Have you all heard of the concept of "eating the other"? I think it was bell hooks who coined the term. Anyways, if you don't know, eating the other, (as I understand it) is when one race takes a custom from another race because they think that custom is cool, but they take this custom with a sense of superiority and leave the other race still feeling inferior. Okay, sorry if that is really confusing, but I'll use some examples to try to clarify.
What "eating the other" reminds me of is when my little brother would make a joke at home, and nobody would laugh. Then, 10 minutes later, my older brother would tell that same joke and everyone would laugh and say "good one!" While my little brother is left saying, "Hey! I just said that!"
The best example of "eating the other" that I can think of is white people with the hip-hop community. White people who "act black" are seen as cool or have "swag". Miley Cyrus is accused of eating the other with all of her twerking and the use of black women in her performances.
So, what do you guys think? Do you think this is a real problem? Is it an issue if white people start adopting black customs? To me, it kind of seems like another way to take power away from minority groups.
I completely think this is a problem because it allows for the minority to be used by the majority. Instead of "eating the other" humanity should allow for any custom to be integrated into society. Not just the customs that are assumed to be cool. By creating a 'cool' version of the minority the majority can use the 'cool' custom to control the minority. We talked about this in class with the hip-hop community. Now it is controlled by white men who use hip-hop to abuse women and the black community.
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