> Educating Children on the Longest Street in the World by Tamara Kay, Harvard University, USA South African children play with Kami, a furry yellow fi ve-year-old HIV-positive girl muppet orphaned by AIDS. ©2007 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved. Photo- graphed by Ryan Heffernan. To see video clips of Sesame Street in different countries go to http://www.sesameworkshop.org/ 10 n an urban slum in India chil- in South Africa where one in ten chil- Street created to help mitigate the dis- dren huddle around an old dren has lost a parent to HIV/AIDS, a advantages they face. vegetable cart fi tted with a tel- television program helps destigmatize I evision and DVD player trans- the disease and deal with loss. All of The ubiquity and success of Sesame fi xed by characters who sing about these children have at least two things Street, particularly given the extraor- the letter “ma” in Hindi. In Tanzania in common: they will be way behind dinary politicization of culture in an children listen to a radio program that more advantaged children if and when era of globalization, present two inter- teaches them how to treat a mosquito they attend school, and they are being related enigmas: how does an iconic bed net to help prevent malaria. And exposed to a local version of Sesame US cultural product move through >> GDN VOL. 2 / # 5 / AUGUST 2012 transnational channels over time, and core value – using the alphabet to teach named Ikri. South Africans made their how does it gain local acceptance literacy. Albanians and Serbians could participation in a second season of and legitimacy as something genu- not agree on a common alphabet (ei- Takalani Sesame contingent on deal- inely and authentically local? ther Latin or Cyrillic). In addition to the ing with their country’s HIV/AIDS crisis language issue, partners did not want in the program and outreach projects. The educational nonprofi t Sesame to shoot scenes with children from each Despite initial concerns, SW worked Workshop (SW, formerly The Children’s group playing together because parents with them to develop an HIV/AIDS cur- Television Workshop) provides a unique would not allow their children to watch riculum and an HIV-positive Muppet opportunity to answer these questions an ethnically-integrated program. Al- character named Kami. because it creates local adaptations, though the problem could have killed or coproductions, of Sesame Street all the project, SW and their local partners The evidence suggests that the SW over the world intended to prepare pre- negotiated an innovative solution; they model has a positive effect on project school age children for school. In ad- developed a “visual dictionary” that outcomes. The success of the co- dition, SW develops outreach projects featured children holding objects such productions and outreach projects is with local partners – governments, as sunglasses and saying their corre- staggering. Controlled studies show civil society organizations, and NGOs sponding words in different languages. that children in Bangladesh exposed – that prioritize the United Nations’ to Sisimpur had literacy scores 67% Millennium Development Goals, from The terms of adoption were also im- higher than those who didn’t watch literacy and health (including malaria portant to Palestinians, who in 1994 it. In Egypt, four-year-old viewers of prevention in Tanzania, immunization initially refused to participate in a co- Alam Simsim performed at the same in India, heart health and nutrition in production with Israelis focused on level on math and literacy tests as Latin America, destigmatization of HIV/ mutual respect and understanding. fi ve-year-olds who watched it a little AIDS in South Africa), to social equal- They feared a high-quality version of or not at all. Evidence also suggests ity (promoting religious and ethnic tol- Sesame Street would destroy the iden- that local adaptation increases SW’s erance in confl ict zones such as Israel/ tity of their new and weak Palestinian legitimacy and therefore its reach. SW Palestine, Kosovo, South Africa, and television station, and that collaborat- commissions independent research Northern Ireland), among many oth- ing with Israelis and Americans would not only to gauge each coproduction’s ers. These outreach projects take the make them a target for conservatives. educational impact, but also to assess form of mobile dental clinics, model Key members of the team, however, whether coproductions are perceived schools, public service announce- saw it as an opportunity to build a local as local (they generally are). Within ments, and the distribution of free media infrastructure and train young eighteen months of its premiere in 11 materials (books, educational games, Palestinians. They requested that a 2000, Egypt’s Alam Simsim achieved DVDs, and parents’ guides, etc.) that signifi cant amount of funding be shift- 98% viewership and awareness of the reinforce local partners’ curricular ed from production to training. Pales- program, and it is now as iconic as the goals, particularly in areas where chil- tinians’ decision to adopt the program, US version. In India, 5,200 govern- dren do not have access to television. therefore, hinged on their ability to ne- ment-run day-care centers integrate gotiate what they considered to be a Galli Galli Sim Sim into every aspect Intensive interviews and ethnography more valuable product and process. of their curriculum. Sesame Street is in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle likely the most diffused vehicle for chil- East reveal that Sesame projects gain Negotiating the content of a copro- dren’s education in the world. local acceptance despite the potentially duction so that it would resonate with controversial issues they raise (gender the local population and address local A theory of diffusion as negotiation equality, mutual respect for racial and needs was critically important for SW’s provides a compelling new framework ethnic “others”, etc.) in large part be- Bangladeshi and South African part- for understanding the factors that cause of how SW structures its rela- ners. The former expressed trepidation constrain and spark adopters’ resist- tionship and negotiates entry with local about using Muppets in their program ance to cultural globalization. Moreo- partners. SW’s coproduction model is given the strong tradition of puppetry ver it suggests that in an era in which unique among organizations engaged in in Bangladeshi culture. Although SW transnational organizations and their transnational work because it is based does not require partners to use Mup- cultural products can be so quickly on creating a local team of experts that pets (i.e. puppets created by the Jim dispatched across the globe, success- chooses themes and curricula for its Henson Company), the Bangladeshi ful development projects and locally coproduction and outreach projects. team ultimately decided to design their acceptable cultural hybrids may de- Although they are subject to certain re- own Muppets (including Bengal tiger pend upon the construction of more strictions and oversight, partners have and jackal characters) and include tra- equitable transnational ties between tremendous freedom to shape their ditional Bangladeshi wooden rod pup- transnational organizations. Although projects. The SW case therefore reveals pets in Sisimpur. Together, SW and the diffusion processes can refl ect the the often hidden negotiations that fa- local team negotiated a unique plan to imposition and dominance of western cilitate processes of hybridization and incorporate the latter by transitioning values, practices and products, the ultimately diffusion. into “Ikri’s World” – where traditional SW case reveals adopters’ sources of Bangladeshi rod puppets live and leverage, infl uence, and autonomy by In Kosovo, negotiations over the terms where their stories are told with song illuminating how culture is negotiated of adoption forced SW to reconsider a – through the imagination of a Muppet on the longest street in the world. GDN VOL. 2 / # 5 / AUGUST 2012.