From discussing the topic “culture appropriation”, I started to reflect on the question “who owns culture”. The reason why people found culture appropriation offensive is because that they feel like foreigners have “stolen” their culture, but do they actually own the culture themselves? Culture and traditions where build by countless people and generations, no one can be called the “owner” of a specific culture because the formation of culture cannot be done by one person. Therefore, in this case, no one owns culture, culture is a shared possession between people within a community or region.

However, we also shared the responsibility to protect and advocate our culture. In other words, citizens in a city or country should have a deep understanding of their own culture, and when culture appropriation occurs, everyone should stand up and protect their culture if their culture has been misinterpreted or defamed. Due to the fact that local citizens are more familiar with the culture, and they probably have been educated with their cultural values, they have more right on representing their culture than any other people. If people are fulfilling their obligations of being a owner, then they could also “own” their culture in a way.