Why Dr. Cowlishaw Wears a Sari

Now, I am well aware that walking around Tahlequah, Oklahoma in a sari makes me look like I might be insane. I won't argue my sanity. Instead, I would like to sing the praises of this amazing garment and offer the Gandhian reason I wear it. So, here's the weird image:

Now go take a look at the label inside any item of clothing you own. Seriously, go look. Swivel around what you have on right now and look at the label. Come on, do it--this will all make better sense if you look at your own clothes first because, if you don't, you can assume I'm a crack-pot crank. And, again, I won't argue my sanity but I want you to understand that what I'm telling you is the truth. Almost no clothing is made in the USA anymore. There's an obvious reason to dislike that: no jobs for US workers. And the US garment industry used to employ a lot of people. I grew up with these ads on the TV:



Yep, "Our wage is going to feed the kids and run the house...." But not anymore. Now the people who make the clothes for sale in American stores are third-world people who are poor. But, you may be thinking, these poor people now have jobs. That's good. Well, it would be good if those poor workers were making a living wage like the Americans in this ad were. And they work in conditions that are more like prisons than factories. Don't take my word for it--I'm a leftist and therefore not to trusted--maybe you could take Business Week's word for it--or the students of MIT. Want to see a video that explains it? Take a look:



Want to see a video that shows an actual sweatshop and the "workers" there? This should disturb you:



These deal with Bangladesh and India, but the situation is the same--or worse--in the country printed inside your clothings' label. As the gentleman in the first video said, these workers are powerless but we Americans can do something about this.


As I said in a previous post, I love beautiful clothes. But clothes that pass through the hands of desperately poor, maltreated women and children cannot be beautiful. What is for sale as clothing in our stores is an assault on human dignity. Our dollars for these items are participation in our own demise. It does not have to be this way. Here's an articulate explanation that I've altered slightly:


"It is my claim that as soon as we have completed the boycott of foreign cloth we shall have evolved so far that we shall necessarily give up the present absurdities and remodel national life in keeping with the ideal of simplicity and domesticity implanted in the bosom of the masses. We will not then be dragged into an imperialism which is built upon exploitation of the weaker races of the earth, and the acceptance of a giddy materialistic civilization protected by naval and air forces that have made peaceful living almost impossible....[The USA] can become fit for delivering such a message, when she has become proof against temptation and therefore attacks from outside, by becoming self-contained regarding two of her chief needs-food and clothing."


It reflects our situation right now in the USA but it was written in 1921 by M.K. Gandhi in reference to India. I think Gandhi's insights into India are exactly what America needs to hear right now. That's the subject of my book. (Gandhian insight into the USA's food system will be the next book.) And so, I am only buying clothing I do know for sure was not made in a sweatshop. In doing so, I am giving my business to the craftspeople of India. I buy only handloomed saris. These lengths of cloth have been made by craftspeople who pass this skill down through their families. I know my saris are not made in sweatshops. And the added pleasure of giving my money to these legitimate artisans allows me to atone for having given money to the people who enslave their countrymen in sweatshops. 


The fact that I look really out of place here in my sari is useful to me. I have a message I'm writing and it enhances my ethos as the writer to do this daring thing. It doesn't matter to me if people think I'm brave or crazy. I just want to make people think about their clothing and their values. As a professor, I was never afraid to make a fool of myself in order to teach a lesson. Making a fool of one's self is often a really excellent way to get students to pay attention. I hope it will work for me as a writer too.