Open thread

4 Responses to Open thread

1. Torey says:

   April 23, 2009 at 12:44 pm

   Hi folks – I was wondering if I could ask for some help. I would be honored to hear from any of you on this thorny subject.

   My partner and I have a seven-month old son. We received The Story of Little Babaji ( http://www.amazon.com/Story-Little-Babaji-Helen-Bannerman/dp/0060080930/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221594697&sr=8-3
   ). My partner loves this book, and I am SO uncomfortable with it, and having a really hard time articulating to him why this book, even all “cleaned up”, feels so racist and wrong to me.

   It’s a “retelling” and re-illustration of Little Black Sambo, but with Indian characters instead of the original awful caricatures. The publisher
   claims that this is the story as it was originally written by a White British woman living in India over 100 years ago.

   My partner loves the fact that it’s a story about a clever boy from India, and feels that since we have no other books with South Asian
   protagonists, that we should keep this one around. (My answer – let’s go out and find something more appropriate, shall we?)

   He also loves the story, remembers it from his childhood (in the Sambo version – ugh) and thinks that Babaji, the protagonist, is a very clever
   and resourceful boy.

   I feel that the story is clearly the point of view of a white person living as a colonizer in India. It seems totally condescending and “other-ing” to me – “ooh, look at those cute, naive, clever native people
   with their silly ways!” The people still look goofy and like caricatures, even if they are no longer in their original awful form. (You can see pages from it on the amazon site.)

   I also frankly am really pissed off by its history as Little Black Sambo, even if the illustrations are changed. It just gives me the willies.

   I don’t want to read it to my son because I don’t want him to think that this is how people in India look and act. Heck, I don’t want him to run into the original and have good associations with *that*!

   It just seems so obvious to me why this book is not a good choice, but so far, I am not doing well communicating this.

   I’d appreciate any thoughts from anyone in this community.

   -T
2. Psychobabbler says:

   April 23, 2009 at 4:08 pm

   I believe you posted this once before. I know I responded, as well as others. Check the archives to find the responses.
3. Psychobabbler says:

   April 23, 2009 at 4:24 pm

   Here’s the original. Tami, if this doesn’t show up as a clickable URL, can you make it into one? Thanks.

   http://www.loveisntenough.com/2008/09/29/ask-arp-is-the-story-of-little-babaji-racist/
4. Torey says:

   April 24, 2009 at 12:42 pm

   Thanks so much! I never saw the original posting and had no idea I had gotten so many great responses. My apologies for the double post. Carry on!