Blogger Carrie Baranet reviews the schlocky tourist merchandise she encountered when she recently visited Oklahoma:
Schlock-lahoma!So, I spent the weekend in Oklahoma. I used to live there so, you'd think I'd be used to it. However, I'm always shocked by Oklahoma's love/hate relationship with it's Indigenous population. They advertise it as "Native America." However, when it comes to respecting actual Native Americans, well, that's a different story. In Oklahoma, nowhere is safe from "Awful."![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGHYOpy3RY81XVs6DBIhN2SeLfWbhXSsREtgysjcqXLcQblpAiQp6_dSt085qiV7gFiGCi9yWI1c2bkQYwaS7iLOdDOYCY7WN3cE9jDKljTBNa3_HTktTNEpk6g6W2lVYQ5_hnzA/s320/004.JPG)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL864_IrpGfHATedrKkYfGbzh-WgzNtv5wPORMv8Nr8e9d0MsteGeGiYXfNJx_oMhPmUYOlgEZzQcmZ_XyOrJ6qkLkRVp3PnDn5U0BFS9lVg6iQd2bd3Bd7TYGOh93jJGrNKD4rg/s1600/sv-2083_lrg.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifs078Mg-8KH-UUwYwoIOonRts40gvCvnj3xhxF0W_-PdgTyPaQUcCq9fShhLVgC5BKC72wrDCvQGTuO4snLctU5ZQQyzoz9BsnCRRY9gLY2nKgX1hDeLrbyqN3XAFU-TgfFQmsQ/s200/shot+glas.JPG)
Comment: To be fair, not all the items are equally schlocky. Some are genuine attempts at Native-inspired art. Also, the southern Plains tribes living in Oklahoma did have
chiefs and tipis, so these images aren't totally stereotypical. But the rest of the imagery--braves, wolves, canoes, eagles, etc.--is the same ol' stereotyping.
For more on the subject, see
Tonto Revisited Stereotype Exhibit,
Indian Toys and Games, and
Indian Kitsch in Wisconsin Dells.
1 comment:
Indigenous tourism. Great. I don't think any place with indigenous peoples hasn't used them for tourism.
Ainu artist Bikky Sunazawa had a term for it, "kanko Ainu". (Kankoukyaku means "tourist" in Japanese.)
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