About

In this course, we’ll be covering what cultural appropriation is and its impacts. This course will invite us to dive deeper and interrogate how systems of oppression like, capitalism, colonialism and imperialism are connected to cultural appropriation. 

This course is not meant to be a quick checklist for what is and isn’t cultural appropriation nor is it a guidebook on what’s right and wrong. While we’ll share some definitions and discuss different ways to address cultural appropriation, we’ll be encouraging you to challenge and go beyond clear-cut, ‘simple’ answers. The reality is, there aren’t ‘easy’ or ‘quick’ solutions. We want learners to think about the broader power dynamics and systems of oppression that play into a broader culture of appropriation and exploitation that enables cultural appropriation. Our goal is for learners to enhance their critical thinking skills in a way that’s grounded in anti-racism. 

We hope that the critical thinking skills you build here can be applied to other aspects of your life, whether it be professional, personal, or both.

Length: 8-10 hours. Available on-demand with no expiry.

Core themes

  • Intersectionality and the complexity of power dynamics

  • Understanding tokenism

  • Disrupting white normativity and white supremacy culture characteristics

  • How culture is viewed as extractable through capitalism and imperialism

  • Building an accountability culture rooted in care, not punishment

  • Meaningful cultural exchange

Learning outcomes

  • Deepen your understanding of what culture is and its significance and recognize the different types of cultural appropriation.

  • Understand accountability and cultural safety.

  • Develop a personal set of values that support your critical thinking skills and anti-oppressive lens.

Course curriculum

    1. Welcome to the Course

    2. Course Overview

    3. Content Warnings

    4. Meet Your Instructors

    5. Pre-Readings

    1. Intentions

    2. Culture Activity #1

    3. Koshiki's Drawing

    4. Amrita's Drawing

    5. Reflection

    6. Self-Reflection on Culture

    7. Definitions

      FREE PREVIEW

    8. Culture Activity #2

    9. What's power got to do with it?

      FREE PREVIEW

    10. Locating yourself

    11. Check-in

    1. Intentions

    2. What is Cultural Appropriation?

    3. Navigating Cultural Appropriation

    4. A Note on Black Hair

    5. Cultural Appropriation Quiz

    6. Check-in

    1. Intentions

    2. How power impacts the way we navigate culture

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. Tokenism

    4. Cultural Appropriation & Capitalism

    5. TikTok

    6. Fashion

    7. Check-in

    1. Intentions

    2. White normativity - White Culture as the Baseline

    3. Links between white supremacy and cultural appropriation

    4. Check-in

    1. Intentions

    2. Reframing accountability

    3. Identifying the types of responses

    4. Different aspects of accountability

    5. What are you carrying forward?

    6. Check-in

    7. Sources and further reading

About this course

  • $299.00
  • 56 lessons
  • 0.5 hours of video content

Meet the creators

Equity and Inclusion Strategist Miley Leong

Miley Leong 梁伟祺 is committed to working towards collective liberation through values embodiment and relationship building. She believes in meeting people where they’re at while holding a sharp analysis on systems and the ways we interact with power. Miley is a Hakka Chinese immigrant-settler from Malaysia living on unceded, stolen Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh homelands. She is a facilitator and community builder, with experience in designing and facilitating liberatory engagement processes.

Equity and Inclusion Strategist Adri Laurent

Adriana is originally from Honduras, and is a Black, mixed race, queer migrant who is passionate about the intersections of climate change, race, gender and imperialism and has been working on these issues for eight years at an institutional and grassroots level. She lives on the unceded territories of Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations as a settler. Adriana was a co-founder and staff at the Climate Hub at UBC, a consultant for the City of Vancouver, has organized international mutual aid projects and worked as a Digital Campaigner at Leadnow. In 2021, she was named one of the 30 under 30 sustainability leaders by Corporate Knights.

Workshop Facilitator Alisha Lettman

Alisha Lettman is a Sindhi-Jamaican educator, artist and plant steward. Her work seeks to dismantle systems of oppression on an embodied level, while stewarding and making space for new systems of liberation and transformation. She has been working to advance belonging and traditional knowledge within the Black community through culturally relevant outdoor youth education, food justice and ethnobotany. Alisha completed her Bachelor's in Leadership & Social Change from UBC, and currently lives on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories.

Content warning

Before you complete this course, it’s recommended that you’ve engaged with Bakau’s Fundamentals of Anti-Oppression and/or Fundamentals of Anti-Racism.

This course covers various topics that may be sensitive or triggering for some folks, such as: Case studies that include examples and descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and cultural appropriation, mentions of KKK, Blackface, and transatlantic slave trade and anti-Black racism, examples of colourism

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