Dora the Explorer and Language Ideologies
Carolyn Hunt
Illinois 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 popular despite
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 show
1.
2.
Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure
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.
2.
3.



social identity
differential influence or power
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, guyhaving-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 GreatGrandparents 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 metaphors
2.
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
English
Multiculturalism
Homogeneism
Liberal, Socialist
Agenda
Patriotism
Threat to
America
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.

More information at …….