The vision of the city of Turku to abandon the Star of Africa games in kindergartens has prompted Katariina Souri and Wilma Schlizewski to comment.
Katariina Souri does not agree with Paco Diop’s views regarding the Star of Africa game. Jenni Gästgivar
In the city of Turku, there has been discussion about giving up the Star of Africa game in kindergartens. The game is considered problematic because it does not support the kind of worldview that the city of Turku wants to build in its early childhood education. Deputy councilor of the city of Turku Paco Diop (left) has taken a strong stance on the game and resigned Turku Sanomat because of that, from his role in early childhood education.
Artist Katariina Souri reacted to Diop’s comments on her Facebook account. He shared his views on Diop’s arguments about how, among other things, the game reproduces the norms of colonialist thinking and how the game’s cover image reproduces racist stereotypes of primitive Africans.
– I would like a game in kindergartens in which the Swedes come to Finland in the 13th century and destroy the local ancient faith and forcefully convert the people of Finnish origin to Christianity, take the farms of the original population, deprive them of the right to their own language, distort the meanings of words to demonize nature gods and, through church discipline, force everyone to attend church services and pay to the church for salvation, Souri declare.
According to him, with such a game, children would learn about history, which is now largely kept silent.
– Or would a board game where the indigenous people are made to squat in front of a church and a cross normalize the Christian crusades on Suomenniemi? he points out.
You can see the full text of Souri from here.
Souri also does not subscribe to Diop’s view that people’s primitiveness is a racist stereotype. Souri wonders if, in Diop’s opinion, a primitive people who respect the connection with nature are inferior to a population living a western lifestyle.
– Diop’s own speeches are insulting to groups of people connected to an ancient way of life, Souri thunders.
Souri ends his writing by wishing that the board game would be left alone.
Schlizewski along the same lines
Entrepreneur Wilma Schlizewski says that Kari Mannerla, who created the Star of Africa, was her first boss.
– Kari was a funny and funny man, like a little boy, always ready for pranks, Schlizewski describes his former boss.
Kari Mannerla, creator of the Afrikaans star game, was Wilma Schlizewski’s first boss. Jenni Gästgivar
Schlizewski refers to Paco Diop when describing how a deputy commissioner of African descent working in a left-wing union quits his job because of the African star. And then Turku mayor Minna Arve, who is a member of the coalition, jumps in to help when the left-wing deputy councilor orders.
– So the board game is leaving the parks. What does this African star need to remove next? Schlizewski asks in his publication.
You can read Schlizewski’s publication in its entirety from here.
This is what it’s all about
Turku-based left-wing politician and former early childhood education teacher Paco Diop opened up about the harmfulness of the Star of Africa game on several social media posts. He is Turku Sanomat quit his job in early childhood education because of the game.
If the publication is not visible, you can view it from here.
According to Diop, the game presents a harmful and stereotypical image of Africa and Africans.
Deputy Mayor of Turku Maid Elo (sd) discussed the game with the director of education of the city of Turku. The mayor of Turku, Minna Arve (kok), has also agreed with the outdated worldview of the game.
The mayor of Turku, Minna Arve, has also taken a stand on the Afrikan star controversy. Vesa-Matti Wrong
– Star of Africa is a game developed in the 50s. It is a product of its time and its illustrations and themes reflect the world view of its time. Some of the illustrations do not correspond to today’s values and it is good to have a discussion on how to handle such issues when teaching children to play.
However, Arve has considered it a bit excessive that games would suddenly start being collected.
– And I’m not in favor of political guidelines for kindergartens regarding, for example, individual games – I don’t think it’s the right way to act, Arve wrote on his Facebook account.
You can read the mayor’s full release from here.