At a recent birthday, my daughter became the proud owner of the much coveted American
Girl doll. We had vaguely supported her strong desire to have an American Girl doll. We
knew that the doll would come with books that told the girl’s story, that the dolls were
of a decent quality, and that…well…they weren’t Barbies.
Prindërit e vajzave dihet se përjetojnë momente ngazëllimi kur shfaqen vajzat e tyre
interest in dolls that are not Barbie.
We all know about Barbie. She’s got that impossible figure, the deformed feet, the big
hair, the gravity-defying breasts. No matter what version you buy — and there are many!
— Barbie always looks the same without her clothes on. That’s why even though the 90s has
brought us the Paleontologist Barbie, the Barbie Dentist, the Movin’ and Groovin’ Barbie,
as well as a nurturing big brother Ken who comes boxed with his little brother, an African
American version of Barbie and Ken named Imani and Menelik — both dressed in African
garb, and a Barbie-type doll in a wheelchair named "Share a Smile Becky,"
feminist parents hate Barbie.
My daughter’s brand new "Kirsten" – the American pioneer girl from the
mid-1800s – doesn’t have a cinched waist, but my relief about that was short-lived. As it
turns out, we had introduced racialized nationalism in the form of a blond-haired,
blue-eyed pioneer doll.
The Pleasant Company, krijuese e koleksionit të kukullave dhe aksesorëve American Girl,
thinks "being an American Girl is great — something to stand up and shout
Rreth." Faqja kryesore e faqes së tyre të internetit paraqet një vajzë me lëkurë të hapur, që duket
straight at you, hands on hips. Her t-shirt is decorated with stars and exclaims,
"Proud to be an American Girl!"
Pleasant Rowland, founder of the Pleasant Company, has the laudable goal of providing
girls with quality books and dolls, each representing a different period of U.S. history.
She wants to give girls an "understanding of America’s past and a sense of pride in
the traditions they share with girls of yesterday."
Mirënjohës për tregimet rreth vajzave që përqendrohen në guximin dhe guximin e tyre dhe aventureske
shpirt, dhe të intriguar nga mësimet e historisë që dalin në "historikisht
accurate" depictions of the girls’ lives, parents love to see their daughters’
interest in American Girl dolls.
These dolls do give our daughters positive role models. All six American Girl dolls —
Felicity (1774), Josefina (1824), Kirsten (1854), Addy (1864), Samantha (1904) and Molly
(1944) — are brave, thoughtful, struggling, girls with real-life problems and triumphs.
Nodding to multiculturalism, there is even an African American and a Hispanic doll.
But taken as a whole, the American Girl Collection gives us unbridled patriotism and
the victors’ version of history.
Even using the word "American" to describe the collection should give us
pause. Since the Americas make up two full continents of which the United States is only a
small part, and since millions of Native people once inhabited the Americas and might
accurately be called Americans, it’s a bit of a leap to pose our pioneer girl as the
Vajzë thelbësore amerikane.
But it’s too late to worry about all this now. The doll is being carried all around the
house. Pleasant Company catalogs are arriving at a fast and furious pace. Each full-color
85-page tome provides my daughter with a minimum of a half-hour of thorough absorption.
She barely blinks as she scans the pages, admiring the high-quality, high-priced American
Girl sidelines. There are more historically accurate dresses and nightgowns to purchase.
Assorted socks, shoes, picnic baskets, and miniature American flags. There’s Kirsten’s own
hand-painted trunk for $155 and her matching bed "with its charming design" for
$ 55.
"Mami, më duhen më shumë gjëra për Kirstenin që të luaj më mirë me të."
Për ta shpërqendruar atë nga kjo ndjenjë e porosisë me postë, unë sugjeroj të lexojmë një nga Kirsten
librat. Ne përfundojmë duke marrë një pjesë të historisë amerikane të keqpërfaqësuar rëndë.
Kirsten, mësojmë, është një vajzë pioniere "e forcës dhe shpirtit". Familja e saj
comes from Sweden to begin farming in Minnesota. The fact that the pioneer presence in the
area, made possible by fraudulent U.S. treaties with the various Ojibwe bands, leads to
the displacement of most of the Native people is treated as a neutral bit of bad luck for
indianët.
According to the Pleasant Company, the European immigrants’ conflict with the Indians
does not result in bloody battles, disease, economic warfare and the near decimation of
the Native population. Seen through the eyes of the innocent Kirsten, who, in one of the
books Kirsten Learns a Lesson, actually befriends a Native girl her age, it’s simply a sad
twist of fate that Singing Bird is hungry and must go West with her tribe in search of
ushqim.
Për një moment të shkurtër, Kirstenit i vjen në mendje ideja për t'u bashkuar me të. "Ejani,
motër”, thotë Singing Bird.
"Kirsten iu kujtua tepeja e ngrohtë ku jetonte Singing Bird. Ajo e imagjinonte veten
sleeping by Singing Bird’s side under the buffalo hides. If she lived with Singing Bird
she would be free to roam the woods all day. Brave Elk would be good to her. He was the
chief, and Kirsten would be his yellow-haired daughter. She and Singing Bird would always
be together."
Kirsten’s flight of fancy about running away with Singing Bird does not stray much from
the standard Eurocentric romaniticization of Native life. Contrasted as it is in Kirsten
Learns a Lesson with Kirsten’s tortuous hours in the school house with her severe teacher
who commands her students not to act like savages, the dream of running away with the
"Indians" symbolizes a break from civilization. Of course, Kirsten chooses not
to follow Singing Bird. A wise choice, as history shows. Had she joined the Indians,
Kirsten nuk do të kishte kaluar shumë kohë duke bredhur në pyll dhe duke fjetur në buall
fshihet. Ajo me siguri do të kishte shkuar në vdekje me një popull të dënuar dhe një mënyrë jetese që
do të zhdukeshin në dekadat e ardhshme. Kirsten i jep një lamtumirë të trishtuar shoqes së saj indiane
dhe kthehet në shtëpi për të parë se ajo ka fituar një "Shpërblim Meritash" për recitimin e duhur
një varg në gjuhën angleze.
Por në këtë proces ajo ka mësuar edhe një mësim tjetër të rëndësishëm: se Minesota është
her home. "She wasn’t sure when this place had become her own, but she belonged here
now," the book tells us. The illustration shows the backs of the Native people as
they leave their homeland.
Moms and Dads of daughters: we have our work cut out for us. The doll options for our
children run the gamut between pointy-breasted paleontologists and patriotic blond-haired
pioneers. Perhaps we should be grateful that spunk and courage are attributes ascribed to
girls, and that the occasional career girl makes her way into the line-up. Perhaps we
should be appreciative of the ubiquitous blond giving way to the occasional brunette, and
even brown-skinned doll. Perhaps we should feel hopeful that in addition to having
happy-sex-object-homemaker role models for dolls, our daughters also have feisty-patriot
role models who sometimes get into trouble but who always emerge victorious, thus easing
our children’s acceptance of the great and inevitable American way of life.
I am not comforted.
Ekspertët thonë të blini lodra që theksojnë lojën krijuese dhe të shmangni lodrat që
only do one thing. Thus, your child will benefit from freer play that is less scripted and
directed by exacting toys and their attachments. I would add that we should also beware of
the "educational" books that offer fine-tuned justifications for dominant
institutions past and present. These books may appeal to our children’s intellect, but
they represent an early start to the process of inculcating kids with the values and norms
that they’ll need to rationalize an unjust world.
Consider also, in the world beyond your child’s playroom, how you can help build and
support the institutions and communities that offer an alternative to the dominant ones.
Creating spaces that emphasize care over consumption, continuity over disposability, and
diversity over universality will expose all children to values they won’t find in the
zakonshme.
And finally, a query for Howard Zinn (you have read my commentary about dolls all the
way to the end, haven’t you?): You write in a number of different genres. I’ve read your
excellent books, essays, and plays. Why not try your hand at the historical novel geared
for the 7-12 year old set? A sort of a merging of A People’s History and the Pleasant
Company – complete with politically correct historical fiction, multicultural dolls, and
anti-capitalist accessories. Could be the sideline that lifts some lefty publishing
company out of the red and politicizes pre-adolescents the world over. Think about it.