Whose Heritage? Whose Culture?

Abstract

The conclusion is structured around a few cultural moments that resonate with current discussions of the ritual’s modern and historical relevance, including two audiovisual depictions of the ceremony found in the feature film Jumping the Broom (2011) and the remake of the miniseries Roots (2016); alongside its appearance in discussions surrounding the Royal Wedding between Prince Harry, a British Royal, and Meghan Markle, an African American actress. I explore how “jumping the broom” was imbedded in many of the cultural, social, and political discussions that commenced prior to their union in 2018, and how the discourse revealed a continued misunderstanding about the broomstick ceremony’s transatlantic, multicultural roots. Importantly, the conclusion explores a few theoretical questions that remain imbedded within the public discourse: Who has the “right” to claim the custom when it holds such a deep history in so many cultures? Can those hold no ancestral claim to the ceremony still use it, or are they guilty of cultural appropriation? And in considering the evolving attitudes toward marriage, it asks whether the broomstick wedding, in its current state, will survive subsequent generations, or if it will drift away as it did previously.