Dosn't that fit right in with LissieLuvR5's post? Today dolls being discontinued? That would help take the place of the Todays, becuase Girls of many Worlds would be historical. But I do love the sound of it! Especially an Irish doll, with red curls and freckles. Or an India doll, with pretty silky black hair and silk dresses with gold jewlry. Or a Hebrew doll! Now that would be great, Hebrew! With her mini scrolls and beatifull hair, tanned skin.... That would be the best!
There WAS a doll line similar to AGs that explored this concept. I think it was called Girlhood Journeys or something like that. I've seen the books in the library and remember reading some of them. I also would like to see a line of cultural dolls like the AGs but NOT made by American Girl but of the same quality. However, I am out of room and [img]graemlins/money.gif[/img]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] I often forget that many of the folks on this board grew up with American Girls. You all don't half realize that, at the time they were introduced, the most radical thing about the above statement is the word GIRLS. True story: I was teaching middle school in 1988. I gave my 8th grade class an assignment to write a story in the first person that took place during any period of American history that they had studied during the year. One of the girls wrote an excellent story, but, oddly enough, her narrator was male. I asked her why she made that choice. She told me that she had never read a book written in the first person with a female narrator and didn't know that it was allowed. Furthermore, in history class, all they studied was men. When I told her that having a female narrator was allowed, she became so excited that she re-wrote her entire story, even though I had already given her an A. About a week later, thegirl brought a number of her friends from another class to me. She asked me to tell them that books and stories could be written from a girl's point of view, because they hadn't believed her when she had told them. The girls then asked me to prove it by showing them some books. It wasn't easy. I think I was able to locate less than a dozen in the school library. I was also unable to locate any autobiographies written by women, and only three biographies.Originally posted by littledarling:
American Girl is supposed to celebrate being a girl in America.
I don't know what my point is with all this, except that I guess my hope is that American Girl will continue to produce great books about all kinds of American Girls. Every girl should be able to find a book and read it and say, "Wow, she is just like me," and "I want to be like her," and "I am important . My point of view is important. My experience is important."
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 08, 2004 03:55 PM: Message edited by: ubarose ]</font>
Oh, Ubarose, what a terrible story, I'm so glad those girls met a teacher who opened their eyes and gave them a new view upon history.
About AG going "worldwide", my opinion as a "non-american" is ofcourse different from most of yours. To me the main reason I like these dolls, are the dolls themselves, not the books (although I'm sure I'd like them if I ever read any), but I do think I would be kind of strange if an American Girl was suddenly a Brit or a Mongolian, it would be nice though if another company (or a new Mattel branch) made worldwide dolls of same quality as the AGs.
What I really would like though, was a girl from the West Indian Islands (St. Croix, St. Jan and St. Thomas), they used to be Danish (we still call them the Danish West Indies), and they have a fasinating history as places where cultures and religions from all over the world met and created a very unique way of life. For a long time they were also an important part of the slave-industry.
The girl would be a Dane sent with her family to the islands, where she would be given a slave-girl her own age and in the books they would take turns on telling the story, or perhaps two seperate sets of books wich told the same story from both girls perspective. Since the Islands are now American I think it would be okay to make it part of "American Girl".
Having grown up an American to two immigrants to the USA I have a different view point too.....
As culturally deverse as the USA is, it doesn't highlight the importance of family or culture to the children enough. My parents made this really a HUGE part of our upbringing here in the USA. we were taught to learn and intigrate with different cultures. We were taught how important all cultures are to the USA. Marina is also being handed this to her. She speaks three languages. Has been to native alaskan culture camps and loves learning about other countries and people who have come to America from them.
I have been shoping for traditional costumes from other countries. The dolls are beautiful but for marina she lives seeing all of the kids in the parades in their traditional clothing doing traditional dance from those countries. America is all about our cultural backgrounds and how our freedoms were made here in this land. I think that is why I love Kirsten. her challenges in coming to these lands were like my mothers. My mother and father came in the early 70's late 60's. My mother spoke no English. She came to go to school and start a new life here for her family. I think it would be cool to have a host of costumes you could purchase that tell a story of how a girl adapted to this country. The dolls could be purchased appart. AGoT could be used.
I have been wanting a good traditional Dutch costume with the shoes. the shoes I can always get but a good acurate costume from where my family imigrated from would be hard to come by. Traditionally different areas of Holland had different clothes. That would be a harder feat for other larger countries too.BUT would be so cool!
Marina could learn about other cultures and how they have shaped America into what it is today. The GoML didn't allow for that enough. They just needed some tweeking and could fit into the AG side so easily. Like maybe just one International costume per year as a limited release......start with more common ones.....China, Ireland, Holland, Germany, Sweden, and so on from the early immigrants to the USA.
I think it could be cool.....
For Holland I would ask for:
Traditional costume
Wooden shoes.
Delft Cowbell charm on a silver chain
Wheel of Cheese
Delft teacup and saucer with a little bag of tea
That would totally be what a little dutch girl would have with her......
I'm with Johanna on this one. This is an area that needs to be explored, even if it's just as special outfits and accessory sets that are limited edition. It doesn't necessarily have to have a doll to go with it, but a history of the cultural significance of the outfit would be really cool.
I also think they need to do another immigrant doll! Without immigrants coming to America looking for a better life, our country would not be the world-power that it is today. Heck, we might not even still be here! A Russian immigrant, an Irish immigrant, a Scottish immigrant, Dutch, Danish, Spanish, Italian. Any of those would be a fantastic addition to the Historical line. We get to learn about the culture of that country, and still keep it "American" because the girl is becoming an American girl.
I wonder if Marisol, said here to be the next AG Limited Edition doll and Hispanic, will be an immigrant? Exploring how girls become American Girls would be great.
Johanna
I have seen a Dutch Girl outfit on ebay. If I see it again I'll let you know. I am working on a Swedish outfit for Kirsten but it might not be from the region where she's from since she already has a Norwegian dress that is similar and the dress from her region is fancy.
I would love love LOVE to see a Scottish-American immigrant from the early 1700s. I was going to make one myself, but after doing the research I realized my sewing skills are no where near what they'd need to be. [img]redface.gif[/img]
The dresses and fabrics though from that time period and culture were really stunning, especially among the wealthy. And the history of that time is very interesting.
I'm also with you all on wanting an Asian historical doll and a Jewish doll. I really like that our history is made up of so many different cultural influences. I want to see more cultures represented by AG. After Addy and possibly Josefina's collections are done... I'll be waiting for a new doll from a culture not yet represented.
I think AG could easily put more effort into putting out dolls of various cultures without straying from American history. Though I don't collect AGT, it would be pretty spiffy to have a "traveling" doll who travels around the world and periodically has new outfits and accessories introduced that are her souvenirs. She could have books that talk about her travels and what life is like for girls in other countries, without straying from the original intent of AG- to focus on American girls and their history.
I agree that it would be neat to have some international clothes, but in the context of American Girls. Like there used to be Chinese New Year and Kwanzaa outfits for the today dolls. AG could make other cultural costumes too. When my mom was young, her family would dress up in their Danish clothes and do folk dancing and May Day celebrations from time to time. I think it's really sad that a lot of girls don't know much about their heritage like I did. There are some people and organizations who are trying to keep it alive though (for example, my grandma is active in Danish organizations and our extended family goes to Danish family camp in the summer), and American Girl could help out their efforts by emphasizing that although we are all American, knowing our specific heritages is "cool."
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