"This is a train-wreck waiting to happen...and the locomotive is getting up to speed now.  People, please go to your local library and ask them to give you or acquire the documentary, "Mickey Mouse Monopoly" or the book, "The Mouse That Roared", by Giroux.  These two sources will explain some of the complexities of consumption of the disney stories.  There ARE definite problems with the standard disney formula of depicting non-European characters, women (and, therefore, men) and historical content.  In short, much of disney's work has been negatively stereotypical, sexist and anti-historical, the latter of which is not a problem if the society that consumes the work is already firmly grounded in historical reality and perspective, which the USAmerica is NOT.

I am concerned most for the patently uncritical, fawning, thank-god-for-disney, talk that I've been reading on the blogosphere.  If this were just another of disney's all-too-thinly drawn and sexist princesses, we'd have enough to tackle with the self-esteem of young girls already suffering due to the sexualization of overly-thin and physically-impossible models.  The disney princesses are a disempowered bunch of "women" who are all patiently awaiting their princes to come and save them, validate them and sweep them off into some imagineered fantasy that doesn't, of course, exist.  Again, THIS would be no problem if we didn't already live in a world full of sexist practice and media messages that accompany constant male violence against women, unequal pay, unequal social access and power and a narrowing of the feminine experience into a quicksand pit of consumerism.  Since when was any disney princess at the center of any women's movements' imagery or discourse, if only to negatively critique them?  Now add the element of Tiana's Africanity and what do we get?...a New Orleans-style blackened princess who, as stated by another respondent on another site, spends a bulk of her on-screen time as a frog.  Interesting. Then we can question - EASILY - why voodoo/vodou/vodun is yet again demonized as a criminal context like in so many movies and books in this culture when it would have been a powerful spiritual cultural element if the stories had been told by conscious African(-American) writers.  Voodoo is an African religion/spiritual system, not a foil for euro-christian exploitation and devaluation.  Consider for a moment if we reduced Roman Catholics to a bunch of raging lunatics who preyed upon helpless soles [with] bread hexed with demonic energies and spells.  I am sure the vatican would begin its lawsuits at the first hint and its public outcry.

Are we to assume that Tiana will hold more and deeper cultural space for Africans (and others)in USAmerica than Yaa Asantewa, Queen Tiye,and Queen Nzingha?  These were/are REAL women!  And we're salivating at the thought of a disney-fied African(-American) princess?

Yes, we could back away from the discussion of race altogether, the discussion of sustained and current degradation of African and other indigenous lifeways in this culture, but we'd be sliding yet deeper down the slope of ignorance and myopia as we deny the presence of the very social ills we say we're so far beyond.  

You tell a woman with a husband-blackened eye sitting on her safe-house bed that a character like Belle is just harmless entertainment.  You tell a woman whose father (and/or mother) silenced her spirit and voice from her early childhood days (I know too many with this experience) that Arielle's sacrifice at the end of her story is just fantasy.  You tell an African woman who has met and bested the challenges of holding life, family and spirit together in the face of the legacy of slavery, emotional and historical assault and economic marginalization that a faux-princess that just happens to share her skin color is going to be some liberating messiah of cultural ascendancy, lifting her pain, her wounds and bestowing upon her a renewed sense of self just because some multi-billion-dollar corporation decided to appropriate her image and make a sad, but successful attempt to capitalize upon her vulnerability, selling it back to her as "fantasy", "fun" and "diversity".

"Mickey Mouse Monopoly" reported the statement by disney's past CEO, Michael Eisner, that they had no duty to educate or teach or enlighten, only to make money.  This is what disney does to this day...and they will use any means to do so.  They don't do this to make us feel good about ourselves...and if we do, we are doing so with the curtain pulled securely around the wizard...never looking beyond the veil of "fantasy" and "wonder" and technical acumen behind which disney ignorantly and arrogantly spins tale after tale about culture and history and masculinity/femininity...

Part of the problem here is that we ARE believing the hype.  disney is very good at that.  We'll probably consume Tiana at record levels right on the heels of every other sad carbon-copied disney female character, only this time with greater energy, fueled by ideas of "finally, a black disney princess" and "oh, I just can't wait!" and other such blind grasps at honoring the diversity that is this USAmerican culture...albeit at odds with itself.

This movie, no matter how technically wonderful, as it will be, is bound to be full of historical, cultural and gender potholes, if the trailer is in any way representative of the full-length movie.  But don't believe me, just because I'm saying it, or have studied these elements for years any more than you should simply eat everything that disney dishes out on its pretty plates.  Please, doing your daughters and sons an important favor and service and duty, check out the documentary and/or book as suggested, in essence...check the list of ingredients of your media before you consume it.  Or do we just feed our children food without really knowing what's in it?   Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....."

I guess I can't get the concept of "train-wreck" out of my head on this one.  Somebody tell me I'm really off on this one....please...I'd love to relax into my summer haze and eat corn dogs and buy unrecyclable foam coolers for $1.99......land of the almost-free, baby.

This one was snagged from the following page/URL

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=40873

Please be free to read and respond to my initial letter to my communities to share in my upcoming initiation process toward Dagara Eldership...the second time in history that this has happened outside of Africa....this process led and guided by the work of Malidoma Some', African shaman, healer,  speaker, educator and Dagara Elder.

~~~~~~

To my family, loved ones, friends and colleagues,           
    As I scrapped my first attempt at writing this letter to you, I looked down and into the eyes of a child, full of life, on my saturday morning train to work and was reminded of the fundamental reason that I am called to communicate to you today.  He gazes up at me again, even now, and my eyes come to the point of tears as I feel the weight and repercussions of what I am writing to tell you.
    I have been recently confirmed to be an elder initiate in the Dagara tradition as brought to “the west” by Malidoma Patrice Some’, an elder of the Dagara people of Burkina Faso in West Africa.  Some of you may already know that I have completed a two-year intensive training called Indigenous African Spiritual Technologies, created by Malidoma, his fellow Dagara elders and the Ancestors.  This dynamic, seminal and amazing process of learning and growth has not changed the course of my life, but strengthened the course of my living.  As a teacher, writer, creator, musician, sound healer and shamanic practitioner, the traditional indigenous process that Malidoma has introduced to us has grounded and expanded my own conceptions and manifestations of the work I have been put here on earth to do.  My teaching at the college/university level may be one of the fullest recipients of this shift in my own consciousness, clarifying not only my way of being in the classroom, but also the very reason and motive for engaging young adults in an academic and transformative environment, facilitating their own processes of gaining insight, ways of looking at themselves and each other, redefining their concepts of the human condition and the requirements for being fully human in a world beset by mounting challenges, problems, social and spiritual disconnects and natural and social environmental changed of monumental proportions.
    This process of elder initiation, part of the living genius of indigenous culture, is one that is designed to raise an adult to a higher level of knowing, of communal, social action and spiritual engagement.  Traditionally, it is the initiated elder that was responsible for the overall guidance of the community, for the observance of the balance of energies and work and for the initiation of youth into adulthood, an element almost completely missing from modern cultural life which has exacerbated so many of the problems we face today, leaving young people, young adults unprepared for the challenges life so regularly presents to them, leaving them open to lives of violence, addictions, self-destruction, low self-esteem and emotional insecurity.  Elders are responsible for holding space and guiding the spiritual, physical and emotional security of the people, work that happens in front and behind the direct consciousness of the larger community.  The role of the elder is difficult and calls the initiate into a higher state of embrace of her or his own community and the world at large.
    The promise of this next step to eldership is for the marriage of old and new ways of recreating community and Ancestral connections in a society that finds itself estranged from its own heart.  The promise is for the reconnection of people to the essential and unquestionable cycle of nature, of earth, nature, water and life itself.  The promise is for a mind, a world at war with itself to be transformed through ritual, indigenous healing wisdom and the gift of good and functional and spiritually grounded counsel.  The promise is for the deepened and culturally informed commitment to the preparation of young people to be active, intelligent, compassionate and whole participants in the life of their communities and world, to enter into their own fundamental commitments to the stewardship of family, life, functional spirituality and the earth.  It is these promises that I know I was called to make as that child looked up at me, into my eyes, again and again, as I began to write this very letter.
    To say no to this call of elderhood is to say no to the idea that that child can and should be fully empowered in this world, safe from our most heinous acts of commission, ignorance, negligence and intended good.  To say no is to agree with modern, commercialized culture and its validation and aggrandizement of the shallow, the convenient and wasteful, the addictive, the cult of personality and apathetic ethical cowardice.  To say no is to relegate yet another segment of society to being without progressive humanitarian forces, educated and informed, to do compassionate battle for earth, water, nature and her children.
    I am writing to you today to inform you, engage you and invite you into participation with me and the keeping of my promise to that child, symbolic of children everywhere and the future of the world you may very well know that I work to co-create, the world that you have helped to define, helped me to define, the world that we cannot live without.  I am also asking for your support in a number of ways, in any way you can give it.
    The formal initiation of this second group of elders under the guidance of Malidoma at East Coast Village in Cherry Plain, NY, will span from July 10th to July 26th, 2009.  During that time, I will be put through numerous spiritual, physical and emotional trials, through numerous rituals for which I will need your moral, material and physical support.  There will be opportunities every day for you to come to East Coast Village for short visitations, which I can inform you further about.  There are also unlimited possibilities to send good thoughts, vibes, prayers and energy to me and the other initiates. 
    In addition, I am asking you to support my initiation by sending material monetary assistance to help cover the varied costs, consultations and ceremonies that have been performed already and will be done in Africa on my behalf.  This monetary support for me is one of the keys to the success of this process, one that would have traditionally come in the form of gifts of goats, hens or other food and services.  In our modern world, money is our current functional way of assisting transformational events such as these, yet bringing greater balance to a world that has been destabilized by an unrealistic primary focus on financial capital as opposed to the real gifts of human life and love.  I ask you, humbly, to give generously and as you are able, if you so choose, as this step in my process is expensive and in need of communal support.
    I will soon be sending out information on the divinations and numerology that I do in the Dagara tradition, part of my training and work, and other readings.  This may be an effective way for you to get a deeper understanding of this kind of indigenous spiritual work, gain clarity, direction and healing in your own life and support my initiation through providing exchange for these services.  My divination work is a key part of my spiritual work for individuals and, ultimately, the community as a whole.  You might also give the gift of a divination to someone you know and care about.
    Also, I may be making an African garment, called a boubou, available to you to adorn or make creative, loving attachments that are representative of your support and commitment to me at this time and to the promise I have made to this world to be a full, empowered participant.  You might also send me an item that I might attach to this garment that will become my symbol of spiritual and responsible advancement.  This attachment or decoration may be your wish for me, the world or a part of you that you wish that I carry forward with me in this important work, this important, crucial time in history.
    Finally and of great meaning and value in this support I ask of you, is your presence in our homecoming which will take place on saturday, July 25th as a crucial, vital part of our initiation.  I, along with the other initiates, will be in need of your love, your hugs, kisses, closeness and words of loving support and validation as I complete this step in the eldership process.  The more people and love we can generate, the more loving power and energy we can send the initiates out into the world, back into the arms of the beloved community with.
    As I sit at the pond near my residence, remembering my morning train child inspiration, now under a setting sun, I am reminded of the work that lay ahead of me: my proposed Ph.D., my research on the connection between media, spirit and our disconnection from nature; my book (hopefully my second!), “Indigeny and Energetics”, the historical reframing of  indigenous human culture and spirituality; my continued work in higher education, cultural media studies; the necessity of creating youth initiation programs; performing my communal spiritual work; the deeper work of affirming real, authentic, balanced, compassionate and empassioned manhood; and ultimately the validation of love in our lives and times.
    I truly thank you for hearing me at this most vital juncture of my life.  As so many of you probably know, I could have said much more, but I hope that these ‘few’, but heartfelt words have conveyed even a quarter of what this move toward Dagara eldership, this step toward a new relationship to human empowerment, means to me, East Coast Village, Malidoma, the Dagara elders and the Ancestors who watch over us and protect us and provide us immeasurable spiritual energy.
    Please be free to contact me at (my phone number), rohoyamto@earthlink.net or (my address in Massachusetts) if you need more information or would like to discuss this process with me.
    Your spiritual, emotional, physical, material and/or monetary support is essential to me at this time as all of you have been throughout my life, growth, learning, work and development.  Already, I am indebted to you for listening and supporting me thus far.
   
I thank you all,
I love and respect you all,

Ukumbwa Sauti


East Coast Village
252 Bly Hollow Road
Cherry Plain, NY
Robert Walker (East Coast Village Elder): robertdwalker@taconic.net

http://www.eastcoastvillage.org/

http://www.malidoma.com/

• Photo retrieved 6/20/09 from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/enlarge/african-wild-dog-
youngster_image.html