Waleed Shahid
Arlington, VA
Worked at the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, a massive two-week event staged by the Smithsonian Institution every summer outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is meant to foster cultural exchange and celebration. The 2008 festival, which featured workshops, demonstrations and performances, spotlighted the Asian nation of Bhutan and the music and food of Texas. “The experience gave me the chance to interact and work with an incredibly diverse group of people,” says Shahid. Among them: Himalayan monks and a Texas vaquero (“cowboy” in Spanish).
“I worked in the Marketplace,” says Shahid, “helping sell items deemed significant by the two cultures, ranging from Buddhist prayer flags to the fine wines of Texas.” Shahid remembers one day when a Bhutanese monk came to look at the Folklife Festival’s commemorative t-shirts. The monk paid very little attention to the decals and special designs of each Festival t-shirt, says Shahid. “Instead, he felt each $15 shirt, rubbing his fingers over the fabric to confirm that they were all of the same cotton material. Finally, he shook his head, dismissing the quality of the t-shirts while pointing to his red robe, made of much finer Bhutanese silks, cotton, hemp, and wool.”
Shahid says the experience reinforced the importance of understanding other cultures and ethics in an increasingly diverse world. “The Bhutanese monk does not buy his clothing in the same manner as, say, an American would. This in itself tells us much about the two separate, yet connected, worlds.”