When I came across this article on cultural appropriation for Indigenous art being sold, I was intrigued because I am not sure how I feel about this issue. Additionally, it is a topic that is prominent throughout Thomas King’s, The Truth About Stories. On one hand, some forms of cultural appropriation seem to me like a form of flattery of someone’s culture. Like I always tell my kids if they are upset when someone copies them for anything, imitation is a form of flattery. For example, I personally do not see a problem with a non-Chinese person wearing a cheongsam (a traditional Chinese dress) if the person wears it as a form of respect and believes it is beautiful. That being said, it may not be my right to say who is offended by something if it does not come from my own culture; however, I believe most Chinese people would agree and would not be offended by this. On the other hand, in some circumstances I can see why it may be inappropriate to imitate someone’s heritage (especially if they are making a profit).

The article explains that a popular tourist area in Vancouver with forty shops that sell Indigenous art has 75% of those shops selling inauthentic merchandise. So, what could the problems with this be? The article proposes that it is not appropriate to be competition for Indigenous peoples who are actually creating art to sell, and I would agree with them. Another issue the article brings up (that relates to King’s book) is that it is difficult to determine who is allowed to call themselves an Indigenous person. Furthermore, there are non-Indigenous people out there who are benefiting from Indigenous culture who are “pretendians” and then there are people have Indigenous heritage who have no way of proving it.

https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-passionate-eye/fake-indigenous-art-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-of-cultural-appropriation-1.6606937