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poorlywordedbookreviews's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Culture is created. Culture is lived. Culture is a process, a dimension. Culture is recycled, borrowed, expanded, cannibalised. It is not static, nor linear. Cultural purity is a myth and cultural preservation (in its live form) stagnating, often futile.
In this wide ranging book (it’s truly global in its examples, and covers from ancient Egypt to modern K-Pop) the author presents a lot of really interesting stuff about cultures you may not know well - and how cultural aspects did/may have been exported and adapted. It is well written and very accessible. I found the sections on more ancient and non western cultures more engaging, but there’s definitely something for everyone; from how Akhenaten & Nefertiti’s monotheistic beliefs may have influenced early Judaism, to Nigerian reinterpretations of western literary and theatre traditions to build independent nations, to the Japanese ‘wave’ and mystery pillars in the Indian subcontinent.
I think what this book lacks is a clearer commentary on the modern day discourse of cultural appropriation. What this book demonstrates is appropriation is a fundamental part of cultural processes; it’s normal, it’s often beneficial, and it’s sometimes the only thing that lets cultural aspects flourish or survive (via idea migration). What a less nuanced reader could take from this is that ‘cultural appropriation is not a ‘thing’, what are these woke numpties on about’… when what they really need is some context on the complexity of the appropriation issue (ie. it’s the power imbalances in appropriation between cultures that are now far more intertwined / happening on a much faster time scale).
Overall thought a really interesting book, and I learnt a lot.
sheena_00110101's review
informative
slow-paced
2.5
Nothing I couldn't learn from YouTube. Really disliked the retelling of the myth of Aztecs regularly performing mass human sacrifices. It happened, sure, but not as an industrial line as a norm.
admatthews's review against another edition
5.0
Considering the scope of this, both geographically and temporally, it's remarkable how consistently good it is. Premise is that culture develops through interaction with and response to other cultures: in essence, an antidote to stay in your lane cultural appropriation police. All culture is appropriation, and development comes from intersection and adaptation.
lybarron's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Did not actually discuss modern culture creation much at all :( I feel a little deceived by the subtitle, but did enjoy the anthropological perspective. Just sold to me incorrectly