Between a Method and a Hard Place: Cultural Appropriation and Body Mapping

Abstract

Although cultural appropriation is often discussed in terms of the theft of Indigenous material culture and knowledge during colonial times, these practices continue today and have been reconfigured within the global economy; i.e. racially offensive sport team names or mascots, the use of ceremonial objects in fashion shows. This includes body mapping research, wherein different tenets of the founding South African methodology have been selectively borrowed or adapted—particularly the therapeutic practices that ensure the safety of participants and others involved in this intensive work—and the cultural context from which the method emerged is rarely acknowledged. This chapter explores the ethical implications of these appropriating practices and for participants’ well-being, the integrity of the methodology and ways to resist these harmful practices. I conclude with a discussion of six key considerations for the practical application of the South African approach in body mapping research, which may be of particular use to other practitioners wishing to use the method in studies with culturally diverse, complex populations.