News
Canadian University Bans Yoga Classes
A free yoga class has been cancelled at a university in Canada because of fears of offending Indians. But tis time the desire to be politically correct may have gone too far.
Yoga teacher Jennifer Scharf was shocked to be told her weekly class, which has run since 2008, had raised unacceptable 'cultural issues' for Ottawa University's Student Federation, which pays for the session.
A student official explained in an email that yoga had "been under a lot of controversy" because it originated in a country that has "experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy".
The official added: "We need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practising yoga."
In other words, because the discipline originated in India, a country that had been subjected to British "colonial oppression", it shouldn't necessarily be practised by people of other races and nationalities, who could be accused of trivialising Indian culture.
It is all part of a growing war on so-called "cultural appropriation", when westerners adopt features of less-dominant cultures.
Yoga teacher Jennifer Scharf was shocked to be told her weekly class, which has run since 2008, had raised unacceptable 'cultural issues' for Ottawa University's Student Federation, which pays for the session.
A student official explained in an email that yoga had "been under a lot of controversy" because it originated in a country that has "experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy".
The official added: "We need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practising yoga."
In other words, because the discipline originated in India, a country that had been subjected to British "colonial oppression", it shouldn't necessarily be practised by people of other races and nationalities, who could be accused of trivialising Indian culture.
It is all part of a growing war on so-called "cultural appropriation", when westerners adopt features of less-dominant cultures.