The Clothes Of Another Culture

Your Halloween Costumes; Study On Spanking; Photos From Lynsey Addario [NPR] editor's note Earlier this summer, my husband and I attended my grandpa’s 90th birthday party, where the guests were encouraged to wear traditional Filipino dress. My husband, who is white, turned to me in his barong — a Filipino embroidered shirt made out of pineapple fibers — and said he felt “uncomfortable.” It bummed me out because my family and I were so proud to see him in our clothing. But still, I wondered: Was it cultural appreciation? Or appropriation? I turned to the experts for advice. Read the story: [When Is It OK To Wear The Clothing Of Another Culture?]( In the days that followed, a number of Goats and Soda readers reached out on social media and told me they had — at some time or another — been in this same dilemma. One person told me that after teaching a group of Nigerian-American students for 10 years, they gifted him with a traditional shirt from their country. “I was totally honored by the gift, but definitely don’t feel comfortable wearing it in public,” he wrote on Twitter. A former Peace Corps volunteer from Guatemala said that he wore Maya clothing called traje during his time in the country. “My neighbors were proud” to see me in it, he wrote on Twitter. Perhaps my favorite comment came from a young Bangladeshi woman named Samira who thanked me for the article. She said it finally gave her the courage to post a photo of herself at her friend's wedding in Ethiopia on her Instagram profile. She wore a traditional Ethiopian-style dress made of gauzy white cloth with an embroidered orange trim and had her hair curled in a style favored by women in Addis Ababa. “Sharing these photos gives me the confidence to share my travel and cultural experiences without fearing judgment from others,” she told me. [Read the story here]( Malaka Gharib Deputy editor, Goats and Soda behind the headlines [Why Are People So Angry At Ebola Responders In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo]( Last month, a Red Cross official traveling with a burial team found himself surrounded by a crowd. Some of them had rocks and bottles. This kind of potential for violence has beleaguered efforts to control the outbreak in the Congo. What's behind the crowd mentality? powerful photos [Will This Picture Compel People To Look?]( That's the question that award-winning photographer Lynsey Addario asks herself for every story she does. She talked with NPR about the images in her new book, Of Love & War -- scenes of wars and humanitarian crises but also moments of sheer joy. great idea [Patients In Wheelbarrows Inspired Him To Start A Free Ambulance Service]( When Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan came back to his native Somalia, he saw people being injured by fighting and taken to a hospital in wheelbarrows. He recalls: "I asked myself, 'What can I do?'" And so a free ambulance service was born. Now he worries that he might have to cut back. readers are talking about... [What Happens When A Country Bans Spanking?]( Our story about global attitudes toward corporal punishment for kids -- and a correlation with rates of violent behavior among teens -- generated a lot of responses from our audience. "We lived in Ukraine until I was 8," wrote one respondent. "While it is true that teachers did not physically discipline me in my school, it was not unheard of for an adult to pull a child's ear as a physical discipline for ... really overstepping bounds." She was surprised to see that Ukraine was on the list of countries that have banned corporal punishment for kids. Another reader wrote: "I was raised in a family in which spanking was common .... Spanking, not beating. We are a close knit, loving family." Reading the article, he says, "with its referenced studies [about the negative impact of corporal punishment] gave me pause and caused me to consider the possibility that I may either be wrong or that my experiences don't parallel those you mention. I can't say that I'm converted, but you have caused me to consider." [Read the story here]( your halloween costumes Last week, we asked our Twitter audience to share their best global health and development-themed costumes. Here's a roundup of some of our favorite posts. -- Malaka Gharib A [group of development coworkers]( dressed up as the satirical game [Jaded Aid](. This one's really wonky: A student from the International Educational Development Program at the University of Pennsylvania dressed up as a [logic model](. Which one of the [U.N. Sustainable Development Goals]( do these women represent? These people dressed up as the "[white savior complex]( Here's [a global health one]( -- it's pretty terrifying! You received this message because you're subscribed to our Goats and Soda emails. | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002 [NPR]