CAT 2022 Slot 3 — VARC Question 19
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Tamsin Blanchard, curator of Fashion Open Studio, an initiative by a campaign group showcasing the work of ethical designers says, “We're all drawn to an exquisite piece of embroidery, a colourful textile or even a style of dressing that might have originated from another heritage. [But] this magpie mentality, where all of culture and history is up for grabs as 'inspiration', has accelerated since the proliferation of social media... Where once a fashion student might research the history and traditions of a particular item of clothing with care and respect, we now have a world where images are lifted from image libraries without a care for their cultural significance. It's easier than ever to steal a motif or a craft technique and transfer it on to a piece of clothing that is either mass produced or appears on a runway without credit or compensation to their original communities."
Answer & solution
- A
Cultural collaboration is the need of the hour. Beautiful design ideas of indigenous people need to be showcased and shared worldwide.
Taking fashion ideas from any cultural group without their consent is a form of appropriation without giving due credit, compensation, and respect.
- C
Media has encouraged mass production; images are copied effortlessly without care or concern for the interests of ethnic communities.
- D
Copying an embroidery design or pattern of textile from native communities who own
them is tantamount to stealing and they need to be compensated.
Easy
Summary question. Blanchard's point: lifting motifs, crafts and designs from another culture's heritage — accelerated by social media — and using them without credit, compensation or respect to the source communities is cultural appropriation / theft. The essence is the act of taking without consent and without giving due credit.
Frames it positively as "cultural collaboration... showcased and shared worldwide." This is the opposite of the passage's critical tone. Wrong.
"Taking fashion ideas from any cultural group without their consent is a form of appropriation without giving due credit, compensation, and respect." Captures the act, the lack of consent, and all three missing dues (credit, compensation, respect). Most complete.
Focuses on "media... mass production... images copied." A supporting detail (the cause), not the core idea of appropriation without credit/respect.
Close, but narrows it to "embroidery design or pattern of textile" and to "stealing... compensated." Drops credit and respect and the broader scope. Narrower than B.
Option B — it names the practice (appropriation), the missing consent, and all of credit, compensation and respect.