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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Kitsch

Unfortunately racist kitsch knows no borders.

Desgraciamente kitsch racista no para en la frontera.



3 comments:

Ruhh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ruhh said...

Funny you bring this up Lynne. I've been meditating on this very subject lately.

I don't know about down there but up here I've found that the ones creating and mostly of the ones buying it are the Aboriginals themselves (or those who claim to be part).

My guess (and kinda by my 1st hand experience) is that Aboriginals propagate these stereotypes unintentionally as a method of 'cultural reclamation'.

Systematic cultural assimilation has left a void and the only way some can fill this and rediscover their identity is through the creation and promotion of this type of art/craft.

If I'm missing the mark or not I find it an interesting subject nonetheless.

lynn deweese-parkinson said...

It is a complex subject. I don't know how anyone can see "Chief Wahoo" of Cleveland Indians fame as anything but degrading. Just think about the equivalent image for a team named after African-Americans or Jewish-Americans. Yet even here in Mexico I see Indigenous Mexicans wearing Cleveland Indians caps proudly and without a sense of irony. Oppression so deep as to be completely integrated into oneself? I don't know, and it seems even more complicated in a Mexican context where the genocide was not as developed as in the USA.