This is a step by step guide to understanding cultural appropriation
Step one: identify the cultures involved.
If one culture is dominant, then the issue pertains to cultural appropriation (example: the use of Native American culture by white Americans). If both cultures are dominant (example: white American culture and white European culture), then the topic shifts to one of cultural exchange.
Step two: understand the harmful effects of cultural appropriation.
Taking the work (artwork, beliefs, ideas, objects, subjects) of a culture that is marginalized can lead to one or more harmful effects on/for/to that culture. The first is “testimonial injustice” (Fricker), which is a credibility deficit due to the prejudices that people have towards the person/community to which the marginalized culture belong. This not only hinders the personal expression of the marginalized speaker, but it also hinders their economic, social and political interests.
The effects of such harm manifest in so many ways. A contemporary American example is that of appropriating Black American culture in mainstream (white) media, which Black Americans suffer from income inequality, police brutality, unemployment, lack of political representation, education disparity, among other conditions that are strongly tied to Blackness, and often caused or continued by systems of white power.
Step three: avoid and remediate the harms of cultural appropriation.
By understanding how cultural appropriation functions in society, we can avoid it from continuing on a personal capacity (i.e. not dressing up for Cinco de Mayo, not wearing a headdress at Coachella). Other ways of remediating its harms include creating space for marginalized cultures, allowing people of that culture to use it as a mode of expression (as opposed to expecting conformity to the dominant culture), and acknowledging and accrediting aspects of that culture to that culture, that appear in mainstream media.
Source
Fricker, Miranda. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
Language Appropriation 