Some more remarks regarding the workshops and the 'educational objectives' mentioned by Lokschuppen:
Feather headdress
from pre-school
Iroquois or Sioux? Chief, warrior or dancer?
The children will learn why Indians wear feather headdresses. Coloured or cut-off feathers could only be worn if the Indian had commited certain brave acts. The children will do a feather headdress to Indian music and afterwards, as an Indian child, chief or warrior, will listen to a story.
Educational objectives: assuming a role with fantasy, imagination and experiencing a different culture via music and story and training abilities to work with pre-school materials
It is no legit educational objective to have children 'assume roles with fantasy and imagination'. Assuming a role, impersonating will not result in an understanding of other cultures, and the use of 'fantasy and imagination' is in definite collision with factual information.
Having the children make a headband and joining a (plastic?) feather to it will of course reinforce the stereotype that all Indians 'wear feathers' – and organizers seem to believe that's an ndn characteristic past and present, cf above: „The children will learn why Indians wear feather headdresses“.
Drum
from grade 1
Who wants to make the pace of the rhythm?
In the language of the Sioux, the drummer is the „icabu“. Drum rhythms, songs, and ritual dances have an immense value in the cultural life of the Indians. Every child will build their own drum which will be decorated with Indian patterns and ornaments.
Educational objectives: Crafting abilities, ideas, and a feeling for rhythm will be on demand. Topics are Indian way of life [sic], music, way of transmitting information and communication as well as experiencing community.
An educational objective speaking of one Indian way of life – what a waste of time, effort, paper, and webspace. As these educational objectives will primarily be read by kindergarten personnel and teachers, the programme will also perpetuate the stereotypical concept of the existence of one generic ndn culture with this group of readers who will infect more generations with this stereotype.
Eagle claw amulet
from grade 2
„The eagle is the most sacred bird for all tribes, all peoples....“
As a king of the air, the eagle was revered by many Indians. Decorative amuletts with eagle claws and feathers are meant to give strength and courage to the person wearing it. Students will create an amulet in the style of the Crow Indians and will be able to realize creative ideas when applying coloured patterns, feathers, pieces of fur and symbols.
Educational objectives: This workshop promotes creativity and furthers the interest in design concepts of a culture alien to us. The world of philosophy and belief, the special reverence and respect of animals will be brought up as an issue. The workshop will especially appeal to boys – the eagle as a symbol of strength, bravery, freedom, power, and endurance.
First of all, the eagle is not viewed as sacred by all ndn peoples. Amulets are not objects which give strength and courage, so the objective of introducing children to ndn philosophy and beliefs (rather than the singular 'belief' used in the Lokschuppen text) cannot not be achieved. Let's hope they will manage to get across what they characterize as 'respect of animals' in an appropriate way.
What is not mentioned in the description of the workshop or in the educational objectives: of course they will not be able to provide real eagle claws, but imitations. So what is there to be learned? That it is okay to imitate, and to use plastic imitations – and still 'we' may call it the real deal. This has a lot to do with supremacy, but nothing at all with teaching respect or giving even a faint idea of it. This becomes evident once more when the description mentions the amulet is done in Crow style, while students will realize their own creative ideas. One should think that both is mutually exclusive.
And will the workshop explain to students how such an amulet was done in traditional Crow society? How relatives made them, with what intent, and how such gifts were presented to young persons, and on which occasions? The description does not mention this, so we may doubt it. So instead of giving some insight into different ways of thinking and concepts, from which some understanding might result, students will just imitate an object and receive stereotypical concepts.
Another educational objective not mentioned apparently is: reinforcing stereotype Euro role models – since they assume this workshop 'will especially appeal to boys', as apparently it is only boys who need 'strength, bravery, freedom, power, and endurance' [sarcasm off]. Whoever drafted the above paragraph might want to return to university and redo pedagogics 101. Or probably a prep course for pedagogics 101.
Glass bead bracelet
from grade 3
Coloured glass beads were precious merchandise for the Indians – saddlebags, mocassins, and clothes were decorated with these beads. Beadwork and beaded jewelry are among the most beautiful and lavish craft articles of the natives of North America. The students will create their own bead pattern in accordance with Indian models and will apply these to a stripe of leather. Every student will do a genuine piece of jewelry.
Educational objectives: Dexterity, concepts of design, craft – with these bracelets, the children will bring a piece of Indian culture into their life. In this workshop, necessary virtues like patience, endurance, dexterity as well as a part of Indian cultural history may be empathized.
Where to start...? Glass beads of course were added to or replaced earlier techniques – which unfortunately are not mentioned at all! I wonder whether, among these many historic exhibits on display, there will be pieces decorated with quill work to give visitors an idea that ndn crafts did not start the very moment Euro traders sold them glass beads.
So students will each do a 'genuine' piece of jewelry. Perhaps, but certainly not 'ndn jewelry', and so of course they will not bring 'Indian culture into their life' by imitating such a bracelet! Did nobody of the staff in the educational service realize it is rather ambitious to give children an impression of 'virtues like patience, endurance, dexterity' in a one-hour workshop? Probably not. It is a pity that all they can come up with is one-hour 'We're the better Indians' workshops. With phrases like children having the opportunity to 'empathize' a 'part of Indian cultural history', one cannot help the impression that the Lokschuppen educational service employs a few nuagers, too.
Katsina figure
from grade 4
„Katsinam are everywhere and are watching us...“
In the belief of the Hopi Indians, Katsinam are invisible and good-natured spirit beings, gods, and souls of persons who passed away. In ritual dances, they were asked for assistance. Children received these figures as a present so that they could learn to understand the spirit world. From gypsum models, children chose one of the beings and give their Katsina figure an individual appearance with different paintings and decorations.
Educational objectives: Creativity, concepts of design, getting to know other denominations, religious rituals and concepts. The students will get to know exotic aesthetics and alien concepts of design. The workshop promotes understanding alien cultures. Another issue is living with nature in the annual rhythm and the seasons.
Lokschuppen apparently never bothered to establish whether this workshop is appropriate or whether ndns see copying Kachinas as completely inappropriate. Their description of Kachinas is factually wrong, too.
As far as introducing children to design concepts and aesthetics in use in other parts of the world is concerned, there are numerous objects they could have chosen instead of religious ones. Therefore, the workshop does not and cannot achieve the educational objective of promoting understanding of other cultures. How doing Kachinas might be able to bring across ideas of living with nature and with the annual seasons remains a secret the educational service does not communicate.
One question to the Lokschuppen staff: Imagine a workshop for Chinese children doing their own little cross with a Jesus figure. Will such a workshop promote understanding of Euro culture, of Euro design concepts, of Euro life and annual seasons? Will such a workshop further creativity, and knowledge of Euro religious rituals? If you answer this with 'No' – why on earth did you include the above workshop in your programme?
Dreamcatcher
from grade 5
„What an Indian dreams is reality to him...“
From beads, feathers, leather, and natural materials, students will craft their personal dreamcatcher according to the Sioux model. The adorned nets elaborately knotted and wired will take care that only good dreams will find their way into the thoughts of the sleeper. At the same time, dream catchers also symbolize the circle of life and the close connection to nature.
Educational objectives: Creativity, fantasy, craft. Understanding of alien cultures and getting to know different denominations, religious rituals and concepts, as well as critical questioning of tourist articles. Living with nature – in the annual rhythm and the seasons.
Oh well.
Just how on earth will students be able to question tourist articles when all they learn is how to imitate ndn cultural objects in a one-hour workshop? Who gave Lokschuppen the idea that dreamcatchers were 'Sioux' in the first place?
What has a dreamcatcher (or a Kachina for that matter) got to do with living with nature and any annual rhythm? Did people at Lokschuppen actually think when devising their programme of workshops or was that programme created automatically by some silly-ideas.exe?
These last two workshops will rather teach children that it is alright to appropriate and exploit other peoples' cultures and take whatever concept to play with. This is not teaching respect of other cultures, this is actively teaching disrespect, entitlement, and supremacy.
It is unfortunate – to say the least - that Lokschuppen departments of educational service and public relations have come up with a programme rife with stereotypes which effectively counters the intents of the exhibition.
As far as I picked up from a comment in a German forum, Lokschuppen museum shop hastened to come to their aid and will sell comic books etc of a series titled 'Yakari'. This is a French cartoon which was translated to several languages and adapted into a TV series. The first cartoon was published in 1977... So, yes, your concerns are fully appropriate: Yakari is an alleged Sioux boy (white supremacy does not need to care about which sounds Lakota language does or does not have....) who is able to understand and speak the language of animals. The characters are drawn in a stereotypical way, with matching names. Some of the books have been translated for the UK market, so there is an English wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakari This is a short video (sorry, I could find no English videos, so this is in Kurdish language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9YL0r8Iy2o Excerpt from English wikipedia:
Concept
Yakari is a young Sioux Native American who has the particularity to be able to understand and speak animal languages. During his adventures, he meets all sorts of North American animals. His best friends are a girl Sioux, "Rainbow", and his pony "Little Thunder". He has a totem animal, "Great Eagle", wo frequently appears to him to give him critical advice.
The setting is the North American Great Plains, mainly. Horses have already been introduced by the Spanish, but there is no mentioning of white man whatsoever in the series. (In one book, there's even a mention by an old tribesman that there's a mystery how the horse came to the land, and that it hasn't always been there.) It can therefore be assumed that Yakari's adventures take place after the 15th century, but long before the settling rush in the late 18th/19th century.
Characters
Humans:
Yakari : the main character.
Rainbow : a Sioux girl and Yakari's best friend. She accompanies him on his adventures more frequently as the series progresses.
The-One Who Knows : chief and shaman of Yakari's village.
Little Big-Shot : a Sioux boy and friend of Yakari's, who dreams of becoming a great hunter.
Slow Motion : a man from Yakari's village. As his name points out, he is very slow.
No-Wai-Waiki (Great-Heap-Big-Pile-Plenty-Lazy-Bones): a man from Yakari's village. He is extremely lazy and unfit, and spends the day lying in front of his tipi and smoking his pipe.
Tranquil Rock : a sage from Yakari's village.
Bold Gaze : Yakari's father. At first quite sceptical about his son's claims that he can talk to animals, he is eventually convinced that his son does indeed have a special gift.
Braid Night : Yakari's mother, who is skilled in healing lore.
Strained Bow: a crazy wandering warrior who obsessed with hunting and bringing down the rarest and most unusual of animals. He has clashed with Yakari on several occasions and considers him to be his most personal enemy.
Animals:
Great Eagle : a great bald eagle and Yakari's totem who aids Yakari with his wisdom and advice.
Little Thunder : a white-and-black checkered poney, who is Yakari's steed and closest friend.
Nanabozo : a rabbit capable of doing magical feats, and Rainbow's totem. He has revealed himself to Rainbow and Yakari on numerous occasions and taken them on educative journeys, including a trip into prehistoric times.
Double Teeth : a beaver and artist.
Tilia : a young beaver, practical joker and adventurous.
Wild Rose Plant : a beaver, and Tilia's mother.
Rough Bark : a beaver, and Tilia's father.
Thousand Mouths : a beaver and builder.
Wood of a Bed : a beaver and a serious sleeper.
Snowball, a white-furred baribal.
May I remind you that the exhibition's principal objective is to overcome stereotypical views of ndn cultures and peoples? Jawohl! Vi heff vayz.....
A list of books giving factual information while at the same time be appealing to children and grown-up readers, or of recommendable novels, certainly is easy enough to get, but once again Lokschuppen decided to neglect respectable solutions in favour of presenting stereotypical garbage that makes one cringe.
