A designer adds a striking pattern to a poster, a costume to a music video, a symbol to a logo — usually meaning it as a tribute. To the community it came from, the same choice can read as theft, mockery or the misuse of something that was never meant to be decoration. Media travels far beyond the culture of the person who made it, so a professional has to ask a question that a hobbyist can skip: what does this element mean to the people it belongs to, and do I have any right to use it?
Appropriation and appreciation
AAppropriation
- Takes an element out of its context, often as decoration or costume
- No permission, credit or understanding of its meaning
- The borrower gains — attention, sales, style — while the source community gains nothing
- Often uses items that are sacred, earned or restricted
- Can reinforce a stereotype of the whole group
BAppreciation
- Learns what the element means and where it comes from
- Seeks permission and involves people from the culture
- Credits the source and shares the benefit, for example by hiring or paying artists
- Respects limits on what may be shared at all
- Presents the culture as its own people would recognize it
Power and history are why the line matters. When a dominant group borrows from a culture it once suppressed, the harm is compounded. In Canada, the Indian Act banned the potlatch and other ceremonies of First Nations on the West Coast from 1884 until 1951, and residential schools punished children for speaking their languages. Turning the regalia, songs or designs of those same cultures into a fashion look or a team mascot treats as costume what people were once punished for practising. A headdress, for example, is in many Plains nations an honour that is earned, not an accessory — which is why wearing one as a costume causes real offence.
Working with Indigenous and cultural communities
- Be specific. First Nations, Métis and Inuit are distinct peoples, and there are more than 600 First Nations in Canada, each with its own language, protocols and visual traditions. Generic 'Indigenous-style' imagery erases that difference.
- Cultural knowledge can be collectively owned. Some stories, songs, designs and ceremonies belong to a family, clan or nation, may only be shared by certain people or at certain times, and may not be recorded at all. Ask; do not assume something is available because it is online.
- Use the published guidance. imagineNATIVE's On-Screen Protocols and Pathways guide sets out practices for productions working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, and the OCAP principles (ownership, control, access and possession) describe how First Nations expect information about them to be governed.
- The same respect applies to every culture you depict — a community's festival, clothing, music or language deserves the same questions about meaning, permission and credit.
- Approach early, before the script or design is locked, so the community can shape the work and not just approve it.
- Find the right people: a cultural centre, the nation's or organization's office, or Elders and Knowledge Keepers recognized by the community — not simply the first person who answers.
- Explain the project honestly: what it is, where it will appear, who will profit and for how long.
- Follow local protocol and compensate people for their knowledge and time, as you would any expert consultant.
- Agree on review, credit and limits in advance, including anything that must not be filmed.
- Return the finished work to the community and keep the relationship going after the project ends.
Nothing about us without us
The principle is used by many communities: work that represents a group should involve people from that group in making it. Consultation at the end, when everything is already shot, is approval-seeking rather than consultation. Involvement from the start almost always produces more accurate and more interesting work.
Colours, symbols and gestures across cultures
| Element | Common meaning in Canada | Meaning elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| White | Weddings, purity, cleanliness | Mourning and funerals in parts of East Asia |
| Red | Danger, stop, sale, passion | Luck, prosperity and celebration in Chinese cultures |
| The number 4 | Neutral | Avoided in China, Japan and Korea because it sounds like the word for death |
| The number 8 | Neutral | Lucky in Chinese cultures, because it sounds like prosperity |
| Thumbs-up | Approval | An offensive gesture in parts of West Africa and the Middle East |
| Owl | Wisdom | An omen of death or bad news in some cultures, including some First Nations |
Inclusive casting, language and localization
- Cast authentically when a character's identity is central to the role, and cast widely when it is not. A crowd scene, an expert interview or a stock photo is a chance to show the actual range of the audience.
- Use the names people use for themselves: Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Inuit (never 'Eskimo'), Métis with its accent. Capitalize Indigenous, as you would any people's name.
- Ask about identity language. Some people prefer person-first language ('a person with a disability'), others identity-first ('a Deaf person'). Follow the preference of the person you are describing, and use their pronouns.
- Avoid exoticizing words such as 'tribal', 'exotic' or 'ethnic' as style labels; they frame a culture as decoration for an outsider's gaze.
- Build access into the shoot: step-free locations, interpreters, quiet rooms and breaks make it possible to cast people who are otherwise excluded before the audition begins.
| Process | What it changes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | The words, from one language to another | An English caption rendered faithfully in French |
| Localization | Words plus everything around them: dates, currency, units, images, layout, legal text | Mirroring a layout for Arabic, which reads right to left; changing a dollar price for another market |
| Transcreation | Rewrites the message so it lands with the same effect | Replacing an English pun that cannot translate with a different joke in the new language |