We were talking in class on Monday about Native Americans and the many stereotypes they face, one being in mascots. I began thinking about when I was younger and involved in Indian Princesses. Each group of girls and dads was a “tribe” and each person had their own “Indian name”. I vividly remember my dad and I thinking of our names and then making a special nametag on our first meeting. My tribe, the Sauk tribe, would meet every week or so. We would also go on campouts with all of the other tribes from our area.
Being that I was young, I don’t know how it was all organized, but we would have many traditions during the campouts such as chanting our tribe name at dinner, competing against other father-daughter tribes, even wearing headdresses. I did some research to see if it is still something that happens and found, it is sponsored by the YMCA and is supposed to support a strong father-daughter relationship.
While none of the activities we did were blatantly mocking Native Americans, I now wonder what their thoughts are on this tradition. Was anybody else involved in something like this? Did you do similar things? Do you know of any Native Americans who are offended by this program?
3 comments:
Kerri, it is interesting that you bring up the issue of Indian Princesses because this had actually crossed my mind in class the other day. I did not participate in Indian Princesses myself; however, some of my friends in elementary school were apart of this organization. Like you, when I was younger I saw nothing wrong with this organization and I even compared it to Girl Scouts (which I was apart of). Now that I have more knowledge regarding Native Americans, I can see where Indian Princesses would be offensive to Native Americans. This organization may come across as an innocent father-daughter bonding experience; however, Native Americans might not think of it in that way. Indian Princesses seems to almost mock Native Americans because people, who are not Native American, are “playing” the role of Indians. I’m not exactly sure what happens during the meetings of Indian Princesses, but from what I have read in Kerri’s post it seems that some of the activities they partake in do not correctly represent the Native American lifestyle. I would not be surprised if Native Americans are against this organization and I think that they have every right to offended by it. How would you like it if there was an organization where people pretended to be from your culture and did not represent your culture correctly?
Going along with the idea that Native Americans are often stereotyped in schools, I witnessed something in the school in which I am observing that caught my attention. My first grade students had art class on Tuesday. When they came back from art, my cooperating teacher and I asked the students what they had made. They responded by saying, “Indian headdresses.” I was able to see the headdresses that they had made and they consisted of a band with colorful feathers stapled to it. This art project made me reflect back on what we have been discussing regarding Native Americans. Why do we continue to teach students stereotypes about Native Americans? How do you explain another teacher that what they are teaching is incorrect regarding a specific culture?
Kerri, I was also in Indian Princesses with my dad when I was younger, and it also crossed my mind during our class discussions. Katelyn said in her response that she equated Indian Princesses with Brownies or Girl Scouts and I definitely agree. My dad and I also had our "Indian" names... Babbling Brook here because I talked a lot, and Silver Fox for my dad because he has gray hair. I never once wondered what Native Americans would think of this activity. I do remember that every year we did a huge project on what the real Huron tribe was like. We found out where they lived, what that ate, pictures of them, etc. This was always something that I really enjoyed doing, and now that I look back on it and talk with other people who were a part of this group I realize that my tribe is the only one that I know of that actually learned about the real tribe.
After thinking about this and viewing the movie about Disney in class I have to say that I don't know what to think anymore! I was in Indian Princesses and watched Disney movies religiously (and still do...) and I don't feel that these experiences made me believe stereotypes or made me rascist. I'm almost kind of embarassed to say that even until I watched that movie in class I had no clue that the monkeys in Jungle Book were supposed to be black people. I think that even the more blatant stereotypes in the movies (like the chihuahua in Lady and the Tramp) can go over kids' heads. I think that maybe this is because little kids don't always know enough African American, Asian, Hispanic etc. people that these stereotypes are recgonuzable to them.
I am definitely not saying that hurtful stereotypes should be embraced, but I just wonder how many kids are actually affected by them.
A couple comments:
I don't think the commentators in "Mickey Mouse Monopoly" said that the monkeys in the Jungle Book were supposed to be Black people. They said that the actors who voiced the monkey characters had identifiably "Black" voices, and danced/acted in ways that might be seen as stereotypically "Black." They didn't say that this had been done intentionally, but as one of the commentators said, it really doesn't matter whether or not it was intentional. The impact is still felt.
As for Indian Princesses, I was in a similar program, YMCA Indian Guides, with my dad when I was young. At the time I thought it was the coolest thing. I don't remember many of the details (it''s been a lot longer for me!), but I do remember that we all had "Indian" names, and that we occasionally did art projects that, at least to us at the time, had some connection to "Indians." Looking back on it, I think it was strange at best and flat-out disrespectful at worst. I'm sure most of the dads (mine included) had no clue what they were doing, and probably never gave a thought to what Native people might think of the group. I'm sure they thought they were "honoring" Native people, but if any actual American Indians had ever sat in on our meetings, I doubt they would have felt honored.
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