Theft of cultural elements—including symbols, art, language, customs, etc.—for one’s own use, commodification, or profit, often without understanding, acknowledgement, or respect for its value in the original culture. It results from the assumption of a dominant (i.e., white) culture’s right to take other cultural elements.

A particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture steal intellectual, spiritual, cultural, and/or information wealth from a culture of people who have been systemically oppressed by the dominant group (most notably by white or white-passing folk).

References:

• Cultural Appropriation, Colours of Resistance Archive.
• Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy by Rachel Ricketts, Simon & Schuster (Atira Books), 2021.