Interesting questions
Like many Americans of my generation, I read Little Black Sambo when I was a child.
The drawings of Sambo represented a sort of cartoonish stereotype of Black people (interesting, since in the original story Sambo was from India!), and the very word "Sambo" had racist overtones. I could easily understand why it might have been considered offensive when objections to it began to be raised. In fact, it's hard to see how, in the context of our culture, it could not be!
But it's making a comeback now in Japan- in a society with no experience with term "Sambo" and with such little experience with Black people that the character's exaggerated physical characteristics aren't noticed. Moreover, it's being sold as adult fiction; Japanese grownups miss what they remember as a charming story from their childhood about a heroic little boy.
Two interesting questions arise here: first, does a book with racist overtones remain racist in a culture where the overtones are missed? And secondly, is objecting to the sale of the book in Japan on the ground of our own cultural sensitivities a form of cultural imperialism toward Japan?
I don't know the answer to these questions. But they're worth thinking about. Maybe the pictures should be re-drawn (lose the bulging eyes and exaggerated lips, and add a turban?), and the name of the character changed. Or maybe not. What do you think?
The drawings of Sambo represented a sort of cartoonish stereotype of Black people (interesting, since in the original story Sambo was from India!), and the very word "Sambo" had racist overtones. I could easily understand why it might have been considered offensive when objections to it began to be raised. In fact, it's hard to see how, in the context of our culture, it could not be!
But it's making a comeback now in Japan- in a society with no experience with term "Sambo" and with such little experience with Black people that the character's exaggerated physical characteristics aren't noticed. Moreover, it's being sold as adult fiction; Japanese grownups miss what they remember as a charming story from their childhood about a heroic little boy.
Two interesting questions arise here: first, does a book with racist overtones remain racist in a culture where the overtones are missed? And secondly, is objecting to the sale of the book in Japan on the ground of our own cultural sensitivities a form of cultural imperialism toward Japan?
I don't know the answer to these questions. But they're worth thinking about. Maybe the pictures should be re-drawn (lose the bulging eyes and exaggerated lips, and add a turban?), and the name of the character changed. Or maybe not. What do you think?
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