Clare College’s May Ball committee has resolved that it will maintain its ‘Orient Express’ theme, after Trinity Hall announced last night that it has switched the theme for its June Event to ‘Metropolis’, dropping the previous title of ‘Toyko to Kyoto’.

In an email to ticket holders, Trinity Hall’s committee said they are “pleased to announce a change of theme from 'Tokyo to Kyoto' to 'Metropolis'. It adds that “In making this change the Committee are mindful that the June Event should not be divisive and we hope that this change will enable all students to enjoy the event”.

The new event description invites guests to “Step into a city where the lights shine bright and the future is now”.

Trinity Hall’s decision has come after sustained pressure from groups who claimed that the 'Tokyo to Kyoto' theme was an example of cultural appropriation, a debate that was picked up in the national media. Sources from within the BME community told Varsity that there has been an ongoing dialogue between Trinity Hall’s committee and members of the Japanese Society leading up to this decision. In a post on FLY Girls of Cambridge, author Hanna Stephens said that Japanese culture was being exploited.

“In the case of this June Event,” said Stephens, “Japanese culture is being used to serve the purpose of a ‘theme’, rather than being celebrated in its own right and initiated by Japanese people, highlighted in the fact that no member of the Trinity Hall Committee is Japanese. But even if they were to invite Japanese people onto the committee the fact remains that this is an event that happens every year as part of Cambridge tradition and needs a theme to make it exciting. This is what makes it appropriative, and by equating Japanese culture with a theme it commodifies it, and treats my identity as a prop and costume.”

“Attraction to Japanese culture purely because it is “exotic” and “cool” without critical engagement with the history and feelings of Japanese people themselves is orientalist,” she said.

In its email, the June event committee stated they “would like to take this opportunity to thank the Japanese individuals who have been involved in the organisation of the event and we apologise for any inconvenience this change has brought”.

Following the decision at Trinity Hall, Clare’s May Ball committee has said that it will not being changing its theme.

In a statement to Varsity, Clare May Ball PR Officer, Posey Mehta, said: “Like many other members of both the main committee and the design sub-committee, I myself am an ethnic minority. The broader, societal issue of cultural appropriation is, thus, one in which I am personally invested”.

She emphasised that the committee are not insensitive, saying “Both our main committee and our design sub-committee are ethnically diverse; and the members of the design committee working on culturally sensitive aspects of the ball are ethnically representative.”

“Since the Ball's conception,” she said, “we have made every decision regarding the Ball's theme with a proactive stance against cultural appropriation; a great deal of thought and effort has gone into ensuring that the Ball avoids anything approaching cultural commodification. We aim, through our May Ball, to celebrate - not denigrate - the cultural richness of the amazing cities that are the stops of The Orient Express; we are using the title 'Orient Express' solely as a reference to the famed train and as a way of representing the theme of travel, and in no way intend for our Ball to focus on 'the Orient' as a cultural concept”.

Mehta added that she was personally comfortable with Clare May Ball committee’s decision, saying “As a politically active ethnic minority, I could not, in conscience, remain a member of the Clare May Ball committee if I did not I wholeheartedly believe that the ball will be sensitive and respectful to all the cultures to which it pays homage.

“The May Ball Committee are, as a united body, fully committed to providing guests with a tasteful, culturally considerate experience."