Was it cultural appropriation for Robbie Robertson (who is of Mohawk heritage and a Canadian to boot) to write a song about the experience of southern Americans in his song 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down'?



Or is it only true for members of a majority culture?

It's only cultural appropriation if it makes fun of the culture, or treats it like a caricature.

No, that's not what cultural appropriation means, zwack.

I tend to think it means when a culture that is not where the art originated passes off their own version of the same art as their own. Like if white guys started taking over the rap scene. Or the jazz scene.

How would white people taking over the rap scene or jazz scene matter as long as credit was still given to the black guys who also did it/started it?

The whole cultural appropriation thing is getting out of hands IMHO. Some things are becoming really ridiculous, for instance basically you're not allowed to rap if you're not black. If we traced back things to their origins and decided to keep things where/whom they originated with the world would be a sad place. Picking up things from each other is part of why we as humans progressed as much.

I agree. Most of the times it's a silly argument. Sometimes it's appropriate, but I'll leave that up to the culture that feels that way.