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accuracy and authenticity
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From: Tattercoat at aol.com <Tattercoat>
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 11:41:59 EDT
Setting aside issues of source material, I want to thank Beverly for bringing authenticity and accuracy back into our discussion of evaluation.
One of the things that makes evaluation of accuracy and authenticity so difficult is that most of us don't know enough about other cultures to make the final call. As a reviewer, I rely on Indian people to help me determine authenticity and accuracy in books about their own cultures. Most tribes have librarians and scholars who are knowlegable and glad to help out. However, Indian people I know can be shy about book involvement; they have been called on, often at the last moment, to review books in progress, then had their names and tribal affiliations used as an endorsement--even when their criticims and concerns were not heeded! Clearly, the respectful and honest thing to do is to include consultation throughout the writing and editing process and only use genuine endorsements.
Better yet, cultivate Native American authors and illustrators. The collaborative process between Joseph Bruchac and his editor is a model for that kind of active development.
One thing that makes Indian material so much harder for us to evaluate today is that the IDEA of "Indians" is so much a part of American mythology. A lot of ideas about Indians are repeated throughout our culture in books, movies, ads, etc., without basis in fact because they are part of the story we have told ourselves about the past. Some "facts" I see repeatedly in children's books today are: Indians are part of the past, but not the present. Indians attacked and scalped whites (but not visa versa). White settlers and Indians feared and hated each other (many did, and with reason, but the relationship between the races was varied and depended on the individual and included alliances, mutual aid, friendship and intermarriage as well as warfare and genocide), the decimation of Indian nations was an inevitable byproduct of
"civilization"--they just disappeared.
The time will come (soon I hope) when it will be unthinkable to write about Indian experience without inside experience/extensive personal research within the living culture. If librarians, reviewers, educators and others at the market end of publishing want a true Native American literature for children we can create the market for those books by talking up and buying the good ones.
Debbie had a great list of recommendations. I'm forwarding it to our county children's librarian. Other favorites?
Carolyn Lehman Humboldt State University
Received on Fri 29 Oct 1999 10:41:59 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 11:41:59 EDT
Setting aside issues of source material, I want to thank Beverly for bringing authenticity and accuracy back into our discussion of evaluation.
One of the things that makes evaluation of accuracy and authenticity so difficult is that most of us don't know enough about other cultures to make the final call. As a reviewer, I rely on Indian people to help me determine authenticity and accuracy in books about their own cultures. Most tribes have librarians and scholars who are knowlegable and glad to help out. However, Indian people I know can be shy about book involvement; they have been called on, often at the last moment, to review books in progress, then had their names and tribal affiliations used as an endorsement--even when their criticims and concerns were not heeded! Clearly, the respectful and honest thing to do is to include consultation throughout the writing and editing process and only use genuine endorsements.
Better yet, cultivate Native American authors and illustrators. The collaborative process between Joseph Bruchac and his editor is a model for that kind of active development.
One thing that makes Indian material so much harder for us to evaluate today is that the IDEA of "Indians" is so much a part of American mythology. A lot of ideas about Indians are repeated throughout our culture in books, movies, ads, etc., without basis in fact because they are part of the story we have told ourselves about the past. Some "facts" I see repeatedly in children's books today are: Indians are part of the past, but not the present. Indians attacked and scalped whites (but not visa versa). White settlers and Indians feared and hated each other (many did, and with reason, but the relationship between the races was varied and depended on the individual and included alliances, mutual aid, friendship and intermarriage as well as warfare and genocide), the decimation of Indian nations was an inevitable byproduct of
"civilization"--they just disappeared.
The time will come (soon I hope) when it will be unthinkable to write about Indian experience without inside experience/extensive personal research within the living culture. If librarians, reviewers, educators and others at the market end of publishing want a true Native American literature for children we can create the market for those books by talking up and buying the good ones.
Debbie had a great list of recommendations. I'm forwarding it to our county children's librarian. Other favorites?
Carolyn Lehman Humboldt State University
Received on Fri 29 Oct 1999 10:41:59 AM CDT
