Is buying my child a tipi shaped playhouse/tent cultural appropriation?

December 14, 2020 6:00 PM

Would or could a tipi shaped tent be considered cultural appropriation? Is a tent shaped like a tipi only problematic if other more stereotypical clothing, costumes, art, decor, etc are involved?

My wife and I have been debating whether or not buying our one year old child something like a playhouse in the shape of a tipi is cultural appropriation.

Something like this or this as examples. Would these be considered, or could they be construed as, cultural appropriation? To be clear, the intent for something like this is merely as a play space- no costumes, art, decor, etc. of anything Native American or similar is involved.

I guess the question also is: is a tent shaped like that always cultural appropriation? Would a yurt-shaped structure be considered cultural appropriation?

posted by indyjones to Society & Culture (16 answers total)

My youngest grandkids, ages 5 and 2, have one like the second one you linked. They love it, they sit in there and "read", they play house in it with stuffed animals and dolls. Their parents are very aware of cultural appropriation issues and don't play up the tipi as American Indian thing, it's just a fun play space for the kids. I don't think you should worry about it.
posted by mareli at 6:10 PM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]

I would not consider this cultural appropriation as long as you don’t call it a tipi and don’t associate it with Native American cultures in any way. There are only so many ways to construct a tent.

(Caveat: I am white, and open to being educated on this issue.)
posted by mekily at 6:12 PM on December 14, 2020

I guess what I notice is that they're all being sold as tipis - I didn't see any in that style just being sold as a play tent. So I think that at least part of the cultural thing of them is their association with Native people. I recognize that a lot of them really aren't tipis per se - they aren't in traditional materials, they aren't decorated as tipis often are, they have openings that are not those common to tipis...but they're still being marketed as tipis.

I wouldn't be easy in my mind if I got one. Feeling conflicted and kind of embarrassed about it would take away from my pleasure in the children's enjoyment.

I poked around on etsy and if you search "play canopy" there are some cute tent-like things you can get - they hang from the ceiling, so that's a bit more complicated, but they could definitely be used to create that sense of soft enclosure.
posted by Frowner at 6:43 PM on December 14, 2020 [34 favorites]

I recognize you are not going to call it a tipi or attach it to cultural practices of Native Americans. But the problem comes from buying something from a manufacturer who is calling it a tipi, which is cultural appropriation by the manufacturer. You’d be supporting a business that practices cultural appropriation.

On preview, what Frowner said.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:46 PM on December 14, 2020 [24 favorites]

That style with the exposed poles at the top feels uncomfortable to me given that connotation. This one though is pretty similar in basic layout, and avoids that baggage. It just looks like a tent.

With so many tent styles available, it seems easy to avoid the issue.
posted by veery at 7:19 PM on December 14, 2020 [8 favorites]

I would not buy either of these things. If you're looking for an alternative, we just got one of these bad boys and it absolutely rules. Our 2 year old loves it.
posted by rossination at 7:44 PM on December 14, 2020

Mod note: Hello friends, a couple deleted; it is possible to say you do not think this is cultural appropriation without being a jerk about the fact that cultural appropriation exists.]

[And while I love a pillowfort as much as the next guy, parents are just trying to get through a horrible pandemic and have been stuck in the house with their children since March with no outside help and no escape. THEY'VE PROBABLY ALREADY BUILT PILLOW SKYSCRAPERS and Amazon box cities, cut them some slack for wanting to throw money at "keeping their junveile members of a big-brained social species entertained after literally longer indoors with no social contact than it took to gestate them in the first place." Kids can go back to enjoying a handmade, low-tech childhood when they can leave the house again, but right now it's limitless screentime for all and no judgment.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:01 PM on December 14, 2020 [92 favorites]

This is a pretty good article on the topic.

The Sweedi play tent is traditionally Scandinavian and while its a bit differently shaped it has a similar asthetic.
posted by warriorqueen at 8:35 PM on December 14, 2020 [8 favorites]

My test for understanding whether something is cultural appropriation is asking myself whether I'd feel uncomfortable with a parallel situation in modern-day Germany involving Germans of non-Jewish descent towards aspects of Jewish culture.

In this situation, I'm not sure there's a direct parallel, because I'm not sure that there's a Jewish residence that is as obviously "Jewish" as the tipi is obviously "Native American." So maybe the closest situation would be non-Jewish German parents buying their children dreidels as toys. I think my reaction would be, that seems like an (at best) culturally insensitive and unnecessary thing to do- why wouldn't they just buy their kid a top? Why does it have to be a dreidel, which is so obviously a Jewish cultural signifier?

I feel the same about tipis. Why buy something that's obviously a Native American cultural signifier when kids could have just as much fun in a play tent? And if they couldn't have as much fun in a play tent as they could in a tipi, I would feel worried about whether the culture itself was the thing that was being played with, rather than the object itself.
posted by quiet coyote at 9:20 PM on December 14, 2020 [5 favorites]

Those tents, even if you never call it a tipi, your child is likely to come across someone else calling it a tipi at some point -- which you will only realize when your child uses the term tipi in public in the worst possible way.

is a tent shaped like that always cultural appropriation? Would a yurt-shaped structure be considered cultural appropriation?

Well a yurt is a very different shape than a tipi! One thing to keep in mind is that Native American cultures have a history of being widely appropriated for childs' playthings, childrens' summer camp activites, etc. in the US in a way that Turkic and Mongolian cultures have not experienced. Modern yurts sold in the US are often used for year round housing (essential valued necessity rather than sold as a disposable child's toy), so that is quite a different context. I've never seen a yurt shaped child's play tent though I suppose they must be out there.

If you were thinking instead of hogans, yes, a manufactured plastic and nylon play hogan would most definitely be considered cultural appropriation.
posted by yohko at 10:04 PM on December 14, 2020 [2 favorites]

Nthing everyone else that it's probably not the best idea. Why not go with a different type of tent? Circus tent, or playhouse tent, or castle tent, etc.
posted by JuliaIglesias at 10:42 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yes, this is a form of microaggression. Please do not perpetuate the production of "innocent, harmless" tipi replicas for kids.

Thank you for asking this question.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 1:28 AM on December 15, 2020 [9 favorites]

I think the tipi question is complex and I’m glad you’re asking and thinking about it. Since I’m not Indigenous, it’s not in my lane, so I won’t weigh in. But I am racialized, so I will talk a bit about appropriation and what its alternatives could be.

I do think there’s a chance for a deeper connection here - rather than just “should I engage with this replica of a culture” and then deciding yes or no and stopping there.

The fact that this convo is happening shows an awareness that there is a colonial history and power imbalance between your mainstream culture and Indigenous cultures. That awareness is accurate and it’s a positive thing that you’re aware of it.

Maybe the fact that this question has come up (no matter how you decide to proceed with the tent) can prompt you to engage with a more reciprocal relationship with the peoples who are indigenous to the land you’re on.

Some possible ways to create a stronger bond and rebalance the scale-

Research the groups who traditionally held that territory. Look up their names (in their language, not their colonial names) and learn to say them (YouTube videos are good for this).

Buy an album of music made by an artist from one of those communities and listen to it with your family. Look up an interview with the musicians and learn about their music.

Look up art made by the people indigenous to the land you’re on (historical art and modern art) and talk about it. Buy a print or item (make sure the money goes to creators from that community).

Get your kids a book written by a creator from that community, and read it together.

Seek out a lecture, seminar, essay or book by a leader from that community. Listen to it and think about it. If there is a call to justice embedded in it, amplify and respond to it.

Make a donation as a family to support an Indigenous-run org in your area. Organizations supporting the search for, and the families of, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are deeply worth supporting.

I feel like- appropriation is harmful. But the alternative shouldn’t be that we only engage with other cultures in a fearful / avoidant way: “I don’t want to seem appropriative or disrespectful so I will stay at arms’ length”. If this is the end of the interaction, then we also aren’t able to come to any reconciliation or rebalancing of toxic power imbalances.

I think we should seek middle grounds where we respectfully and humbly learn about other cultures, and financially compensate the creators who teach us.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:17 AM on December 15, 2020 [24 favorites]

I think the fact that it has us saying "Native American", despite Indigenous America being made of hundreds of individual nations and cultures, not all of whom used tipis, a good sign that the use of this toy isn't actually harmless.
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:38 AM on December 15, 2020 [4 favorites]

I'm native and I don't have a problem with your grandkids sitting in a tent, it's not like we have a monopoly on them. For starters, my people don't use teepees, we use long houses but Mongolian folks use tf out of some tent/teepee/yurt structures, so its a pretty universal thing. If you went on decorating it with a bow and a cowboy outfit I will definitely throw you some side eye about a lack of cultural sensitivity, but a reading fort? Go wild. Buy them a few books about various indigenous cultures and the types of houses we live in just so they're a bit more educated than some folks here and have fun with your reading fort.


(Please stop calling us indians, we're indigenous/native peoples of america, we're not from India[no shade to India].)
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 12:34 PM on December 15, 2020 [19 favorites]

is a tent shaped like that always cultural appropriation? Would a yurt-shaped structure be considered cultural appropriation?

The elements of cultural appropriation as I understand them are:
The profanation of the sacred (broadly understood) things...
...of the oppressed...
...by the oppressor.

Without that second element, you end up making the claim that someone not of European descent wearing a suit is cultural appropriation which is obvious nonsense.

Given that your ancestors probably didn't do anything to central Asian nomads, I think you'd be on much more solid ground with a Yurt.
posted by atrazine at 1:19 AM on December 16, 2020