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is native american playmobil approbiate?  

post #1 of 30
8/21/06 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
....for a white non U.S girl living in the U.S.?

My mom just told my daughter she's getting her a big set and I'm feeling very uneasy....rightfully so or not?
post #2 of 30
8/21/06 at 2:37pm
appropriate how?

I'm not sure what a native american playmobile is, is that a toy that features native american looking characters? If that is the case, I certainly wouldn't have a problem with my white (albeit American) daughter owning it.
post #3 of 30
8/21/06 at 2:48pm
eh, all of the one's I googled are really sterotypical bordering on offensive. I wouldn't give one to *any* child because (if it is similar to the ones i found) they promote sterotypes.
post #4 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:01pm
I'm honestly not sure what one is....
post #5 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:04pm
I think I've seen them before in the catalogue, and I wouldn't be keen on it. Reminds me of the old 'cowboys and Indians' type things, undifferentiate "native Americans' with tepees, no sense of geographic specificness.

Playmobil is a European company, right? In my experience there's still a certain level of stereotyping and romanticizing of 'native Americans' that is regarded as totally unproblematic in some European countries (unless I'm stereotyping myself, here...). Last year when I was in Europe, I turned on the tv to find jolly Europeans doing a "funny" fake-native American dance - think the chicken dance, but done to look amusingly native American - during a mid-day chat show. That sort of thing. So yes, I'd be concerned.
post #6 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:08pm
Found this (with picture):

Quote:
One overriding stereotype is that all Indians were the same—that they all wore buckskins and feathers, lived in tipis, followed a great chief and his medicine man, danced and prayed to nature, etc. The Playmobil Indian Village set suggests the problem. It intermingles what looks like an Apache warrior, a Plains Chief, a Navajo weaver, and an Algonquin canoe.
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/stbasics.htm
post #7 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EVC
right but it follows up with saying

"Actually, these come from several separate, largely unrelated cultures. As the 500 Nations title suggests, thousands of different Indian cultures existed before Columbus arrived. They were as distinct as the European cultures of the British, the Spanish, the Vikings, the Russians, and the Greeks."

When my kid (and every other kid I've seen) plays Playmobil it ends up with something like a princess, a couple of contemporary looking little kids, an alligator, and a Viking together as a rock band to entertain penguins who are sitting on a firetruck or something like that. I've yet to meet the kid who plays with the sets as they come in the box and considers it an accurate depiction of historical time periods.
post #8 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roar
I've yet to meet the kid who plays with the sets as they come in the box and considers it an accurate depiction of historical time periods.
Perhaps true. Yet I've met more than one kid (and adults too!) who think that Indigenous people are dead because we're not on horses in traditional dress (all of the time ).
post #9 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:34pm
Are you concerned about the accuracy of the set, or the fact that because your daughter is white, she ought not to play with toys of color? I'm a bit confused.

I buy my daughters dolls and toys of all colors and I think it's very important for her to experience a variety of toys in different colors. We are white and I had lengthy discussion with a black co-worker of mine about buying my DD a brown/black baby doll. In the end I concluded it was good for her to have toys of all colors. It sets her up to have friends of all colors, and to love babies of all colors.

If the set is crap, it's crap and it doesn't matter who is playing with it.
post #10 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Selu
eh, all of the one's I googled are really sterotypical bordering on offensive. I wouldn't give one to *any* child because (if it is similar to the ones i found) they promote sterotypes.
That's what I was thinking, the stereotypes are rubbing me the wrong way.
post #11 of 30
8/21/06 at 3:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellien C
Are you concerned about the accuracy of the set, or the fact that because your daughter is white, she ought not to play with toys of color? I'm a bit confused.

.
No,lol, she loves her black baby doll, I'm uneasy because the set up is so stereotypical and it seems to insensitive...
post #12 of 30
8/21/06 at 4:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mammastar2
I think I've seen them before in the catalogue, and I wouldn't be keen on it. Reminds me of the old 'cowboys and Indians' type things, undifferentiate "native Americans' with tepees, no sense of geographic specificness.

Playmobil is a European company, right? In my experience there's still a certain level of stereotyping and romanticizing of 'native Americans' that is regarded as totally unproblematic in some European countries (unless I'm stereotyping myself, here...). Last year when I was in Europe, I turned on the tv to find jolly Europeans doing a "funny" fake-native American dance - think the chicken dance, but done to look amusingly native American - during a mid-day chat show. That sort of thing. So yes, I'd be concerned.
I actually said to my daughter that I find it insensitive and inapprobiate ( she is 9) and she told my mom who just huffed at it and wants to send it anyway. Why can't she get the grocery store she really wanted...but I'm drifting away.

I know my husband gets really offended when indian ( from India) things get stereotyped and everybody eats curry and the streets are plastered with Sadhus and cows, it makes me think this is just as awful.
post #13 of 30
8/21/06 at 4:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by huggerwocky

I know my husband gets really offended when indian ( from India) things get stereotyped and everybody eats curry and the streets are plastered with Sadhus and cows, it makes me think this is just as awful.
...yeah, and everyone in the West starts saying 'Om' and wearing bindis and teaching some wierd concoction of yoga on every street corner...I hear ya!

No, I don't think it's appropriate if the toy set doesn't have a context. Imagine the learning that could happen if you DO get it when you explain to your DD about the 'truth' which she then passes onto her friends.

FWIW, where I grew up far, faaar away from North America, the only representations of First Nations people I had were from European media. It was horrible. Every single stereotype in the book. I actually thought peoples' skin was 'Indian red' like in the Crayola box : Did I ever have an unlearning. I ended up working for a First Nations social service org for 6 years. There is NO pan-Indian.
post #14 of 30
8/21/06 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
Well, what do I do now?

Send my mom a card urging her not to get that set? I won't call ( too pregnant, too cranky, getting upset quickly).

Let it be?

Geez, WHY is it always Drama with my mom?!:
post #15 of 30
8/21/06 at 6:45pm
I'd ask your Mom not to send it. Just explain that your daughter would really rather have the grocery store. Playmobil is not cheap. If she is going to spend all that money wouldn't she rather give your daughter something she would actually play with?

If she still sends it you can exchange it for the grocery store.
post #16 of 30
8/21/06 at 9:40pm
OK, well now that I've heard a little bit more I think maybe it's not a good idea. Not b/c of the child being white but b/c it sounds like a poorly mismashed representation (perhaps bordering on insulting) of Native American culture. I'd want to see the toy for sure before making the decision but it sounds at least questionable!
post #17 of 30
8/21/06 at 9:45pm
i don't think it's cool.
post #18 of 30
8/22/06 at 2:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zach'smom
I'd ask your Mom not to send it. Just explain that your daughter would really rather have the grocery store. Playmobil is not cheap. If she is going to spend all that money wouldn't she rather give your daughter something she would actually play with?

If she still sends it you can exchange it for the grocery store.
My mom will send it from Germany, I can't exchange it. Uh, she is like that, she talks her into things making my DD believe it's her wish.
post #19 of 30
8/22/06 at 9:07am
It sounds like you hit a nerve with your Mom when Dd said you found it be inappropriate.

I would probably just call her or send an Email and tell her that dd is really happy she is sending her a gift, but is not interested in the Native American set. What she would really like is the grocery store.

If your Mom sends it anyway, you could sell it on Ebay and use the money to buy the grocery store for your daughter.

People have the right to give you whatever gift they want to. BUT once it is in your home, you can do whatever you want with it!
post #20 of 30
8/22/06 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by huggerwocky
No,lol, she loves her black baby doll, I'm uneasy because the set up is so stereotypical and it seems to insensitive...
ahhh, I see - and thanks for laughing and not getting offended!
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