May 22, 2021, 11:00 a.m. ET
Credit.Celina Pereira
By Anna Broadway
Ms. Broadway is working on a book about the experience of being single in countries around the world. Before the pandemic, she spent more than a year traveling, conducting interviews and observing how people interact with each other.
I was crossing a vast, chaotic Dar es Salaam intersection one evening when a pastor Iâd known just a few days took my hand. He held on until we crossed the street and reached a more tranquil path. It was hard to shake my American interpretation of this gesture â I was used to hand-holding happening only between lovers, or parents and children. But I knew he meant it as an expression of care and mark of the connection weâd formed over multiple days collaborating on some research of mine. And I started to wonder â why shouldnât Americans hold hands more freely?