The Appropriation And Consumption Of Indian Yoga In American Society :The Cultural Influence Between Countries And Its Limitation

From the end of the 19 th century,Indian yoga was introduced into the Western world.In the1960 s,Indian yoga came into vogue widely in the United States and nowadays,it has become part of the daily activities of many Americans.According to the vital statistics,there are more than 36 million American practicing yoga currently.This thesis takes the prevalence of Indian yoga in the United States the case to explore the effectiveness and limitation of cultural influence between countries by using the theory of cultural appropriation.This thesis argues that the spreading of yoga in the United States is the process in which Indian yoga is misappropriated and consumed by American society.The fact that Indian yoga becomes fashionable in the United States proves that India yoga has a certain degree cultural influence on American society,but this influence has its limits.Commercial organizations and social movements in the United States often indiscriminately and subjectively use the fragmented elements of Indian yoga in the social,cultural and political scenes which are very different with the original yoga’s cultural background.So the Indian yoga is exploited,changed and reinterpreted for a variety of realistic demands in American society.In the culture structure of the United States,Indian yoga remains a marginal culture and an exotic culture which is appropriated,consumed and used to seek novelty by American society,and it can’t change the mainstream cultural connotation and cultural power structure in the United States.Actually,the Indian yoga’s spreading in American society and its status of being appropriated is a good case to examine the efficiency of culture export and the cultural influence between countries.At present,cultural export and cultural influence to the outside world are among the hot words list of China’s foreign policies.There are indeed cultural influences between countries,but we must realize that it’s very difficult and needs many strict conditions for a country to build a profound cultural influence on another country so that it can affect the relations between the two countries.The prevalence of an exotic culture does not necessarily change the mainstream cultural connotation and the cultural power pattern of the recipient country,and help the source country of this exotic culture to enhance its influence on the political-economical relations between it and the cultural recipient country.