Dora the Explorer and Language Ideologies

Carolyn HuntIllinois State University

Dora’s Big Year

Questions 1. What do recent public reactions to

media coverage of Dora the Explorer reveal about language ideologies and attitudes toward bilingualism?

2. Why is Dora the Explorer so populardespite strong sentiments against bilingual education in the United States?

Language Ideologies Language ideologies are “those complex

systems of ideas and interests through which people interpret linguistic behaviors” (Irvine, 1998, p. 52).

“As people interact through language, they draw on and create ideologies about language, thereby developing linguistic worldviews or epistemologies that guide them in deciding how to speak and what to say” (Mertz, 1998, p. 151).

Why Language Ideologies Matter for Educators

Shannon (1999) demonstrated how ideology can influence decisions in her study of bilingual teachers who resisted instruction in Spanish because of an uncovered belief that English is a more valuable language.

Why Focus on Dora? As Guidotti-Hernandez

(2007) argues, “Dora the Explorer engages a number of competing discourses that situate her at the politically dangerous crossroads of race, citizenship, nation, and universal Latino/a subjectivity” (p. 212).

Dora can be seen as an ink blot.

Methods Blommaert & Verschueren (1998)

1. Choose mainstream publications that have maximal readership but different target audiences.

2. Use regular news reports and editorials.

3. “…isolated examples are never sufficient as evidence: coherence-manifested either as recurrence or as systematic absence- is necessary to warrant conclusions.”

Data Collection abcnews.com (130

comments) WSJ.com (17

comments) cbs.com (19

comments) msnbc.com (621

comments) azcentral.com heraldtribune.com

Data Collection tv.yahoo.com

(859)

usatoday.com (156)

washingtonpost.com

nytimes.com

Data Collection www.nickjr.com/dora-the-explorer

Two double-length episodes of the show1. Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure2. Dora’s Pirate Adventure

Overview The Monoglot Standard Ideology (Silverstein,

1996)

Nationalist Ideologies and Homogeneism (Blommaert & Verschueren,1998)

Ideologies and the Folk Theory of Racism (Hill, 2008)

Nonthreatening Multiculturalism

Monoglot Standard Ideology According to Silverstein (1996), language

becomes indexed with social differentiations such as…1. social identity2. differential influence or power3. commitment to ideals

Standard English is valorized and seen as the natural, good, holy, usage.

Other languages are seen as bad, evil usages. Standard English is a highly valuable

commodity that is seen as the natural and most efficient choice for consumers.

People who speak Spanish are illegal immigrants. “My 4 year old watches cartoons on pbs and nickelodeon and I

am sick of them teaching him spanish every time there's a commerical break. Of course I want him to learn new things, but considering the illegal problem in this country I find it inappropiate to push spanish on him every 5 minutes.”

“Dora is definitely an Illegal Alien! If you have ever watched the cartoon you would see this in about two minutes. My granddaughter was watching on morning and I sat with her and watched all of about two minutes before I turned it and told her about what an illegal alien was and how they are destroying parts of the country and how they are criminals. Dora the Explorer is pure propaganda and teaches illegal alien children that they are just going on a little adventure - with their backpack and map crossing the mountain and river. Only an idiot wouldn't recognize this. It shouldn't be on American TV.”

People who speak Spanish are illegal immigrants. Our children should be going to school hungry for knowledge. They

should want to learn many languages (I wish I had) and they should never be satisfied with what they learned that day. This is not about learning, this is about breaking the law, period. Our children deserve better and putting them in the middle is one the most despicable thing the illegal immigrates has done.

I think our immigration laws being broken on a nearly constant basis is a serious matter. As an adult, I always pictured Dora the Explorer as...a cartoon character. Nothing less, nothing more (but I will add my 3 year-old daughter loves her). In her innocence, I'm sure my daughter believes Dora and her family would never break the rules...and as far as I'm concerned, that's how it is in our house. If she ever asks (and I doubt she will), I'll tell my daughter that Dora is either here legally, or she lives in Mexico. I will *not* tell my daughter that it doesn't matter. If the issue is illegal immigration, it does matter. Sneaking into our country is wrong...and I believe it's okay to teach that to our children without fear of being labeled a racist.

People who speak Spanish are lazy, disrespectful, and take advantage of the welfare system. “The only reason an American would need to learn Spanish is

if they are talking to a lazy Mexican who didn't bother to learn English.”

Bottom Line: America first, above all else. I don't care for other cultures forced on my or my children when other people of culture don't even have the common curtiousy to speak our country's language.

“Send Dora home to Mexico before she starts spitting out little Mexican cartoon anchor-babies and hiding in a church to avoid deportation back to her homeland. For now, you will be able to find her in the local hospital emergency room seeking treatment for a hangnail because that is where she can get medical treatment done for free. Sorry, guy-having-a-heart-attack, you will have to wait until the ER doctor treats all of the illegal immigrants.”

Many people who speak Spanish are dangerous criminals.

“I would venture a guess that a Mexican Drug Cartel probably did this to Dora when she stumbled upon them sneaking their stash across the border after dark once a route had been verified as clear.”

“This illegal immigration thing is getting out of hand. If we don’t do something about it we can sure kiss our country goodbye. I am not saying that I am against immigration but when illegals are committing crimes like shoting our citizens in cold blood we have to do something.”

“Hope little Dora does not have “sticky fingers”- like 70% of all Mexicans do…Maybe that’s why she was bruised up, with black eyes on that police mugshot… “exploring” with your hands in other’s pockets is a no-no, lets hope Dora learned her lesson…”

Standard English is the language of truth and intelligence.

“I find it absolutely hilarious that the bigots have the most horrendous grammar. But hey, what do you expect from ignorant, small minded idiots?” You started a sentence with a conjunction(but). Perhaps you are

a small minded idiot also.

“What a dumb @itch..Maybe Spanish might not be required to pass high school but English is and obviously you fail.. ‘necceisity??’ “enligh??” learn how to write english first then write your racist comments…And yes Mexicans are required to learn English in school and have many signs in english..retarded racist people like you make me sick..Oh and by the way if that’s you in the picture than you look more mexican than anything which explains why you cant even spell right.”

English should be the most valued commodity.

“You want to be competitive in the WORLD then learn Chinese and English. Those are becoming the new lingua francas. Why are the kids forced into learning Spanish when Spanish speakers are a dime a dozen? Teach them a skill that will pay off!”

“Remember that English is the language of business and success.”

“I fire my landscaping company today for the people they send out didn’t speak English, from this point on if any companies send some one out who doesn’t speak English I will not allow them to do the job. Every citizen should do the same thing then maybe the companies will learn that hiring people who does not speak English will cost them work.”

Spanish is becoming a valuable commodity. “If your kids learn Spanish, it is not going to hurt them. If

they don't learn Spanish, they will likely lose out to a few candidates before they find the job they want. It's not about race or which culture is better, it's about economics. Tax forms are available in Spanish because having the forms in Spanish means a lot more people can file their taxes. Businesses hire people who can speak both English and Spanish because they can reach out to a much larger market share. If seeing a cartoon speaking a few words of Spanish (with a bad American accent for that matter) scares you, by all means please turn it off and preserve your culture for your kids. In the mean time, my kids will be getting a first class education both in Spanish and English so that they can grow up to be your kid's boss.”

Spanish should not be forced on Americans.

“I am against a requirement. I am not against teaching or enriching other cultures in school, but do not try to teach us a language that is complicated and not required to live in this country. If you come to America, learn the English language.”

“I hope my kids will choose to learn the language of a successful people like chinese (our countries owners) or japanese. Not the language of a people who choose to run away instead of staying and fixing their own backward country.”

“When my kids get to school, they will have to learn a language. however, since it is an elective, I would like them to ELECT the language they want to learn. I do not want them to be force fed a language simply because the current selection of immigrants have complete apathy towards assimilation and learning English. Why should my kids learn a language so that others can feel better about their laziness?

Spanish is a threat to the English language. “Teaching kids multiple languages that young

doesn’t necessarily help anything. American culture isn’t conducive to this sort of teaching and little kids in our culture just get confused and speak a mixture of broken english with spanish, now with a hint of chinese because of the girl from the Ni-hao show. These shows really don’t help. They just screw with kids.

She mixes languages which is confusing.Soon kids in America will talk like this:Hello,Como estas?I've seen you ayer in the park." "qué,qué?"

Dora Speaks Bad English “Is Dora at least legally here? She looks illegal and she doesn’t know

proper english, It’s like Spaninglish.”

“well god for you as long as you are legal I don’t give a @#$% and these shows make kids dumber yea it may teach them new culture(not a bad thing) but it makes them miss important speech areas and the english is horrible in all of these shows”

“If you listen carefully to Dora, and you know English grammar very well, you will notice that she often speaks ungrammatically. Quite the role model, speaking shabby English like most of her fans parents, siblings, friends, and so-called “teachers”. Moreover, people learn to interact with others by engaging with real people of all races and ethnicities, not by mindlessly “interacting” with cartoon characters. Mr. Rogers’ programs were far more educational and respectful of his audience’s capacity to think and reason. He didn’t insult the intelligence of his young audience by conveying his observations and lessons in juvenile language, and he spoke perfect English.”

Nationalist Ideologies Homogeneism is necessary for democracy,

freedom, and efficiency.

Language is representative of a homogeneous culture.

Multilingualism is an obstacle to a coherent nation-state.

History is used as an argument for nationalism.

Blommaert & Verschueren (1998)

English is patriotic. “WE are Proud of America and PROUD to be

AMERICAN! So why is it that we are NOW responsible for supporting these ILLEGAL ALIENS who wont learn English, won’t come here legally, demand and receive free services that our citizens don’t get, and are in your face with their loyalties to their own country?!!!”

“Americans built this country and made it great and we speak English in this country only and that’s all it should be. If someone wants America to change they should not be allowed in this country!”

English only is necessary for effective communication.

“The united states (unfortunately) does not have an offical language. Untill that changes (which it should) spanish has the same rights here that English does….But for the sake of business we should make english the official language. It would simplify everything.”

“Having one official language is ideal. The money spent printing everything in two different languages is a waste. You need to be able to read traffic signs in order to drive safely. We give driving tests in many different languages, but traffic signs are in English. Teaching school in different languages wastes time. Not being able to communicate with law enforcement or EMTs and hospital personnel could be life threatening. Having to provide interpreters for court proceedings costs money.(Yes, we provide interpreters when illegals choose to sue you for traffic accidents.) By all means, learn different languages, but make English one of them if you are living in this country.”

People who speak Spanish are from Mexico. “Dora wants you to continue to support her so she can send

money back to Mexico to her family, at least those of whom still remain in Mexico, as the rest of them are all in the U.S. now illegally.”

“It would be great to learn a foreign language, just not mexican, it is the language of displaced, dirt, ignorant gutter people.”

“Racists get off this, this is a children's show, are you that sociopathic that you see a Mexican and you must attack it until it goes away, this is not a venue for your hate-speech it is a human interest story about a popular program for preschoolers.”

One must speak English in order to assimilate. “You have missed the point. The American public

has been baffled by BS again and cannot see through it to the real issue. Dora and others like her should not be teaching Americans another countries language there should be American kids like Jennifer, or John teaching Mexican, Chinese, French, and all the other immigrants OUR LANGUAGE. What has been lost in this society of ours is that THEY HAVE TO ASSIMULATE TO US and not the other way around.”

English is the rightful language of the United States “Ummm….come on now, you know that Mexico never

owned half of this country. That in itself is a laugh! But people like you who like to scream that “your” land was stolen over a hundred years ago at “gun point”, you like to leave out that little nugget of truth that after the United States won that war, we also PAID Mexico for said LAND and that we did not have to do. Geez, get over yourself, you sound more than a little racist and a lot xenophobic.”

“Saying that the American families who have been here for generations have no right to the land they have lived on and worked for several hundred years is preposterous.”

English is not the rightful language of the United States.

“Mexicans are americans…like the colombians, ppl from brazil, argentina, ehmm.. besides!! “americans” do speak spanish words!! or..don't you now many of the southern states and cities have spanish names? those territories used to be part of mexico before the war where USA stole the land..so I guess there is some kind of karma payback going on.

“You do know that before you Americans came here the Native Americans were here right? Since when do you have the right to call this ‘your’ country? Native Americans do have that right. Hence the name NATIVE Americans. In other words, they were here first. Learn about the history of North America.”

“If you want to live in a country that only speaks English, why don’t you move to England, where it originated? Spanish has been spoken in this country for hundreds of years before English. Half of this country used to be Mexico before it was stolen at gunpoint.”

Ancestral immigration “The US is a melting pot of legally naturalized foreign

citizens. They came here with the same hopes and dreams but the difference is that they integrated themselves into society, not trying to make society integrate to them.”

“The problem here is the influx of illegal Aliens who demand to keep their old homelands’ cultures without assimilating to OUR culture. That’s not what our Great-Grandparents did and The Greatest Generation. They assimilated, learned English, learn trades, went to college. Spoke their native language at home and at church other than that English was/is the mother tounge of America.

Spanish Speakers are Invading our Country. “It could be that they're trying to make the U.S. a Spanish

speaking nation as revenge for what happened in the Mexican-American war.”

“I think that Dora is a program to indoctrinate our youth into a Spanish speaking culture. I find it a travesty that we’re being invaded, but instead of kicking their butts out, we have to learn THEIR language!!! It’s sickening. I refuse to speak spanish in any way, shape, or form. I’ll speak French, Mandarin, Gaelic, or Swahili before I dare speak any spanish.”

“I recommend (with Dear Leader in charge) that everyone learn some Spanish. You don't have to be fluent, but just enough to know what's going on behind you at Wal Mart. That, and buy a firearm. I'ts alll going to be Phoenix one day. Press one for Espanol everyone!”

Spanish is Destroying America.

“WE are going to loose our culture if we do not stop the nonsense NOW and stop feeling bad about being a proud American in our country.”

“I see Dora and Diego as nothing more than getting the youngest generation ready to melt into a Hispanic culture as they do away with what is American.”

Racism Definition of a racist through referential and

personalistic ideologies denies collective, societal issues.

Covert Racism:1. Racist metaphors2. Mock Spanish

White privilege

Racism no longer exists and society should be colorblind.

Hill (2008)

Referential Ideology A referential ideology “holds that the

meanings of words are stable” (p. 64). According to this view, the word racist has one correct meaning that accurately represents reality, so to label someone a racist is to indicate that they are ignorant, uneducated, and backwards.

Hill (2008)

I’m not a racist, but… “I don’t like dora…I never liked dora from the

star. Im sooo not trying to sound racist but amecican children shouldn't be encouraged to learn a different language besides american…”

“There has to be at least a half-hearted effort upon those that CHOOSE to live here to learn the language. This is not racist, or xenophobic in the slightest - it should be expected of anyone that would like to become a citizen.”

You are such a racist! “The fact that you are a bigot racist jerk using his

opinion of a kids show to broadcast his ignorance and hate of minorities, it’s a miracle you even read the review at all. How did this thread about a kids show turn into a “tell us all about how much you hate mexicans’ thread? Clearly, you point of views about mexicans or spanish speaking people stem from the idiocy of you and what you dim witted friends can joke about but no real fact. Yes you are entitled to your opinion, but please remember this thread is a bout a kids show so save the minority bashing for your KKK websites alright?

“Look at the bright side, in the trailer park where you live, everyone speaks hillbillie so you are already bi-lingual.”

Racist Metaphors Immigrants as animals

“They should all be deported along with their offsping”

“it's nice to see that you are carrying on the proud tradition of out-of-control breeding.”

Immigrants as objects “If it looks illegal, sounds illegal and smells illegal,

deport it!” “Throw the little wench back across the border with

the other ILLEGALS. We don't need some character here in the US teaching our children spanish. If anything, the imports need to learn english.”

Mock Spanish “toddlers need to learn english they can learn spanish

later is what I was trying to say. donde esta your brain”

Why stop at Dora? Taco Bell should bring back that "Make a Run for the Border" campaign. Talk about double-meaning. Have the chihuahua running from a white dog-catcher who is asking him to see his collar for ID. "Yo Quiero Green Card!“ Or just have Lassie bark at the dog-catcher "Arf arf arf"..."What's that girl? You say the Chihuahua doesn't have his papers?"..."Arf Arf Ruff Arf Ruff Ruff"... "He's down at the pool sippin Corona?“ Dos Equis... The most interesting illegal in the world. I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I do it legally. Stay in Mexico, my friends.

Racism is a thing of the past. “Or does it show that Whites simply aren't all racist like everyone

wants to believe. These kids have parents that let them watch the show. I like Dora and so does my son. We never thought about her race. Is she Mexican? Puerto Rican? Colombian? Maybe in an episode I missed it was stated her national background but really...Who cares? She's a positive role model and having some knowledge of another language is not a bad thing. Why exactly do people have to focus on ‘skin color’?”

“The target age for this program is not old enough to have racist tendencies. My children all love the program for the simple colors, interaction, variety of characters, and basic problem-solving...all huge plusses in my book. It is time to stop referencing racism with every landmark success and failure in this era. We should be at a point in time where success and failure are measured by effort. Additionally, punishment and reward are not a product of race, but a product of actions. “

Society should be color blind. “I think that the fact that kids are identifying with a kids with darker color

skin that speaks another language (shows that you are more open),” said Chris Gifford, one of the show’s creators and executive producers.

“Holy CRAP what a racist comment! I grew up in the 70’s and Fat Albert was one of my favorite shows, not to mention all the Sesame street shows I watched on PBS, where Spanish was taught. White skin is not an immediate indicator of racism, thank you very much. Kids have been identifying with characters of other races for more than one generation.”

That's the dumbest @#$% that I have ever heard. When I was a little kid, I didn't even take exception to skin color or nationality of the cartoon characters, especially since most were animals. So why would children have a problem identifying with a cartoon character with "darker skin" in the first place? It's not like children are BORN racist. Hell, my favorite character's skin color was GREEN and I didn't have any problem identifying with him.

Dora is Multicultural Propaganda “I am against this cartoon and my child will not be watching this

mulitcultural socialist propaganda. Luckily I was raised in the 80s and know what real cartoons are, Heman, Transformers, Gi Joe and I will be buying the seasons on DVD now for my kid.”

“Just like the gays, this is no more than a ploy of the propaganda. To make us love the illegals. Why is she speaking spainish? Is she illegal? What’s next lil sally the gay explorer? Lil Billy the Islam? The P.C. way is old, why can’t Dora just be a normal little girl? It’s propaganda.”

“I always new Dora was suspect, always slipping in those foreign words during her indoctrination sessions. Getting into the innocent minds of our children, stealing their heritage, culture and identity and subtly turning these precious children into Spanish speakers.”

“Dora is a tool to manipulate the minds and hearts of young children not knowing the truth.”

Indexing and Multiculturalism

Spanish

Multiculturalism

Liberal, Socialist Agenda

Threat to America

English

Homogeneism

Patriotism

Strong Country

Why do Parents Accept Dora” Dora is a good role model for girls and

Latinos.

Dora teaches skills and morals.

Dora encourages multiculturalism.

There is an economic and educational advantage to bilingualism.

Dora is Nonthreatening Bland Multiculturalism.

Pan Latino Identity. Mainstream themes and morality. White virtue.

Limited Bilingualism Referential idea of bilingualism as learning a

few Spanish words. Spanish with an American accent. Limited use of Spanish learning opportunities.

Dora is Nonthreatening “I have no problem with Dora. I have been watching it

for 10 years with my children…none of them picked up speaking spanish. They just like taking adventures with her and Boots. The same goes for Diego when he teaches them about animals. I also have refused to speak spanish because I used to work in a place where I was 1 of 3 people who were non spanish speaking and they sure did try to cram it down my throat by refusing to speak ENGLISH to me. They are in my country. Learn my language or go home. To sum up my point here. Dora the Explorer is not a threat. Kids don’t really learn anything from her believe me I have 6 kids…”

Dora is Nonthreatening “I like that Dora happens to be a little girl who

happens to be latina who solves problems; she doesn’t solve problems because she’s latina, she solves the problems because she is smart. Her racial identity is not central to the story, but isn’t ignored. If Dora were a little white girl the stories would be pretty much the same, and I think that is what makes Dora special….The producers show that she is Latina without beating us over the head with it. It’s part of her, not her entire identity.”

Classroom Implications Be cautious about using activities that

reinforce a referential view of language such as listing definitions in isolation.

Expand notions of what counts as language in school beyond Standard English.

Promote critical thought in history instruction. Implement culturally relevant curriculum. Teacher reflection about the ideologies that

influence their practice.

Research Implications

Include perspectives of children.

Locate a counter discourse perhaps in hybrid border spaces.

Explore language ideologies in different contexts.

Questions?

Thank you for your time.

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