Forever in Kente: Ghanian Barbie and the Fashioning of Identity

This article analyses the costuming of Mattel's Ghanian Barbie, and other ‘Dolls of the World’ for what they reveal about issues of nostalgia, imperialism and identity in a post Cold War American world. While many scholars have commented on the ideologies that Barbie exemplifies and promotes, few give attention to the ‘Dolls of the World’. Those that do focus on how these dolls promote American-like consumption in other parts of the world. Yet the largest market for these dolls is here in the US. My article addresses this gap through an examination of their American consumption as well as commenting on the complex issues of ethnicity and nationhood that these dolls raise.