Unlike the Banffian lions and chuck wagons of my last post, this pair actually has something to do with the place it claims to represent:It is, in fact, a salt-and-pepper version of the Portage La prairie, Manitoba city hall. The city hall has been divided into two parts, one for salt, one for pepper, likeContinue reading “Accurate Souvenirs”
Category Archives: Salt-and-Pepper Sets
A Cowboy in the Mountains
As I suggested in an earlier post, Banff, Alberta is represented in the world of salt and pepper shakers in a wide spectrum of ways: a a pair of golden hands, a pair of ungrammatical aboriginals, a lion and a grass-skirted person of African descent. Here’s another odd addition to that very miscellaneous assortment:Well, perhaps it’s not soContinue reading “A Cowboy in the Mountains”
Black Like Each Other
Now that I’ve discussed a group of shakers that represent stereotypes of people of African decent in different posts, I thought it might be interesting to see them all together: What intrigues me is the familial resemblance they have to each other. Whether they’re heading off to sea in Clyde, Alberta or hunting lions inContinue reading “Black Like Each Other”
Uncle Mose and . . . Auntie Mane?
Continuing the theme of stereotypes of people of African descent, there is this pair: Since the human of this pair is wearing what looks sort of like a grass skirt, wielding a club, and accompanied by a lion rather than by a pancake-wielding woman, I presume he is supposed to represent, not an African American,Continue reading “Uncle Mose and . . . Auntie Mane?”
Cabbage Riders
These fellows make no sense to me at all:They are, clearly another pair of black stereotypes–they have the usual thick red lips and round white eyes, a la the Aunt Jemima of my last few posts. But they are not, this time, African American stereotypes, or if they are I have no idea about whyContinue reading “Cabbage Riders”
The Shaming of a Hard Old Man Like Me
In my last post, I discussed Tavia Nyong’o’s idea that “the shiny, hard, and brittle surfaces of racist ceramic figurines reflect back upon the psychology of scapegoating black children”–a view of “blackness as a hardened form of subjectivity.” Nyong’o calls it, “this racial simile, a black skin is as hard as stone; not skin atContinue reading “The Shaming of a Hard Old Man Like Me”
African American Pancake Pushers
In previous posts, back in March, I tried to come to grips with my responses to the sets of shakers in my collection that depict Native North Americans. I began by saying of one pair that “It’s that rendering of the toxic as perfectly harmless that most fascinates me about them.” Later, I described aContinue reading “African American Pancake Pushers”
Dog and . . . What?
As I was suggesting in my last post, the range of possible go-withs for any specific shaker is as large as the linguistic ingenuity and/or cultural repertoire of its manufacturer. Consider dogs: We are already familiar with the territory-marking little fellow on the left, happily claiming ownership of the somewhat damaged fellow on the right (noteContinue reading “Dog and . . . What?”
More on the Tyranny of Pairs
I’ve been thinking further about the tyranny of pairs in the world of shaker sets, which I discussed in my last post. It has occurred to me now that it’s the implied connection of the two disparate things in a pair that is, often, the source of the comedy or even the cuteness. A dogContinue reading “More on the Tyranny of Pairs”
The Tyranny of Pairs
Out on the street, you can find, as well as street signs, the occasional fire hydrant:And along with a fire hydrant, you will usually find . . . ? A fireman, perhaps? No. A group of children getting a free drink on a hot summer day? No. What a fire hydrant goes with, of course,Continue reading “The Tyranny of Pairs”
Perry Nodelman 