In our textbook we have several challenges in each chapter in regards with the information. One of them in chapter four is to wear something not considered appropriate in one place, that is appropriate elsewhere, and act like it is perfectly appropriate.
So I work at a historic site and have to wear period correct clothing. So if I have to run errands after work, I just go in kit(costume). I realised when I was typing this up that I have no pictures of my in costume, so for now, here are some pictures that are similar, but more fancy than what I wear.
pictures from wiki-commons
In the 1880's those dresses would have been perfectly normal to wear. Now people will give you all sorts of odd looks.
I have done this in both the suburbs and the Twin Cities. In the Twin Cities most people will just glance me twice, and then ignore me. In the suburbs they seem to think that I am either Mennonite, or Amish. There were a few people in the suburbs who asked if I was Amish. I told them that it was my work clothes, and that I was a historical interpreter. Filling up a car with gas was interesting. In other words people seemed to be wondering why I was dressed like I was, but they were to polite, or not nosy enough to ask.
It was not that worrying to go out dressed like that. It was actually rather entertaining, watching people try to figure out what I was doing. We have talked about this at work, and come to the conclusion that it is convenient, and most often entertaining, if you pay attention to other people's reactions.
These sorts of experiments seem like they could cause some problems, due to being fairly random, and the setting in which you go to. Some places would have a much different reaction than others. And you would have to do quite a few to get a good base to make conclusions from.
Culture seems like it changes frequently, but people do not notice the changes, except when they are looking back at them. Culture also seems to be one the driving forces behind people's actions, such as how they want to shape the country, and how they want the country to move forward. Along with their interpretation of what is happening at the moment in the world.
Norms seem to be what people would consider to be average, and what is to be attained in order to be considered normal by the rest of the community.
I can't help but be curious where you work where you have to wear costumes like that!
ReplyDeleteI'm amused that you found peoples' attempts at figuring out why you were dressed that way entertaining...I think I would have found the same thing! But imagine if you actually wore those clothes all the time because of some cultural tradition that very few people knew about, and you got looks like that all the time. Would you find it entertaining then? I think it would be stressful to constantly deal with those awkward looks, explaining to curious people why you were dressed in a way that was breaking cultural norms. This is just one way that people in minority groups suffer.