billwill
Tuesday 11th December 2012 7:12pm
North London
6,162 posts
Quote: Tursiops @ December 11 2012, 2:24 PM GMT
Wog possibly derives from golliwog, rather than vice versa, but even that is uncertain - wog tended to be used more for olive skinned races. The original golliwog was a sympathetic, even heroic, character in a children's book. The depiction, and the dolls that followed, seem to owe more to the black face minstrel tradition than to any direct attempt to create a negro character. Enid Blyton is often cited as the source of negative connotations surrounding golliwogs, but for those of my generation the golliwog was familiar as a promotional figure for Robertson's jam, and had only positive connotations. I recall sending off the coupons to collect all the figurines in a golliwog jazz band, which rather reinforces the connection with the black-faced minstrel tradition.
The black-faced minstrel tradition is of course notably controversial. Its origins, certainly in England, go back centuries, and some Morris (i.e. Moorish) dancers still perform in blackface. The American manifestation undoubtedly reinforced stereotypes, though not entirely negative ones, but it also played a part in cultural cross-fertilisation, and therefore ultimately in changing attitudes. Those familiar only with the pasteurised Black & White Minstrel show will not be aware of what a vibrant cultural tradition blackface was in the late 1800s and early 1900s, or how important it was in the development of popular music.
The demonisation of the golliwog is something of a cultural oversimplification. Perhaps some black people do find it offensive, but are they right to do so? In the use of racially offensive language the law, quite correctly, requires that in order to be an offence there must be an intention to offend. I would consider that the the golliwog, of itself, represents no such intent.
As far as I am aware WOG derives from the initials of Western Oriental Gentleman so in itself is not particularly deriding.
So Golliwog probably came after the use of WOG.