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Re: More on Humor and More on Multicultural Literature
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From: Colleen Kelley <cakelley_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:41:18 -0500 (EST)
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Uma, thank you so much for highlighting your book on my reading lis t. I’ll be reading it soon.
You mention the tendency of books set in developing countries to fo cus on suffering and oppressed protagonists. I wonder if this is because of stereotypes of the region; a wish to call attention to the plight of the o ppressed; an outdated understanding of the region (as developing countries "develop"); the fact that this actually represents the majority of people i n the region; or perhaps some other reason.
Two other issues you bring up--stereotypes and authenticity--intere st me from the point of view of both the reader and the writer. On the one hand, as a reader, I expect writers to do their homework--to have had at le ast one person native to the culture read a manuscript for accuracy and ste reotypes--and the publisher to check this as well. If this doesn't happen, it seems that the book could create misperceptions of a culture instead of a more accurate understanding of it.
Yet, as you indicate, cultures are constantly changing, and though "culture" indicates a group of people that has certain things--besides geog raphic boundaries--in common, there are always people within the culture wh o do not reflect these commonalities, and very few, if any, who embody them all.
In addition, as you say, the author's view is limited by travels, e xperience, and so on. As would the view of anyone asked to read it for accu racy. So I think the author's task is a difficult one. From which segment o f a culture should the writer select a protagonist, and with which characte ristics, traditions, etc. As a reader, I like to understand something about the culture that I didn't before. Unless it's indicated, I assume the auth or has chosen a protagonist who is somewhat representative of the values, c ustoms, and behaviors of his or her culture, and perhaps some of the ways i n which people within the culture vary with regard to these. Yet, I always appreciate it when authors include a note about their experiences with the cultures represented in the book, and the greater context in which the cult ures exist. The writer’s challenge seems to be how to make a person somewhat representative of a culture, without making the person too repres entative, i.e., oversimplifying and creating a st ereotype.
I think you are saying that cultural accuracy and the avoidance of stereotypes--to the extent they can be accomplished--are important, but it is most important to have protagonists who inspire feelings like self-respe ct , compassion, hope, and pride in the young readers who identify with the m. Did I understand you correctly?
I thought of another funny multicultural book that has an interesti ng twist. In Linda Sue Park's Archer's Quest , time travel is used to bring together two people from the same cultural background, but who live in different cen turies. There is a strong focus on various aspects of Korean culture, but t he humor in the story springs from the time traveler’s perceptions of, and interactions with, modern culture.
Colleen Kelley
-----Original Message----- From: Uma Sent:
Feb 22, 2013 12:42 PM To: Colleen Kelley C c: Mingshui Cai , "ccbc-net,Subscribers of" Subject: Re:
More on Humor and More on Multi cultural Literature t-Type" content="text/html
Colleen, I agree that Lowji's an interesting book, and works for all t hose reasons you mention. It works too because Candace Fleming has taken ri sks, and she's also done considerable work. That said, I will tell you that someone I know who is herself Parsi didn't entirely love the book, and fou nd the depiction of the family--the jokes, the carting around of the ancest ral portraits--mildly stereotypical. Even the child's name--why the honorif ic "ji?" she wanted to know. I had no answers, but her questions made me th ink.
Despite that I maintain that it is a brave book, because it does a few things that are worth noting: as you say, it refuses to privilege America over India, and the boy ends up maintaining his old friendship while forgin g new ones. He also ends with a kind of fused identity that he himself has crafted, not one that is imposed on him. And most of all, for the pur poses of this discussion, nobody is suffering from horrible oppression, and we don't end up feeling terribly sorry for the main character. Ergo, reade rs who are South Asian like the main character need not end up feeling asha med or embarrassed for themselves. That is something I hear over and over a gain from young readers of South Asian origin when they read well-respected books set in the region, that without exception have contexts of oppressio n, suffering, and social problems. My own middle grade, The Grand Plan to F ix Everything, was my little effort to counter this flood of what I think o f as "oppression literature" set in developin g countries. I'm not saying th ese books don't speak truth, I hasten to add, but there are other truths as well.
I say all this to suggest that authenticity may be a moving target. My take on South Asia and the diaspora is very specifically mine, drawn from my upbringing and travels and experiences, a narrow slice at best. Someone with a different background may have a completely different take, so who's authentic? But thematic elements and subtext are something else altogether; they are much more within an author's control. For me, especially in a hum orous book with cultural context, it's those subtle elements that can leave me willing to forgive flaws--or not.
Uma Krishnaswami Writer, Author of Children's Books http://www. umakrishnaswami.com Faculty Chair, MFA-Writing for Children Young Adults, Vermont Co llege of Fine Arts
ldren-young-adults
On Feb 22, 2013, at 10:17 AM, Colleen Kelley cakelley_at_ix.netcom.com wrote:
Yes, this is what I loved about Lowji Discovers America . T he humor exists not because someone else is laughing at Lowji, but because of the humor Lowji and his family see in how things are done different ly in India and the US. It also exists because of the reader's surpris e at how Lowji makes aspects of his native culture work in the new culture. More humor occurs when Lowji and some American boys his age disc over a common nonverbal language, and Lowji shows his superior skills in th is area.
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:41:18 -0500 (EST)
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Uma, thank you so much for highlighting your book on my reading lis t. I’ll be reading it soon.
You mention the tendency of books set in developing countries to fo cus on suffering and oppressed protagonists. I wonder if this is because of stereotypes of the region; a wish to call attention to the plight of the o ppressed; an outdated understanding of the region (as developing countries "develop"); the fact that this actually represents the majority of people i n the region; or perhaps some other reason.
Two other issues you bring up--stereotypes and authenticity--intere st me from the point of view of both the reader and the writer. On the one hand, as a reader, I expect writers to do their homework--to have had at le ast one person native to the culture read a manuscript for accuracy and ste reotypes--and the publisher to check this as well. If this doesn't happen, it seems that the book could create misperceptions of a culture instead of a more accurate understanding of it.
Yet, as you indicate, cultures are constantly changing, and though "culture" indicates a group of people that has certain things--besides geog raphic boundaries--in common, there are always people within the culture wh o do not reflect these commonalities, and very few, if any, who embody them all.
In addition, as you say, the author's view is limited by travels, e xperience, and so on. As would the view of anyone asked to read it for accu racy. So I think the author's task is a difficult one. From which segment o f a culture should the writer select a protagonist, and with which characte ristics, traditions, etc. As a reader, I like to understand something about the culture that I didn't before. Unless it's indicated, I assume the auth or has chosen a protagonist who is somewhat representative of the values, c ustoms, and behaviors of his or her culture, and perhaps some of the ways i n which people within the culture vary with regard to these. Yet, I always appreciate it when authors include a note about their experiences with the cultures represented in the book, and the greater context in which the cult ures exist. The writer’s challenge seems to be how to make a person somewhat representative of a culture, without making the person too repres entative, i.e., oversimplifying and creating a st ereotype.
I think you are saying that cultural accuracy and the avoidance of stereotypes--to the extent they can be accomplished--are important, but it is most important to have protagonists who inspire feelings like self-respe ct , compassion, hope, and pride in the young readers who identify with the m. Did I understand you correctly?
I thought of another funny multicultural book that has an interesti ng twist. In Linda Sue Park's Archer's Quest , time travel is used to bring together two people from the same cultural background, but who live in different cen turies. There is a strong focus on various aspects of Korean culture, but t he humor in the story springs from the time traveler’s perceptions of, and interactions with, modern culture.
Colleen Kelley
-----Original Message----- From: Uma Sent:
Feb 22, 2013 12:42 PM To: Colleen Kelley C c: Mingshui Cai , "ccbc-net,Subscribers of" Subject: Re:
More on Humor and More on Multi cultural Literature t-Type" content="text/html
Colleen, I agree that Lowji's an interesting book, and works for all t hose reasons you mention. It works too because Candace Fleming has taken ri sks, and she's also done considerable work. That said, I will tell you that someone I know who is herself Parsi didn't entirely love the book, and fou nd the depiction of the family--the jokes, the carting around of the ancest ral portraits--mildly stereotypical. Even the child's name--why the honorif ic "ji?" she wanted to know. I had no answers, but her questions made me th ink.
Despite that I maintain that it is a brave book, because it does a few things that are worth noting: as you say, it refuses to privilege America over India, and the boy ends up maintaining his old friendship while forgin g new ones. He also ends with a kind of fused identity that he himself has crafted, not one that is imposed on him. And most of all, for the pur poses of this discussion, nobody is suffering from horrible oppression, and we don't end up feeling terribly sorry for the main character. Ergo, reade rs who are South Asian like the main character need not end up feeling asha med or embarrassed for themselves. That is something I hear over and over a gain from young readers of South Asian origin when they read well-respected books set in the region, that without exception have contexts of oppressio n, suffering, and social problems. My own middle grade, The Grand Plan to F ix Everything, was my little effort to counter this flood of what I think o f as "oppression literature" set in developin g countries. I'm not saying th ese books don't speak truth, I hasten to add, but there are other truths as well.
I say all this to suggest that authenticity may be a moving target. My take on South Asia and the diaspora is very specifically mine, drawn from my upbringing and travels and experiences, a narrow slice at best. Someone with a different background may have a completely different take, so who's authentic? But thematic elements and subtext are something else altogether; they are much more within an author's control. For me, especially in a hum orous book with cultural context, it's those subtle elements that can leave me willing to forgive flaws--or not.
Uma Krishnaswami Writer, Author of Children's Books http://www. umakrishnaswami.com Faculty Chair, MFA-Writing for Children Young Adults, Vermont Co llege of Fine Arts
ldren-young-adults
On Feb 22, 2013, at 10:17 AM, Colleen Kelley cakelley_at_ix.netcom.com wrote:
Yes, this is what I loved about Lowji Discovers America . T he humor exists not because someone else is laughing at Lowji, but because of the humor Lowji and his family see in how things are done different ly in India and the US. It also exists because of the reader's surpris e at how Lowji makes aspects of his native culture work in the new culture. More humor occurs when Lowji and some American boys his age disc over a common nonverbal language, and Lowji shows his superior skills in th is area.
---Received on Sun 24 Feb 2013 03:41:18 PM CST
