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Negerkung

Dorfl

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In older Swedish literature (say 50+ yrs old), a fairly common stock character is the "negerkung" (Negro King). For example, Pippi Longstocking's dad is the negerkung over the South Sea Kurrekurredutt Island in older prints of the books. The negerkung is the leader of some small nation of dark-skinned people (who aren't necessarily "negroes" in the technical sense: Isn't the South Sea part of the pacific?), usually just a village or an island. He is usually a slightly humorous character, fat, jolly and a bit inept at his job. Of course, he has pretty much disappeared from modern literature.

Anyway, my mother asked me today if I knew whether the negerkung was an exclusively Swedish stock character, or if he turns up in most western literature from that epoch. I suppose that the Babourum Chieftain from "Tintin in the Congo" qualifies, but I wasn't really sure. Does someone here have examples of "Negerkung"-equivalent characters turning up in non-Swedish works?
 
I believe that there is a similar caracter in Jules Verne's "Dick Sand, a captain at 15" where the king end up catching fire due to a massive alcohol intake :D. You find him in Danish litterture too for instance the "Peder Most" books and the musical "Styrmand Karlsens rejser" (The travels of 1. mate Karlsen).
I don't really know other examples but i'm sure they exist.
 
Id say that nowadays they only exist in the real world, often not so jolly though.
 
Hi

In modern film-making, there's a phenomenon that some folks, including Spike Lee, have called, "The Magic Negro," that may serve some of the same functions.
 
Gagglegnash said:
Hi

In modern film-making, there's a phenomenon that some folks, including Spike Lee, have called, "The Magic Negro," that may serve some of the same functions.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I found the magical negro in the Tropes Wiki too. But he doesn't seem like quite the same type of character as the negerkung. I could be wrong though. I'm not myself of the generation that grew up with them turning up in childrens' stories and stuff.
 
In the Donald Duck comics, the Negro king-style archetype appears quite often as a tribal chief. Typically completely useless, incredibly superstitious, and easily manipulated, especially by Uncle Scrooge, he's the leader of a tribe or people with pretty much the same characteristics, except maybe they're even dumber than him, and the encounters usually end either with the natives chasing Scrooge and company out of the village, or with them cheering him for having given dispensed for them some of his incredible white powers.

In the same village there'll also often be the One Smart Native Kid archetype, who lacks all of the adults' superstition and often partners up with our heroes to help them accomplish their motives.
 
Safe-Keeper said:
In the Donald Duck comics, the Negro king-style archetype appears quite often as a tribal chief. Typically completely useless, incredibly superstitious, and easily manipulated, especially by Uncle Scrooge, he's the leader of a tribe or people with pretty much the same characteristics, except maybe they're even dumber than him, and the encounters usually end either with the natives chasing Scrooge and company out of the village, or with them cheering him for having given dispensed for them some of his incredible white powers.

In the same village there'll also often be the One Smart Native Kid archetype, who lacks all of the adults' superstition and often partners up with our heroes to help them accomplish their motives.
Click to expand...

That sounds like what I'm thinking about with the negerkung. Are there any youtube-examples you could direct me to, for educational purposes? Or does he only turn up in the comics?

Come to think of it, I think I once saw a Mickey Mouse cartoon where he got a bunch of cannibals who had escaped from a zoo. Long time since I saw it, though.
 
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What role does the Black King play in Scandinavian literature? Is he the nemesis? The mentor? The comic relief? Knowing his place in the narrative would go a long way towards identifying archetypes that occupy a similar place in the narratives of other cultures...
 
theprestige said:
What role does the Black King play in Scandinavian literature? Is he the nemesis? The mentor? The comic relief? Knowing his place in the narrative would go a long way towards identifying archetypes that occupy a similar place in the narratives of other cultures...
Click to expand...

Once more, I'm not totally sure. The character died long before I was born. But I think he is more of a background character. Being a king, his role is mainly to give the main character a mission, and reward him with the princess and a chokladboll if he succeeds.
 
Gagglegnash said:
Hi

In modern film-making, there's a phenomenon that some folks, including Spike Lee, have called, "The Magic Negro," that may serve some of the same functions.
Click to expand...

That's what I first thought of, but I don't think they are comparable. Stephen King is a big time user of the "Magic Negro" archetype, which probably springs from his love of deus ex machina.
 
The two concepts seem quite different.

The negerkund seems like a very racist insisting on the naivety/dumbness of the black 'savage'.
The negerkund is in a situation of relative power and status and only happens in a culture/region dominated by similar 'black' character (Africa; South Pacific...)
The character can be either benign or malign toward the hero.
It's role seems mainly comical, mostly an embodiment of the white people's feeling of superiority at the time.


The 'magic negro' is much more benign in its racism.
The 'magic negro' is often humble in status and live in region dominated by whites (USA mostly), which contribute to his humble status.
The black character is described as unusually wise with often some magical powers.
He is always a mentor and a helper to the hero. He does not have goals of his own or quickly sacrificed them to the hero. This sacrifice also often is one of the 'magic negro's' own life.
The concept is a bit more complex than the negerkund's, but still, the 'magic negro' is not deemed worthy of being his own hero or to have his own goals. Some values is recognized to the black character, but he is still considered submissive and subservient, just hapily so.
 
theprestige said:
What role does the Black King play in Scandinavian literature? Is he the nemesis? The mentor? The comic relief? Knowing his place in the narrative would go a long way towards identifying archetypes that occupy a similar place in the narratives of other cultures...
Click to expand...

Mostly i would say "the comic relief" and yes he is a (somewhat)racist archetype but that probably reflects the time when he flourished.
 
thrombus29 said:
In the Netherlands, they have Black Pete, who works with Santa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Peter

I think it all ties in to the Magic Negro thing.
Click to expand...


Mhmm, there is a card game in Germany which is called "Schwarzer Peter", but I have no idea why it's called this way or if "schwarz" refers to the color of Peters skin, which I tend to doubt.

However, some malicious people probably would say that Obama is the "Negerkung", I guess.


ETA:

Schwarzer Peter ist neben Quartett das am weitesten verbreitete Kartenspiel für Kinder. Die Redewendung „jemandem den Schwarzen Peter zuschieben“ bedeutet, jemand anderen etwas Unangenehmes tun zu lassen, sodass dieser die Verantwortung tragen muss.[1]
Der Name Schwarzer Peter erinnert möglicherweise an einen Zeitgenossen und Kumpan des Schinderhannes, den Räuber Johann Peter Petri, der auch unter dem Namen „der alte Schwarzpeter“ oder „Schwarzer Peter“ bekannt war.[2]
Das älteste bekannte Schwarzer-Peter-Spiel stammt aus dem Biedermeier um 1830.
Click to expand...
 
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Simon39759 said:
The two concepts seem quite different.

The negerkund seems like a very racist insisting on the naivety/dumbness of the black 'savage'.
The negerkund is in a situation of relative power and status and only happens in a culture/region dominated by similar 'black' character (Africa; South Pacific...)
The character can be either benign or malign toward the hero.
It's role seems mainly comical, mostly an embodiment of the white people's feeling of superiority at the time.

The 'magic negro' is much more benign in its racism.
The 'magic negro' is often humble in status and live in region dominated by whites (USA mostly), which contribute to his humble status.
The black character is described as unusually wise with often some magical powers.
He is always a mentor and a helper to the hero. He does not have goals of his own or quickly sacrificed them to the hero. This sacrifice also often is one of the 'magic negro's' own life.
The concept is a bit more complex than the negerkund's, but still, the 'magic negro' is not deemed worthy of being his own hero or to have his own goals. Some values is recognized to the black character, but he is still considered submissive and subservient, just hapily so.
Click to expand...

I agree. The "magic negro" character is disturbing, but he doesn't seem as outright malicious as the negerkung. The "magic negro" isn't usually a cannibal, for example.

ps.
Negerkung = Negro king
Negerkund = Negro customer
 
Oliver said:
Mhmm, there is a card game in Germany which is called "Schwarzer Peter", but I have no idea why it's called this way or if "schwarz" refers to the color of Peters skin, which I tend to doubt.
Click to expand...

We have "Svarte Petter", which is probably the same. I've forgotten the rules though.


Anyway: Sorry to abandon my own thread, but I won't have access to a computer over the weekend.

Thanks for your replies, folks! :)
 
Dorfl said:
I agree. The "magic negro" character is disturbing, but he doesn't seem as outright malicious as the negerkung. The "magic negro" isn't usually a cannibal, for example.

ps.
Negerkung = Negro king
Negerkund = Negro customer
Click to expand...


Oups, sorry.
My Swedish is limited to the word: 'Ikea'.


And, yes, I think that the people using the 'magic Negro' archetype don't feel themselves racist, rather benevolent, in a unconsciously patronizing kind of way.
 
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