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@Mrmhead

Like any common consultant knows, the correct answer is always It Depends.

If the appropriation is for exploitation – just for money, fame, etc – then, Yes it is wrong.

If it’s simply for interest or admiration, “Imitation is the best compliment” … or something like that.

Something in between?  It depends.

I have a summer outfit in wax, tailored and sewn by an African seamstress, living in France. It is very inspired by African designs and it is very cool to wear when a heat weave hit Europe. Is it cultural appropriation? I don’t give a damn, she is happy of her work, i am happy to wear it and that’s what matters. both profit of the exchange.

Incidentally, i love pizzas, couscous, rice, sauerkraut, and many dishes from around the world, and i like to share a good bottle of French wine with friends from Africa.

Now, except when some one is abusing it for profit, not merely using it for profit, cultural appropriation is just a melting of cultures and ideas.

And so called woke people have no idea about what they are talking about.

Yoga as practiced in West has only a very distant relationship with original yoga. It has been created  by Indian yogis specifically for western people, as a form of physical exercise.

Disabled people in Ottawa university have been deprived of a very useful yoga class, under the cover of a critic of cultural appropriation.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/university-ottawa-yoga-cultural-sensitivity-1.3330441

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga#Modern_revival

In fact, the world is open, and every one borrows to other cultures and some use what they borrow to create greatness.

Have not the greatest African or black american writers used the tools conceived by European writers, poets or philosophers or other scientists, to fight oppression ?