ASA 141 - Week 2
4/9/19
Nation and Dress
My initial reaction to the idea of tourists and other people wearing another culture's traditional clothing was that only people within the culture should be allowed to wear their traditional clothing. I felt that way because traditional clothing is more than just beautiful pieces of clothing, but there is strong historical significance and sentimental value weaved into the fabrics. Since the history of cultural clothing has only been relevant and lived through by the respective cultures, I am convinced that people outside of the culture would not experience wearing those clothes in the same way as those that belong to the culture. It sorta reminds me of an example I heard before about suburban white kids who listen to gangsta rap. While those suburban white kids can indulge on gangsta rap and mimic mannerisms and the appearance of gangsta rappers, they cannot truly understand the life experiences of being a gangsta rapper because growing up in the ghetto and growing up in the suburbs are two completely different concepts.
Upon reading Michael Hurt's "Clothing, social empathy and the power of stepping into someone else's shoes" article, I came to have a better understanding that while tourists and outsiders are not able to truly understand the long history behind a culture's traditional clothing, they are still able to appreciate that culture and spread their clothing's aesthetic across a wider context. Hurt explains that "it possible to use fashion as a communicative medium through which to actively promote higher degrees of social empathy and understanding across borders," in which it can be applied to how tourists in Korea wear hanboks to connect to Korean culture.
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