Stop Buying What You Already Own
Your friend mentions she's finally reading the Bhagavad Gita. You ask what sparked the interest. "Oh, this professor at NYU kept referencing it in her philosophy course. Made it sound so profound."
But she's Hindu. Born in Delhi. Grew up with these stories. Yet somehow needed a white academic in Manhattan to give her permission to find her own tradition interesting.
Welcome to the most expensive subscription service you never signed up for.
First, your heritage becomes officially valuable the moment someone from the outside discovers it. Before that, it was just what your grandmother did. After discovery, it's "fascinating cultural practice."
Second, you are only supposed to access it through their recommended translation. Sure, you could read the original book your great-grandfather left for you, but wouldn't you prefer the annotated version with helpful context about what you're supposed to think?
Third, if you want to discuss it seriously, you'll need their theoretical framework. Your lived experience is anecdotal. Their academic study is the real knowledge.
The Mexican chef gets told her mole recipe is "authentic" only after it appears in a cookbook written by someone who spent a summer in Oaxaca. The Japanese artist's work becomes "significant" when it gets displayed in a Chelsea gallery, not when it moves people in Kyoto.
The Nigerian writer's stories about Lagos only count as "universal themes" after they win prizes judged by people who've never been to Lagos. Hindu yoga becomes "wellness" when promoted by a blonde influencer from Malibu, not when taught by an Indian grandmother who's practiced it for sixty years
Notice the pattern? The validation always flows in one direction.
It's a protection racket. Pay the fee - defer to our interpretation, use our language, cite our scholars - and we'll let you be proud of what you've always had. When they say the Sanskrit is too difficult, what they mean is: we prefer that you accept us as intermediaries.
Academic discovery is when your grandmother's remedies become "traditional medicine" worthy of study but the person getting the research grant isn't your grandmother. When they 'document' your culture they're not doing it for preservation. They're processing it into a form they can own.
The most profitable form of colonization is the kind that decides which books from native libraries deserve translation. Which traditions merit documentation. Which practices qualify as wisdom versus superstition.
Your cousin starts a meditation practice. Not the one your family has known for generations - but the one from an app that costs $12.99 monthly. It has the same breathing techniques, same philosophical foundation, just rebranded as "mindfulness" and stripped of cultural context.
When you mention this, she gets defensive. "But this version is more scientific. It's evidence-based." Evidence-based. As if thousands of years of practice across millions of people somehow doesn't count as evidence.
Your uncle's Ayurvedic knowledge gets dismissed as "folk medicine" until someone with a PhD publishes papers about turmeric's anti-inflammatory properties. Suddenly it's "traditional medicine worthy of Western attention."
Your mother's cooking techniques get called "ethnic food" until they appear in a James Beard winner's restaurant as "elevated regional cuisine." Same knowledge, same techniques, completely different reception.
The single most expensive permission slip you'll ever sign is the one that says someone else gets to decide what parts of your own heritage are worth celebrating.
Because you already own this stuff.
Your grandmother's stories don't need a university press. Your traditional practices don't need peer review. Your heritage doesn't need outside certification to be worth preserving. This permission racket only works if you keep buying what you already own.
What to Do About It
Trust the wisdom that survived without academic endorsement. Start with the sources your great-grandparents used.
Read the texts in their original language, even if it's slow going. Ask your elderly relatives their version of the stories before someone else decides which version is "authoritative."
Document your practices yourself. Your phone video of your grandmother's cooking techniques is more valuable than any cookbook that "adapts" her recipes for Western palates.
Stop waiting for external validation to value what's already yours. The person who spent a summer abroad doesn't understand your tradition better than you do, no matter how many degrees they have.
The moment you stop seeking permission, you stop needing it.
