Week 2 - Nation and Dress - Abigail Wang

Abigail Wang

Nation and Dress

For my blog post I wanted to explore the article by Micheal Hurt on clothing and social empathy. One point of interest to me was the reasoning behind why tourists to other countries want to wear and try on the national dress of other countries. As Hurt explains it seems clear that one of the major reasons for tourists to want to try on these clothing pieces is because of the excitement they feel as 'being more embedded' in that culture, community and history and experience the 'authenticity' of that culture. I thought this was poignant and connected to our discussion in class about whether or not someone could ever truly experience the 'authentic' experience of being of that community or culture and whether than is even the tourists goal. As Hurt expresses, it could be simply to just feel some sort of connection to that culture and based on the excitement of the tourist. 

Another thought I had regarding this article was whether or not the body that wears the garment matters. For example, if a white tourist wore a hanbok verses a Vietnamese tourist would there be a different response or reaction? I think this matters because I believe a white tourist wearing the national dress is more problematic due to the context of colonialism, Orientalism, and power dynamics. I think this might look different if it were a Vietnamese tourist because of the connection that Vietnam has to Korea and the cross-cultural connections and influence of their dress. The fashioned gaze that a Vietnamese tourist may have versus a white tourist would be different. I still believe overall it is still important for the tourist to understand their positionality and understand that for them putting on the national dress of another country is more temporary and is more of a costume for the tourist. I read a poem by Nayyirah Waheed that I feel very much applies to this article or tourism in general that asks "would you still travel to the country if you could not bring your camera?" 

Photo of Asian tourists wearing the hanbok in Korea. I chose this photo to show the fashioned gaze of the tourist, as the hanbok serves as the subject of the photo suggesting the tourists excitement.