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The law and ethics of ‘cultural appropriation’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2019

Mathias Siems Open the ORCID record for Mathias Siems [Opens in a new window]
Mathias Siems*
Affiliation:
Professor of Private Law and Market Regulation, European University Institute, Italy; Professor of Commercial Law, Durham University, UK (on leave)
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mathias.siems@eui.eu
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Abstract

Cultural appropriation is often defined as the ‘taking of intellectual property, cultural expressions or artefacts, history, and ways of knowledge’. Despite this apparent link to intellectual property, legal issues are only rarely mentioned in the current debate. Thus, to start with, this paper aims to fill this gap in identifying the possible bases in existing laws that may, at least in principle, justify claims of unlawful behaviour. As far as ethical considerations are concerned, the paper then notes a deep divide between those who fully endorse the notion of cultural appropriation and those who are resolutely opposed to it. This paper aims to give fair consideration to both sides of the argument, suggesting three categories of potentially unethical conduct. On this basis, the paper finally revisits possible legal responses from a normative perspective.

Keywords

law and cultureethicsintellectual propertytort lawfreedom of speechidentity politics
Type
Article
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 408 - 423
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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