A/76/178 South and of colonized peoples. 51 The results of that plunder are still on display in some of the world’s great museums, an issue which must be redressed. 52 For example, over 90 per cent of the material cultural legacy of sub-Saharan Africa remains preserved and housed outside of the African continent. The Special Rapporteur supports inventories of such objects and urges appropriate steps be taken as soon as possible toward restitution or repatriation. 42. The concept of cultural appropriation can generate a necessary related debate about exploitation and accountability. This is especially important when the appropriation is for commercial purposes. 53 Nevertheless, the debate about appropriation should avoid simplistic moralizing or assump tions about cultural ownership in favour of a specific, contextual debate, including about the material consequences and contexts of borrowing and appropriation. 43. The distinctions between these terms are important to bear in mind. Whereas cultural “borrowing” suggests relatively equal exchange and reciprocity, “appropriation” represents taking in the absence of relational equality, consent or benefit. 54 Unfortunately, for indigenous peoples and minority populations, cultural exchange often occurs against an unremedied history of oppression and in the absence of equality. 55 Those who use the iconography and imagery of others should do so in a framework that recognizes their contributions and that involves collaboration, partnership and respect, 56 as well as careful consideration of who is benefiting from the borrowing of culture. 44. However, the concept of cultural appropriation is also used increasingly today in some contexts to restrict cultural rights, to police claimed cultural borders and to oppose cultural exchange and mixing, without clear contemplation of the human rights consequences of doing so. 57 Young people may be told it is inherently offensive to wear the dress of others 58 or to engage in artistic borrowing and mixing and may be shamed on social media for doing so. This is a serious concern. In this process, some cultures are sometimes mistakenly framed as property or coded as fixed or pure things that belong to certain people, rather than recognizing the social construction of culture. There has been a conflation of the material and the cultural in such debates, with less emphasis on resource extraction and land rights than on moralistic claims to the ownership of a static culture. “Cultural engagement does not take place on a level __________________ 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 12/22 See https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=articles . See e.g. http://restitutionreport2018.com/sarr_savoy_fr.pdf. See also www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/ news/viralnews/19272003.germany-return-benin-bronzes-looted-colonial-era/. See www.flavorwire.com/344807/what-a-native-american-expert-thinks-about-that-controversialno-doubt-music-video. See https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=articles . Ian Austen, “‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada”, New York Times, 28 May 2021. Available at www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/canada/kamloops mass-grave-residential-schools.html. See Adrienne Keene, “The Benefits of Cultural ‘Sharing’ Are Usually One -Sided”, New York Times, 4 August 2015. Available at www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/08/04/whose-cultureis-it-anyhow/the-benefits-of-cultural-sharing-are-usually-one-sided. See www.vice.com/en/article/jmakbx/is-western-yoga-cultural-appropriation-obviously-but-thatdoesnt-mean-you-cant-practice-it. Yoga has occasioned a paradoxical debate, banned by some Christian and Muslim fundamentalists. See also www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-bansyoga-public-schools-hindu-religious-might-change-n1151551. It is touted as an achievement by Hindu fundamentalists, and sometimes subject to a critique of “cultural appropriation” when practised in the West. Amy Qin, “Teenager’s Prom Dress Stirs Furor in U.S. — but Not in China”, New York Times, 2 May 2018. Available at www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/asia/chinese-prom-dress.html. 21-10019