Thanks for the incredible support and thoroughness on the topic @anomadsoul. I had no idea you were this deep into the subject and I'm proud to have found a thought-companion on this. I'm probably just as concerned as you on this subject and am troubled by the black/white attitude taken towards 'perceived racism' which in the end becomes one of the most judgmental practices existing today.

A lot of what you're framing could easily be elaborated into posts themselves. The topic of actual 'misrepresentation' fascinates me and I saw plenty of what you're describing when I spent some months in South America. Those ponchos tho... The plain and simple of it all is that culture is messy. There's a constant circulation of interpretations, misrepresentations, caricatures, and many other forms of 'appropriation'. The hope is that from all this messiness, some stunningly unique moments of global culture shake out for us.

I'll be sure to continue the rants. There's plenty to air out!