Thoughts on The Ghetto Tarot?

[seven stars]

Have others noticed this deck in creation? The work itself is awesome, but I personally feel a grave injustice has been done in titling the deck. It's a work by a woman by the name of Alice Smeets, who went to Haiti & created these images with the locals.

The only reason I find it controversial is the naming of the deck. She feels the naming of it is "taking back" the word Ghetto, however, can a white person take back a term that is considered derogatory to one group? Is it even accurate considering the dictionary definition of ghetto is "a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure" & in Haiti blacks are not the minority? Is the term any more derogatory than barrio?

If I had viewed this deck as "The Deck of the Haiti People" or "The Deck of Port-au-Prince" or "Third World Tarot" or "The Deck of Atis Rezistans" I would have found it fascinating and thought provoking, whereas seeing it referred to as "The Ghetto Tarot" has provoked so much negativity that I can't even look at the images without a feeling of insult toward a bunch of people who don't even deserve that, just the same as if I were calling them all the N word. The name alone makes me feel bad as a white person viewing it. If that makes sense.

It just seems to me that the naming of this deck does the actual work & the people in the photographs a great disservice, but maybe that's just a small minded American white middle class viewpoint.

This thread should NOT invoke anger - I find it thought provoking, the way the naming of a deck can give us a good feeling about the contents or a very bad feeling - and this is coming from someone who without much thought & tongue-in-cheek named her first deck the Deck of the Bastard.

I mean, look at these images - they're fantastic. But then, look at them as "The Deck of the N****", or "The Deck of the Po Black Boy" or "The Deck of the Thugs"...or "The Ghetto Tarot"......doesn't it just make you feel kind of bad? As opposed to wow these are freaking beautiful people? It just doesn't set right....especially knowing it's a white middle class person naming it.

The power of a single word.

 

[danieljuk]

Sadly I would ignore it now because of the name She might have wanted to reclaim the word in the name but it means all the attention will be on the controversial name. People won't even be interested in looking further into the deck. There was a very controversial oracle printed recently with historic images of Golliwogs, it caused a very long argumentative thread in the oracles area which had to be locked. That was different, every card has a horrible historic connotation and the publisher should have been more sensitive I think.

Sadly in this case, the images are beautiful. This could have been such a positive adventure into Haiti. The word 'Ghetto' sadly was originally the name of the area in Venice where Jews were segregated and is a Yiddish word in origin.
I hope she changes the deck name

 

[seven stars]

That's pretty much my stance exactly. I've had a lot of interesting discussions on cultural appropriation, & I'm actually normally on the other side of the fence, since I have no problem wearing Native American jewelry & using smudge sticks with feathered wands while still adorning my house with images of Buddha & Ganesh even though I'm not a scholar on Buddhism or Ganesh. I find that I really want to like this deck & I'm kinda sad that it's ruined by such a simple thing as the naming of it. I think, if she wanted to go down in history as having the first politically incorrect deck, so be it, but it's a sad thing to do to such a lovely deck.

 

[prudence]

I agree the name is so unfortunate. I love the colors and it looks joyous, not ghetto. She really ought to come up with a new name for this.

I do wonder if she were black, would we be as bothered by the title?

 

[gregory]

I agree the name is so unfortunate. I love the colors and it looks joyous, not ghetto. She really ought to come up with a new name for this.

I do wonder if she were black, would we be as bothered by the title?

I'm afraid that was my first thought too.... Has anyone contacted her to ask - and directed her here, maybe ?

 

[danieljuk]

Totally agree with you SevenStars and Prudence.

This is her statement about the naming of the deck from the deck page...

Why call it Ghetto Tarot?
Our idea behind choosing the term "Ghetto" as a name for the deck, is to provoke a discussion around the topic, to stop people ignoring the poverty or just pitying the poor and to question their own assumptions about what the ghetto really is. The name of the Ghetto Tarot is inspired by the"Ghetto Biennale", which is an invitation by Atis Rezistans to visiting Western and non-Western artists to come to Haiti and create art in collaboration with them to produce a show at the end. Atis Rezistans use trash to create art with their own visions that are a reflection of the beauty they see hidden within the waste.
Our intention is not a glorification of the life in the Ghetto, but to feature the Haitian Ghetto and poverty in general in another light. I have observed over and over again that those, who the world calls "the poor", are full of strength, full of life, joy and creativity. I believe we need more people in this world to start looking at them that way and stop seeing them as victims of a deserted and hopeless situation. A desirable consequence of this imagened situation is a reintegration of the lost self-trust into their own original ideas.
Since generations Haitians have witnessed people telling them that they are poor and that they need western "solutions" to their problems and many have associated themselves with this idea a long time ago. But I do believe very strongly that the Haitian people can find their own solutions, because they are smart and inventive. We chose the word "Ghetto" on purpose to show how beautiful, vibrant and full of life this part of the world can be if we open our eyes to its beauty.
"[The artists] are reframing a demeaning view of their community and claiming the word ghetto. The deck suggests a ghetto manifesto that says “We will own this slanderous, derogatory term that is a gross misrepresentation of our worth, shape-shifting it into a sign of our own resilient beauty. We will capitalize on the power behind the illusions of inferiority you have tried to saddle us with, and we will rise above, sovereign and free beyond your labels of the victimized, impoverished ones."" -quotation by Mellissae Lucia.

Our objective is to highlight the creativity and strength of the citizens of the Ghetto and we are certain that inside of them lays a treasure of innovative ideas to dissolve the circle of dependence and victimization, that will break through if the world starts looking at their skills and capacities instead of their deficiencies. That plays an important part of the objective behind the photographies of the "Ghetto Tarot": reaching beyond cultural walls of prejudice and ignorance to achieve a much needed transformation of the collective conscience perception on poverty and a change of the often negative connotation that the word "Ghetto" implies in our culture into a positive one, using imagery as the chosen form of artistic expression

Alice Smeets herself is from Belgium and gone to Haiti repeatedly for photo documenting and charity work. She seems to really be working to help the poverty in Haiti but also made a film documentary called "aidependent" about the foreign aid given. She seems to really care about this cause and promote it and I think this is what the purpose of the deck is for. I still feel uncomfortable the deck name though It would be a bit better to call it "out of the ghetto" tarot or something like that but I do think a different name entirely would be better. It is a crowdfunded deck currently. Not met the target yet.

Edited to Add - I do think in both her statement and message about the cards representing the people that she misses a connotation of the name "ghetto tarot". I don't think people associate it with poverty, in the way she thinks it does. Not in the U.S and the UK anyway. We associate with a negative to neutral 'hip hop' image as our first thoughts these days. It's associated these days with a sort of gangster type of association and she might not realise that. I don't know, am I totally wrong about that? she seems to have missed that in her statement above and it is glaring to me

 

[Nemia]

When I hear ghetto, I think of Jewish ghettos - the Holocaust to be precise, and the horrible death Jews died in the ghettos the Nazis established. But also medieval Jewish ghettos. That's where the word comes from historically.

Really not a name I'd give to a tarot.

 

[tarotbear]

I agree with Nemia ~ I am 'of a certain age' as the French would say that I hear 'ghetto' and I think of Jews & the Holocaust - although if you look at pictures of the 1939 NY World's Fair you will see a sign here and there that says 'Ghetto Restaurant' and it is referring to Jewish foods...

An unfortunate choice of words no matter how well you see the imagery of the deck ...

 

[dryadintheelm]

That is so racist to say that ghettos are for minorities. I'm white, from an upper middle class background (boarding school for a while even, some private schools, bachelor's degree, no drug or alcohol issues, and a high IQ) but I'm totally in the ghetto (not a Haitian one though) and have been here for a while. Hope to get out soon, but we all do. Life happens sometimes.

I'd want that deck, if it were drawn or painted (I'm not into photographed decks). I'd think it could show images of poverty that the people around me who want advice could relate to. Also, to me when I say "ghetto", it feels like I'm admitting a truth. That's what Tarot is to me, facing truth even when it makes you feel uncomfortable, or you'd like to use a white-washed filter to view the world, avoiding words that make you cringe.

By the way, living in the ghetto means that you are resourceful, level headed in crisis, and likely very creative when it comes to solving day-to-day problems. I can "mend, make do, or do without" like a freaking champion. Not everything about ghetto life is negative, it's only an insult if you look down on it.

 

[Madame Squee]

I WANT THAT DECK!!!!!!!! I've been pining for a deck of color, and this one looks amaaaaaazing!!! (Such a shame, too, because I just quit collecting this morning. Oh well, I can always quit again after this one.)

Tell you what...

Since I'm also white, middle-class and slipping rapidly out of it, I'll save my 2 cents and ask my black children what they think of the name and see if they have any suggestions. I predict my youngest son will have the most interesting suggestion, because he is the political activist, who has not the slightest interest in tarot. My daughter, however, reads cards herself and is an artist with a BFA degree. So, I believe she is quite familiar with this art movement and has even explained it to me before. (She gives me the most interesting lectures when she has time.)

I'll be back, but probably not until tomorrow.

(Running outta here to google ghetto tarot...)