Actress Marisa Abela and actor Eddie Marsan film a scene for the Amy Winehouse biopic ‘Back to Black’ in London.
Neil Mockford/GC Images via Getty Images
Some viewers seem to want Abela’s voice to be a carbon copy of Winehouse’s. But the art of vocal impersonation isn’t about perfect replication.
It took George Gershwin just 10 days to pen the American classic.
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The work remains a crowd favorite. But more and more scholars are starting to see ‘Rhapsody’ as a whitewashed version of Harlem’s vibrant Black music scene.
Afrobeats artist Logos Olori.
Screengrab/YouTube/Logos Olori
Nigeria is deeply polarised along ethnic, religious, cultural and political lines – and violence is never far from the surface.
MC Solaar, a pioneer of French rap.
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Hip-hop traveled far after being birthed by Black Americans in US cities. The journey hasn’t always been smooth.
Netflix
The backlash against Netflix’s documentary asks the question of how brands should take more responsibility when representing other cultures.
White sage is being commonly used for purification rituals.
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Native Americans are struggling to find sage for their spiritual practices as the plant is being overharvested for sale to the wider public.
Shutterstock/Renata Apanaviciene
We encourage everyone to learn te reo Māori, but if not done well and ethically, it could be another wave of colonisation.
Image by Karolina Kaboompics for rawpixel com image from rawpixel id jpeg.
John Banville calls Mrs Eckdorf in O'Neill’s Hotel, ‘an inexplicably neglected 20th-century masterpiece’. Carol Lefevre shares her fascination with William Trevor’s ‘crazed’ photographer Ivy Eckdorf.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appears at a news conference in Edmonton in October 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Danielle Smith’s grasp of Indigenous issues seems rooted not in genuine allyship and justice but in the appropriation of Indigenous experiences to advance white grievance politics.
Sebastien Le Cocq / Alamy
Far from an extension of our secular Halloween, this Mexican celebration is a deeply religious custom with its own rituals, folklore and history.
Sacheen Littlefeather speaks at the 45th Academy Awards.
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A new report disputes the heritage claims of Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather. A scholar explains why scrutiny over alleged ethnic fraud is essential.
Street illuminations transform city areas with strong Hindu diasporic communities.
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Retailers run the risk of cultural appropriation when they commodify festivals from minority groups without acknowledging the religious context.
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Nigeria’s Afrobeats stars love to identify with Fela’s activism and music - but their tributes are becoming opportunistic and empty.
Album artwork for Mount Ninji And Da Nice Time Kid.
Zef Recordz/Die Antwoord
Controversial South African band Die Antwoord illustrates the power relations that make cultural appropriation and blackface so damaging.
Farley Webb
Jess Ho’s acerbic, sad, funny memoir of combines a compelling critique of the Melbourne food scene that became her family with memories of a traumatic childhood.
The Exeter Chiefs are the latest team to change their Native American branding.
atsportphoto
US sports teams aren’t the only ones who have used Native American imagery and are now changing their branding.
Shanvood/Shutterstock
The creation of social media accounts based on fictional models raises pointed questions about race, representation and commodification.
Graffiti artist Falko Starr finishes a mural in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town.
GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP via Getty Images
It’s been in existence since the 1500s but the Kaaps language, synonymous with Cape Town, has never had a dictionary until now.
Laying claim to a dance isn’t as straightforward as doing the same for a poem.
Tara Moore via Getty Images
In choreography, the gray areas of copyright law make it difficult to determine what constitutes copyright infringement or plagiarism.
Ganesh.
Nehaniks/Shutterstock
Hindu gods are not attractive images to be worn thoughtlessly.