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Tight Times and Nonfiction
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 15:31:34 -0500
I'm so glad non-fiction has been brought up as part of the discussion. I agree there have been some terrific books looking specifically class and poverty issues, whether explicity or implicitly in books about immigration, labor history, slavery, reconstruction. These are so often portraits of the poor and working class.
A pet peeve of mine when it comes to class issues in non-fiction has come up a number of times when I'm reading a book about a woman or women in the past who were breaking barriers in the workplace or otherwise doing something unusual for women of their time: the narrative states something to the effect of "and this was at a time when women weren't working, or rarely working, outside the home."
A simple line like that unintentionally renders the history and reality of the lives of hundred of thousands of working class and poor women who were tolling in factories and farm fields and sweatshops and wherever else they needed to be to support their families competely invisible--as if they were not living at the same time as the singular subject(s) of the narrative. What the author clearly means is "middle or upper class women"--not thinking to spell it out doesn't make the oversight any less damaging.
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Thu 12 May 2011 03:31:34 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 15:31:34 -0500
I'm so glad non-fiction has been brought up as part of the discussion. I agree there have been some terrific books looking specifically class and poverty issues, whether explicity or implicitly in books about immigration, labor history, slavery, reconstruction. These are so often portraits of the poor and working class.
A pet peeve of mine when it comes to class issues in non-fiction has come up a number of times when I'm reading a book about a woman or women in the past who were breaking barriers in the workplace or otherwise doing something unusual for women of their time: the narrative states something to the effect of "and this was at a time when women weren't working, or rarely working, outside the home."
A simple line like that unintentionally renders the history and reality of the lives of hundred of thousands of working class and poor women who were tolling in factories and farm fields and sweatshops and wherever else they needed to be to support their families competely invisible--as if they were not living at the same time as the singular subject(s) of the narrative. What the author clearly means is "middle or upper class women"--not thinking to spell it out doesn't make the oversight any less damaging.
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Thu 12 May 2011 03:31:34 PM CDT
