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Race The writers dilemma
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From: terry northcutt <woodndance>
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 09:00:40 -0400
I have been enjoying the wonderful selection of books and the discussions of them on CCBC. Yes, I have been listening or I guess more accurately the term is "lurking". I am a writer-in-training and a psychologist. I would like to respond to the discussion about race in _Make Lemonade _through the lens of a white, female,writer and psychologist.
I have enjoyed working and living in an area that is predominantly african -american for many years. As a psychologist I can not have had all the experiences my clients bring into the therapy room. I must work to enter their world . Fortunately my training program provided many experiences to enable me to become aware of my values and assumptions on a wide range of issues including gender, religion, race, ethnic group, etc. and to try to be sensitive to how these impact my work with any and all clients. Through this training and many years of experience I have been able to enter the thinking and feeling world of others who are quite different. However no amount of training or experience can truly enable me to completely and accurately understand another human being. Nor as a human can I be free of all prejudice or assumptions.
With this as background I would like to express the dilemma I face as a writer. Because I live in a diverse society I would very much like to include other groups in my writing. Yet even as a psychologist with long term involvement with the african-american community I am uncomfortable including an african-american character for the following reasons: 1. It is true that because I am white I cannot completely understand. Jean Craighead George in _Water Sky _acknowledges a similar dilemma for her protagonist with respect to the Inuits. 2. I have read _Pleasures of Children's Literature _by Perry Nodelman as well as other articles and books that leave me as a writer feeling in a no-win situation. Here is how it plays out. I am willing to take the time to try to understand a culture through personal involvement and research so that I can develop well-rounded nonsterotypical characters but:
a. If I develop a well-rounded character with both positive and negative aspects, the negative traits will be considered as stereotypes or as intolerance. If the weight is perceived as too much in the positive direction, I will be seen as promoting tolerance at the expense of a realistic portrayal.
b. There is also the problem of essentializing. This dilemma results in creating a character in such a way as to suggest that there are easily indenitifiable charcteristics that are completely representative of the group. If this occurs then I am either robbing minority group members of their individuality or once again stereotyping.
c. Finally and I think quite importantly, .members of particular groups feel that only their voices can be authentic and people from other groups should not write about them.
I truly respect the manner in which Virginia Wolff wrote her book. I felt it was a very creative solution to a very difficult problem writers face .
This is the first time I have participated in a listserv discussion group. I appologize in advance for any breeches of netiquette or the manner in which I try to post to the listserv.
Terry Northcutt
Received on Thu 12 Jul 2001 08:00:40 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 09:00:40 -0400
I have been enjoying the wonderful selection of books and the discussions of them on CCBC. Yes, I have been listening or I guess more accurately the term is "lurking". I am a writer-in-training and a psychologist. I would like to respond to the discussion about race in _Make Lemonade _through the lens of a white, female,writer and psychologist.
I have enjoyed working and living in an area that is predominantly african -american for many years. As a psychologist I can not have had all the experiences my clients bring into the therapy room. I must work to enter their world . Fortunately my training program provided many experiences to enable me to become aware of my values and assumptions on a wide range of issues including gender, religion, race, ethnic group, etc. and to try to be sensitive to how these impact my work with any and all clients. Through this training and many years of experience I have been able to enter the thinking and feeling world of others who are quite different. However no amount of training or experience can truly enable me to completely and accurately understand another human being. Nor as a human can I be free of all prejudice or assumptions.
With this as background I would like to express the dilemma I face as a writer. Because I live in a diverse society I would very much like to include other groups in my writing. Yet even as a psychologist with long term involvement with the african-american community I am uncomfortable including an african-american character for the following reasons: 1. It is true that because I am white I cannot completely understand. Jean Craighead George in _Water Sky _acknowledges a similar dilemma for her protagonist with respect to the Inuits. 2. I have read _Pleasures of Children's Literature _by Perry Nodelman as well as other articles and books that leave me as a writer feeling in a no-win situation. Here is how it plays out. I am willing to take the time to try to understand a culture through personal involvement and research so that I can develop well-rounded nonsterotypical characters but:
a. If I develop a well-rounded character with both positive and negative aspects, the negative traits will be considered as stereotypes or as intolerance. If the weight is perceived as too much in the positive direction, I will be seen as promoting tolerance at the expense of a realistic portrayal.
b. There is also the problem of essentializing. This dilemma results in creating a character in such a way as to suggest that there are easily indenitifiable charcteristics that are completely representative of the group. If this occurs then I am either robbing minority group members of their individuality or once again stereotyping.
c. Finally and I think quite importantly, .members of particular groups feel that only their voices can be authentic and people from other groups should not write about them.
I truly respect the manner in which Virginia Wolff wrote her book. I felt it was a very creative solution to a very difficult problem writers face .
This is the first time I have participated in a listserv discussion group. I appologize in advance for any breeches of netiquette or the manner in which I try to post to the listserv.
Terry Northcutt
Received on Thu 12 Jul 2001 08:00:40 AM CDT
