askchapo

Off the top of my head I would define "ethnic" as a "traditional thing done by a minority group" with a focus on the minority group as an other. A workaround is simply to avoid the word and use a word like "traditional" and/or the adjective form for minority group in question.

• "Cornrows are an ethnic hairstyle," is offensive.
• "Cornrows are a black hairstyle." I don't know if "traditional" is a good fit here because I don't know much about cornrows.

Btw, why is it perfectly fine here?

The first paragraph with my edit

Li Jie, a skilled embroiderer from southwest China's Yunnan Province, infuses intangible cultural heritage items such as traditional embroidery and silver ornaments with modern fashion elements, creating ~~ethnic~~ costumes that captivate consumers and breathe new life into traditional clothing.

My hunch is that the article was written in Mandarin and translated. And translations can have problematic words and phrases.

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Ninja edit

Why Do American Grocery Stores Still Have an Ethnic Aisle?

This international hodgepodge strikes many shoppers and food purveyors as antiquated. But doing away with it isn’t as easy as it might sound.

[...]

“I buy Finnish crackers. Why are they not in the ethnic aisle?” she said. “An Asian rice cracker would be in the ethnic aisle.”