Rethinking White Supremacy & Cultural Appropriation

In the wake of Black Lives Matter, narratives about white supremacy and cultural appropriation are in the ascendency. They speak to the need for white people to become more aware of their colonial heritage, the privileges they enjoy, and the ways in which they perpetuate oppression. 

Yet most white people don't see themselves as a supreme race. They are ordinary people experiencing all kinds of struggles, who haven't been educated about the complexities of their past. Indeed, they were often on the bottom rung of a system that exploited people far worse. When they are called racists, or called out for wearing the wrong piece of clothing, sometimes by more privileged activists with no connection to the culture they are defending, they rightly respond with apologetic compliance but really an 'oh, fuck off'.

There is a simultaneous feeling that the current anti racist ideology and narrative is both right and yet somehow 'off'. It's hard to put your finger on it, but it feels like something is amiss, which can't be just explained by white fragility and denial. There are obvious critiques: problematising such groups can lead to an instinctive self defence and division between identity groups. It elevates a politics of identity, where embattled white majorities fear for their way of life and elect authoritarian leaders with devastating consequences for the most marginalised. Is there a way of highlighting the very real power dynamics between groups and problematic behaviour whilst still maintaining a generative conversation and larger sense of us?

Bayo Akomolafe brings new ways of understanding from indigenous wisdom that invite us into a deep unlearning and more expansive political frame. In conversation with Ronan Harrington, he will share what it might mean to rethink white supremacy and cultural appropriation in ways that can guide us out of the trauma of the culture wars.

Bayo Akomolafe is an Author, speaker, lecturer, renegade academic, ethnopsychotherapeutic researcher and proud diaper-changer, Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), is globally recognized for his poetic, unconventional and counter-intuitive take on global crisis, civic action and social change. He is Executive Director and Initiating / Co-ordinating Curator for the Emergence Network. Bayo has authored two books: ‘We Will Tell Our Own Story’ and ‘These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters To My Daughter on Humanity’s Search For Home’ and has penned forewords for many others.

Ronan Harrington is a speaker and founder of Alter Ego, a network of social change leaders that are pioneering personal, cultural and political renewal. He has worked as a Political Strategist for Extinction Rebellion UK and Futurist at the British Foreign Office.

@RonanHarrington on Twitter

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