Commodifying Culture

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Commodifying Culture
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Culture Defined

• A shared way of life among members of a society
• Components
• Norms
• Folkways
• Laws
• Sanctions/Taboos
• Values (spiritual beliefs, moral foundations etc.)

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Commodity Defined

• A commodity is anything that can be bought and
  sold
• Culture involves many things that cannot be
  bought and sold- Examples

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Commodifying Culture Defined

• To commodify culture means to extract cultural
  elements and repackage these in a way that makes
  them market-able
• Claim
• Commodifying culture simultaneously preserves,
  transforms, and destroys it.

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Yellow Apparel When the Coolie Becomes Cool

• film produced by UC Berkley students
• explores commodification of culture
• well watch it next class

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Trinity College Professor Vijay Prashad

• When a South Asian wears a dot, a bindhi, shes a
  dot-headpeople ask when are you going
  homewhats ironic is that when Madonna wears a
  dot in 1998, she becomes chic.
• From documentary Yellow Apparel

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Questions Video Explores

• Why are whites attracted to ethnic chic?
• What is being consumed here?
• When does one cross the line between appreciation
  and appropriation?
• When does support for the struggle to achieve
  ethnic social justice become objectifying it into
  a fashion trend?