The law and ethics of ‘cultural appropriation’

Siems, M

doi:10.1017/s1744552319000405

The law and ethics of ‘cultural appropriation’

Siems, M

Authors

M Siems

Abstract

Cultural appropriation is often defined as the ‘taking of intellectual property, cultural expressions or artefacts, history, and ways of knowledge’. Despite this apparent link to intellectual property, legal issues are only rarely mentioned in the current debate. Thus, to start with, this paper aims to fill this gap in identifying the possible bases in existing laws that may, at least in principle, justify claims of unlawful behaviour. As far as ethical considerations are concerned, the paper then notes a deep divide between those who fully endorse the notion of cultural appropriation and those who are resolutely opposed to it. This paper aims to give fair consideration to both sides of the argument, suggesting three categories of potentially unethical conduct. On this basis, the paper finally revisits possible legal responses from a normative perspective.

Citation

Siems, M. (2019). The law and ethics of ‘cultural appropriation’. International Journal of Law in Context, 15(4), 408-423. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1744552319000405

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Dec 13, 2019
Publication Date	Dec 31, 2019
Deposit Date	Feb 27, 2020
Publicly Available Date	Feb 28, 2020
Journal	International Journal of Law in Context
Print ISSN	1744-5523
Electronic ISSN	1744-5531
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	15
Issue	4
Pages	408-423
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/s1744552319000405

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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in a revised form in International journal of law in context http://doi.org/10.1017/S1744552319000405. This version is published under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND. No commercial re-distribution or re-use allowed. Derivative works cannot be distributed. © Cambridge University Press 2019.