A/76/178 disappearance of many voices in the chorus of humanity by magnifying some and drowning out others. 37. In some instances, fabricated monocultural constructs have been grafted onto post-colonial States that may have been created on the basis of arbitrary colonial administrative boundaries in an effort to solidify their legitimacy. 46 However, the Special Rapporteur notes that, even in contexts of domination and colo nization, cultural mixing/hybridizing has been multidirectional, and mixing of cultural forms has been a tactic of cultural resistance by marginalized peoples facing alien domination. 47 It has been transformational of identities and cultures of all involve d. 38. Cultures and cultural expressions often do not meet and mix on a level playing field. Rights-respecting cultural mixing should happen within a framework of equality. As Patrick Chamoiseau recently remarked at an event about the creolization of the world, “it is not just about singing Kumbaya”. 48 It is a project that has to be constructed by overcoming inequalities and challenging those cultural consequences of dominant modes of globalization from above that are negative. 39. It is critical to consider who is making choices about cultural borrowing and sharing, and the contexts that shape the choices they feel able to make. Women and cultural dissenters may face the imposition of cultural codes on them that they have no power to determine. The more embattled a group or people is, such as by facing forced assimilation or conversion, the more their human rights are threatened , the less space they may have to welcome cultural openness and sharing. 40. The global market prevents the emergence of the whole-world. 49 One of the challenges, as Senegalese philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne has noted, is “to build a world the market cannot imagine.” To avoid processes of homogenization, commercialization of cultural fusion, corporatizing of cultural borrowing an d exploitive models of syncretism, efforts must be made to defend the diversity of cultural expressions in line with international standards and to respect the human rights aspects of intellectual property, as explained by the first Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights (A/HRC/28/57; A/70/279; and A/70/279/Corr.1). Cultural rights are a vital part of achieving such goals. 1. Contemporary debates about cultural appropriation and identity politics 41. Careful consideration must be given to the meaning of “cultural appropriation” and how that concept is used. This issue is complex. 50 In some instances, the critique of cultural appropriation is employed legitimately to advance cultural rights, including by cultural rights defenders, minorities and indigenous peoples, to protect the internationally guaranteed cultural rights of marginalized peop le, in particular, from commercial exploitation, or from the erasure of their cultural achievements or the outright theft of those achievements. This is particularly important bearing in mind the history of the pillaging of artistic and cultural masterpiec es from the Global __________________ 46 47 48 49 50 21-10019 See www.cairn.info/mobutu--9782262049539-page-183.htm. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader, pp. 203–204, B. Ascroft, G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin, eds. (Routledge, London and New York, 2006). Remarks at Reflexion transatlantique sur la créolisation du monde, 8 April 2021 (translated by the Special Rapporteur). Ibid. There has even been controversy among various indigenous peoples about allegations of appropriation of each other’s cultural practices. See Leyland Cecco, “ Canada: one Indigenous group accuses other of cultural appropriation in award row ”, The Guardian, 9 April 2019. Available at www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/09/canada-indigenous-music-awards-inuitcree-cultural-appropriation. 11/22