Week 5: Political Representations and Struggles

Week 5: Political Representations and Struggles
ASA 141
Franchesca Flores

Photo from "Vietnamese Dress," by Tuesday Stitches

The article, “National Colors,” by Hjorleifur R. Jonsson, can speak to many cultures and identities as colonization and modernism started to evolve the world and society. Jones mentions that Western culture tends to believe that the clothes that we wear are predominantly meant for expressing one’s individuality. Where people can be seen trying to make statements through their clothing about how they feel, who they want to be, and what they’re trying to say. While on the other hand, in different countries, clothing symbolizes a group of people and where they stand within that group, or a political statement. “It follows that the meanings of dress are intimately linked to a specific and changeable framework for socially recognized categories or groups.” For example, Jonsson states that highland ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia dress to categorize men from women and children from adults, in addition to differentiating themselves as one ethnic group from another. 

Furthermore, Jonsson mentions their trip visiting the ethnic-minority areas in north and south of Vietnam, and found that the ethnic dress is not commonly worn. The reason being is that the people want to avoid conversations of prejudices that were seen in propaganda against the United States and Vietnam, where the people in the posters are portrayed wearing traditional clothing. The oxymoron to this is that the poster depicts traditional clothing to represent the “other” or the “opponent,” and when the “others” want to represent their culture, they are concerned with past controversies with other countries, that they don’t want their people to feel that they are disrespecting or mocking the country because of previous international conflicts. With this the question I want to pose is, in America although we want to individualize ourselves through our clothing, do you agree that regardless, we categorize ourselves through subcultures such as; hipster, punk, sporty, girly, etc.?

P.S. Here is the link to the website of the photo, it's pretty interesting and breaks down the different traditional dresses of the different ethnic groups in Vietnam! 
https://tuesdaystitches.com/vietnamese-dress/