So, my last post on Oriental Barbie was wonderfully expanded upon by tekanji over at shrub.com.
For my feminist theory class, we were reading a passage from Grewal and Kaplan’s “Scattered Hegemonies” that problematized the binary of “global” and “local”. Using Barbie as an example, questions were posed as to why Barbie is sold in India but not Cabbage Patch dolls - why only North Indian clothes are put on Barbies, not South Indian. Why Barbie is dressed in “traditional” clothes, but Ken remains in Western clothing. Clearly, I have to read the full essay that answers these questions. And when I find time, I will.

What more is there to say? I’ve become slightly obsessed over the way Barbie is represented in India. Let’s make a bit of a comparison, shall we?

“This Collector Edition Barbie^® doll wears a traditional costume from far away India. Her modern, Indian sari is a rich, fuchsia color, accented with a beautiful shawl. Her accessories include delicate golden sandals, long drop earrings and a simple hand ring. From her thick, braided hair to her distinctive make-up, she’s a classic Indian beauty.” - Dolls of the World website

This particular Indian Barbie was released in 1996 in the U.S. Isn’t that interesting? Look at her. She looks pretty brown to me. Yes, she still is not representative of the majority of Indian women, but what Barbie is representative of any woman? She’s actually wearing a sari, and it isn’t showing off every part of her body. Granted, the little Taj Mahel in the back is just tacky, but look at it compared to the Diwali Barbie.

Wow. Look at that close up. She kind of resembles Aishwarya Rai.

I’m going to go to worse before I go to somewhat better. Sirindia.com posted this up - apparently there is a series of Barbies released in India called “Barbie in India”. The description on a couple of sites that sells the doll reads (are you ready?): “Barbie dressed in traditional Indian attire. Barbie comes to India & falls in love with the Indian way of dressing.” Try to picture what that means and then let’s take a look at the doll itself:

Wow Barbie - You sure loved more than the clothes! You even managed to find someone to dye your hair black!

I will say this. The relationship between local and global, and what is the global and local in each context is, hell, I’ll say it: fascinating. The Diwali Barbie sells the exotic to a Western society eager to be a part of the foreign mystery that is India and the Indian woman. It sells Barbie as the United States has understood it with an “ethnic twist”. And I’m not denying that there are Indian families who are so happy to have a Diwali Barbie to buy their young girl - disidentification is part of the process. Barbie as an entity is able to sell purely on this idea of disidentification. I owned a couple of Barbies when I was young - I cut their hair, I put them in toilet-paper saris. I couldn’t identify but I couldn’t not identify - I tailored the norm out of desperation in wanting to be normal. To be the socialized ideal.

I don’t know when there will be a time where Barbie’s representation of South Asia will stop being problematic, and that’s because Barbie is a problem, period.

photos from: www.zilltech.com/, lildolly.bloxode.com, and www.alltimegifts.com