We, as newbies in “privilege”, have to understand that “privilege” and “handicap/disadvantage” are not the same. I am NOT minimizing the hard work of people with difficulty. However, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t privileged. Also, privilege isn’t simple math. It doesn’t offset “have” and “don’t have”. Therefore, even in extremely difficult conditions, one can be privileged simultaneously – and depending on the topic, acknowledgement becomes important.
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“Privilege” now may be about the color of skin for some. I can only talk about Sashiko – and therefore, Privilege here is merely about the “start-line” (which hugely is impacted by color, anyway, but a bit off the topic). We, with people with privilege, tend to define other’s values, often without any harmful intention. I used to say, “Sashiko is stitching for poor Japanese in poverty”. I stop saying that. It was a big mistake in translation. It has to be “Sashiko is stitching in harsh conditions with limited resources”. It can be disrespectful to define that they were “poor” based on our privileged values.
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Now, many “privileged” people are romanticizing Sashiko. I am happy that Sashiko is popular. However, when they deny learning, Sashiko may become something different – filtered, repainted, appropriated, all messages here in this account. All I am doing here is to share stories that non-Japanese can reach to. We need to stop defining others with ignoring their stories. Due to privilege, we end up suppressing them even if we are nice. I am NOT negative or angry. I am just sharing. If you think it is negative, it is because of your filter.
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*In Japanese, there are many ways to describe “poor”. Some words actually means good souls (Difference in 貧しい&清貧&貧困）. Therefore, I think it is a mistake in translation. I still describe Sashiko as “stitching in poverty” in Japanese, but not in English anymore. I do not define Japanese who stitch as “Poor people”.
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もーーー。ほんとにごめんなさい。必ず配信します。
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2021-07-09 10:54:03
Thank you so much for these words!… I look at traditional sashiko with reverence, the trendyness of sashiko does not really move me a lot even if some works are beautiful… the fashion of cutting pieces of favric to create something with stiches its about that, fashion, sometimes appropiation, it’s about things that are totally different… but of course everyone has the right to do what ever they like to do when expressing themselves…. myself I will continue reading your posts to learn… thank you! (Excuse me but my English is also poor to be more clear I hope you get the idea anyway!) 😍
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“Stitching in harsh conditions with limited resources“.
This resonates with me, and has opened a chink of understanding, I hope. I will think on this as I stitch. 🙏
There is a phrase used in English “make do and mend”. Use what you have and mend things, this applied for many generations to the poorer sections of society who could not just buy what they needed. As a child I was taught by my family not to be wasteful, to learn how to make and mend. Sashiko reminds me of this philosophy.
Yea !👏🔥
privilege is really hard for people to spot when the evidence of privilege is when something *doesn’t* happen to people. i love reading your posts because i grew up in this country being bullied for my ethnicity only to have japanese culture become, essentially, a brand in the US by the time i reached adolescence. and because so much of american life is defined by what we consume, there are people who feel entitled to culture as a product as long as they have the means to purchase goods or classes. there is no room for consent or exchange there. this is certainly privilege, at least to me.
admitting our privileges can be threatening to our self-concept as a good person, but choosing not to engage with privilege is certainly evidence that we are not as good as we want to be.