#links to character pages included so anyone who'd like to chip in here can do so

[craftlands]

Idk I feel like the people who Shamane, Kaalaa, and Kanjira are supposed to represent should get a say in if they think they are offensive in some way

This also will sound kinda off but I think there are way worse depictions in other media.

That isn't to say there shouldn't be a discussion this is just my opinion

Also just cause I am bad at paying attention but is Kanjira Indian or something else

I was looking at the description that gives her age and it just says unknown but I may have missed it in dialogue

(Oh and if you are one of the people that the characters "represent" then sorry if this came off as rude)

Kanjira's Indian, but the "fortune teller/thief" design is very much rooted in Rromani stereotypes and she plays a lot into those -- i'm honestly just thankful that the g-slur never got dropped as i was legitimately waiting for that to happen every single time she was onscreen, it's That Obvious. there's a long history of discussion of these tropes and how they're harmful -- while i am not able to find specific sources at the current moment, they are absolutely out there.

i'd also like to point out that she speaks in broken English nearly constantly. you could argue that this is "because she's a kid and English isn't her first language" but i would like to then point out that Matilda, who is two years younger than her, almost never does the same thing despite English also not being her first language (and her showing active disdain for learning it). that's... really not great!

Kaalaa Baunaa i think is... the least bad, having played the story? her design is still, to be blunt, rather sexualized, but there's at least been some amount of effort as far as i can tell (i do like her connections to astronomy, which is a very long tradition in India that dates back very far). i'd love to see her in actual traditional garb still, but she's definitely the one i'm least equipped to speak on.

Shamane though. oh boy, Shamane is a mess. i love him as a character, he's a delight, but there are a lot of reasons his design is a problem. when i talked about the "ear feather" thing i was more or less explicitly referencing this post, and his name is... questionable? more pertinently, though, he's using a hell of a lot of Native American aesthetics and stereotypes (he's a "shaman" with deep connections to nature, he has "native patterns" baked into pretty much all of his animations, i could go on it gets so much worse) for someone who is ostensibly the child of a regular Indian family.

so... yes, SWANA, Rromani, and First Nations people should get a say in if they think these designs are offensive. and they have been saying designs like these are offensive for years.