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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 06:02 PM Nov 2015

Yoga class cancelled at University of Ottawa over 'cultural issues'

Source: CBC

A yoga instructor who says her free class at the University of Ottawa was cancelled because of concerns over cultural appropriation believes the student union's issues are misplaced.

Jen Scharf said she's been teaching a free yoga class for the university's Centre for Students with Disabilities, which is run by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, for the last seven years.

<snip>

"I guess it was this cultural appropriation issue because yoga originally comes from India," she said on Sunday. "I told them, 'Why don't we just change the name of the course?' It's simple enough, just call it mindful stretching.… We're not going through the finer points of scripture. We're talking about basic physical awareness and how to stretch so that you feel good.

"That went back and forth… The higher-ups at the student federation got involved, finally we got an email routed through the student federation basically saying they couldn't get a French name and nobody wants to do it, so we're going to cancel it for now."

<snip>

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/university-ottawa-yoga-cultural-sensitivity-1.3330441

24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Yoga class cancelled at University of Ottawa over 'cultural issues' (Original Post) bananas Nov 2015 OP
Wow! Just wow. No more words. yeoman6987 Nov 2015 #1
I have a few dlwickham Nov 2015 #3
lol. So true. yeoman6987 Nov 2015 #4
Zumba. n/t jtuck004 Nov 2015 #2
In a telephone interview with The Washington Post... bananas Nov 2015 #5
Someone's always offended by something. bigwillq Nov 2015 #6
According to a CBC article about this, no one was even offended by it. No complaints PersonNumber503602 Nov 2015 #8
They are as backward there as they are in the States. Good grief. Judi Lynn Nov 2015 #7
These culture war types are paranoia on display. forest444 Nov 2015 #11
it's not about christians, it's about Cultural Appropriation mwrguy Nov 2015 #12
fundies and SJWs--unite! MisterP Nov 2015 #13
The foolishness of this is especially apparent FarrenH Nov 2015 #9
They have a Facebook post about this... PersonNumber503602 Nov 2015 #10
Meanwhile, the CBC tracked down some local Hindus, who were not offended. Matariki Nov 2015 #14
sad but this is what happens when you take Christianity out of our public schools Dr. Strange Nov 2015 #15
The last part gave it away as a funny troll (I hope) PersonNumber503602 Nov 2015 #16
Yeah, master-level trolling. Dr. Strange Nov 2015 #19
You can only participate in an activity if your ancestors invented it XemaSab Nov 2015 #17
Do I even have ancestors? Recursion Nov 2015 #18
Yep, And As RobinA Nov 2015 #20
I'll One Up Ya! ProfessorGAC Nov 2015 #21
I'll Give Up RobinA Nov 2015 #22
Chickens are originally Asian XemaSab Nov 2015 #24
This will only help conservatives NobodyHere Nov 2015 #23

bananas

(27,509 posts)
5. In a telephone interview with The Washington Post...
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 06:20 PM
Nov 2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/23/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/

<snip>

In a telephone interview with The Washington Post, Jennifer Scharf, who taught the class for up to 60 people at the University of Ottawa, said she was unhappy about the decision, but accepted it.

“This particular class was intro to beginners’ yoga because I’m very sensitive to this issue,” she said. “I would never want anyone to think I was making some sort of spiritual claim other than the pure joy of being human that belongs to everyone free of religion.”

<snip>

“What do you think about having a class that is just stretching for mental health?” she wrote. “We don’t have to call it yoga (because that’s not really what we are doing, we are just stretching). I think that will work because it would literally change nothing about the class. … I know some people are offended but I am sure we can change it so that everyone feels included. If there is anything else I can do to help out, please let me know.”

<snip>

PersonNumber503602

(1,134 posts)
8. According to a CBC article about this, no one was even offended by it. No complaints
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 06:32 PM
Nov 2015

One of the people behind it said there were no specific complaints, but rather a discussion about the possibility it could offend. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/university-ottawa-yoga-cultural-sensitivity-1.3330441

I was hoping there was more to this, and not just idiots with power, but sadly it looks like these guys doing their part to give ammunition to "the other side"

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
7. They are as backward there as they are in the States. Good grief.
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 06:26 PM
Nov 2015

Physical yoga is so common they've been mass producing yoga exercise clothing for ages. How can they possibly believe some secretive religious cult is trying to steal the souls of Christians through exercise?

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forest444

(5,902 posts)
11. These culture war types are paranoia on display.
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 06:46 PM
Nov 2015

If anybody ever needed the yoga - not to mention a colonic - it's them.

FarrenH

(768 posts)
9. The foolishness of this is especially apparent
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 06:39 PM
Nov 2015

Last edited Mon Nov 23, 2015, 07:23 PM - Edit history (5)

when you realize that modern yoga evolved on the world stage in the modern era. Despite the claims of some practitioners, it is not a 5,000-year-old practice. It has some roots in antiquity, in multiple different regional practices and ideas. Yoga is a modern synthesis. A majority of the poses were developed in the last 150 years and many of them were developed in places like the USA.

Personally I'm hostile to claims that appropriation is a negative at all except when it meets a very narrow set of conditions. To wit, when symbols that are considered sacred in some sense are used in a way that is disrespectful to their cultural significance in the culture of origin, or when people appropriate in a way that treats the source as an exotic source of entertainment or shallow stereotype, insulting the people they borrowed from in the process.

But when cultural sharing borne of respect and admiration are met with accusations of appropriation (and that it is held to be an unqualified wrong), such accusations are frequently deployed in the same manner and for the same apparent motivation as a high school kid getting annoyed because someone they dislike adopted what they think of as their unique dress style. In-culture, this "our thing" instinct is strong. You see it in the teens who get mad in the youtube comments at all the people who "only now that its trendy" get into some obscure band that they attached some of their identity to. Hegemony or no hegemony, its a mean-spirited impulse that shouldn't be indulged.

It is born of a selfishness, negative identity politics, grudges and the desire to deny others who adopt practices and symbols out of respect and admiration any benefit, asthetic, spiritual, or physical, from them. It's essentially a segregationist and anti-egalitarian attitude born of insecurity and a desire to punish people for making you feel less special.

When the whole white women belly-dancing spat briefly consumed various internet forums in the wake of a angry article by an Arab dancer in Salon, I just thought she was a mean-spirited cow. Especially since she claimed to speak for all other Arab belly-dancers and claimed that they only taught white women because of economic hardship. While my friend's (his family came from Egypt) mom who was an actual Egyptian belly-dancer in her youth thoroughly disagreed.

That and a lot of other flare-ups have convinced me that cultural appropriation is a sorely abused concept often employed by resentful assholes. As I said above, there are a narrow set of conditions where complaints are certainly valid, but I don't think we should be indulging ideas that in very obvious ways actually divide human beings, deny our common humanity and prevent us from learning from each other and being collectively better off for it.

PersonNumber503602

(1,134 posts)
10. They have a Facebook post about this...
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 06:43 PM
Nov 2015

I suppose everyone can read it to make up their minds about what's up with this. They're saying it's because no one attended the classes, but people are saying attendance wasn't even mentioned until they got some backlash. There might be more to do this or maybe they are just covering themselves.

https://www.facebook.com/cei.csd/posts/1666976140252858

Matariki

(18,775 posts)
14. Meanwhile, the CBC tracked down some local Hindus, who were not offended.
Mon Nov 23, 2015, 08:24 PM
Nov 2015

“If you look at what the Western world has adapted it is just phenomenal,” Dilip Waghray, who’s been practicing yoga for 50 years, said at the Hindu Temple of Ottawa-Carleton. “Imagine how much good they’re doing for themselves. They’ll live a long and very happy life.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/23/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/

PersonNumber503602

(1,134 posts)
16. The last part gave it away as a funny troll (I hope)
Tue Nov 24, 2015, 01:24 AM
Nov 2015

I really really really hope at least. Although, you never know.

XemaSab

(60,212 posts)
17. You can only participate in an activity if your ancestors invented it
Tue Nov 24, 2015, 02:02 AM
Nov 2015

Only Polynesians can surf, only Japanese can learn Aikido, only Chinese can play soccer, only Native Americans can play lacrosse, only Alaska Natives can kayak, and only the British can play baseball.

If your ancestors didn't invent any sports or games, you're doomed to sit there and be a lardass.

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
18. Do I even have ancestors?
Tue Nov 24, 2015, 05:29 AM
Nov 2015

I mean, obviously I do, but I don't really know much about them, other than that some were French, some were Greek, some were Lebanese, a few were Wolof Senegalese, and most of the rest were probably English. So maybe I could sometimes drink wine and engage in philosophy (France and Greece seem to have both of those covered), eat shwarma, occasionally teach in proverbs, but mostly invade other people's houses, convert them to Christianity, and take their stuff to put in a museum.

It's particularly worrisome since my wife is Bengali, and I couldn't go listen to Tagore recitals with her, nor could I eat shad with rice and mustard with her. God knows what our kids will and won't be able to do. (This is only partly tongue in cheek; a family friend of hers was the recently-deceased dance teacher Chitresh Das, who caught flak for teaching Indian dance to white people).

Aikido is interesting, since Ueshiba Sensei invented it IIRC less than 100 years ago. Is that old enough to count as "culture"? Does it matter that Europeans were among his first students, or that it incorporated elements of some western fighting styles? Or does that make it itself suspect (for that matter I know jujitsukas who do think that)?

I never really know where to go with the appropriation questions...

RobinA

(9,878 posts)
20. Yep, And As
Tue Nov 24, 2015, 09:29 AM
Nov 2015

a person of German descent, I'm going to be in the lookout for non-German descendants who have Christmas trees. You people without German heritage - tear down that Christmas tree. And by the way, no Silent Night singing or even listening, among many other Christmas carols. Come to think of it, you classical music lovers, it's time to purge your music collections. No appropriation!!!!

ProfessorGAC

(64,427 posts)
21. I'll One Up Ya!
Tue Nov 24, 2015, 10:04 AM
Nov 2015

You don't get any pizza! Think of the tsunami if we quit selling pizzas unless it's to an italian.

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