article at Spiegel Online<\/a>, some members of the sub-culture believe themselves to be\u00a0rebelling\u00a0against an oppressive state, others are interested in “non-political anarchism.” \u00a0While their music has to pass through state censors, they are talented in pushing their lyrics right up to the limit and deft in using metaphor to get their point across.<\/p>\n

This is a fully different kind of appropriation, the kind that is about fighting the establishment, not spicing it up with “colorful” bits of marginalized groups. \u00a0It is more akin to feminists and gay liberation activists borrowing the tactics of the civil rights movement. \u00a0Alexander Dluzak writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In Burma, punk is far more than just a superficial copy of its Western counterpart. Here, what is probably the most rebellious of all subcultures in the Southeast Asian country is going up against one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cultures can borrow from one another, then, in ways that both empower and disempower. \u00a0It will be fascinating to see if this particular appropriation can shape the future of Burma.<\/p>\nLisa Wade, PhD<\/a> is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of <\/em>American Hookup<\/a>, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender<\/a>; and a forthcoming introductory text: <\/em>Terrible Magnificent Sociology<\/a>.\u00a0You can follow her on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here at SocImages, we typically use the phrase “cultural appropriation” to describe rather frivolous borrowing of cultural practices and objects for the purposes of fun and fashion. \u00a0We’ve posted on examples ranging from the appropriation of American Indian fashion, \u00a0the mocking of the Harlem Shake, and an\u00a0Orthodox Jew-inspired fashion show. A slideshow of members of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12508,225,15,1811,3874,3920,85,2128,304],"class_list":["post-54875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-activismsocial-movements","tag-clothesfashion","tag-culture","tag-nation-britainthe-u-k","tag-nation-myanmarburma","tag-nation-united-states","tag-politics","tag-fascismtotalitarianism","tag-the-state"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54875"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69554,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54875\/revisions\/69554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}