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Re: Fwd: Multicultural literature, minus some?
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From: K.T. Horning <horning_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 08:59:43 -0600
Elsa, I can assure you that the CCBC doesn't overlook the Middle East. We've kept track of books about the Middle East and Americans of Middle Eastern descent since 2003, when we first started to see a significant number of books being published in the U.S. But we don't include them in our statistics of books by and about people of color because technically, Arabs are classified as white.
But your points about Arab cultural identity are well-taken, and now that there is a significant body of children's books being developed, you've given us an idea for a future discussion topic. Thank you!
There are many different aspects to multicultural literature, starting with many different definitions of the term itself, and we welcome a deeper exploration of the topic on many levels. We also strive to include multicultural books in every monthly discussion of children's and young adult literature.
--KT
On 2/13/2014 10:24 PM, Elsa Marston wrote:
> In these twelve days of informed and passionate commentary, I have yet
> to see the words "Arab," "Arab-American," "Muslim," or even "Middle
> Eastern" (except once, as an example of a silly error.) Of course we
> all write about what's important to us. But what threw me from the
> start was CCBC's statistical breakdown of books by cultural grouping,
> in Merri Lindgren's message of February 5. The four groupings, which
> have come up in other postings, are African/African-American, Native
> American, Latino/Latina, and Asian/Pacific and Asian/Pacific-American
> (which I assume includes everything from Iran to Kamchatka!)
>
> But not a word about the Middle East/North Africa. So here's the first
> pitch for the Arab world. (Of course there are other, non-Arab
> countries and societies in the Middle East, but I'm dealing here with
> what I know best.)
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 08:59:43 -0600
Elsa, I can assure you that the CCBC doesn't overlook the Middle East. We've kept track of books about the Middle East and Americans of Middle Eastern descent since 2003, when we first started to see a significant number of books being published in the U.S. But we don't include them in our statistics of books by and about people of color because technically, Arabs are classified as white.
But your points about Arab cultural identity are well-taken, and now that there is a significant body of children's books being developed, you've given us an idea for a future discussion topic. Thank you!
There are many different aspects to multicultural literature, starting with many different definitions of the term itself, and we welcome a deeper exploration of the topic on many levels. We also strive to include multicultural books in every monthly discussion of children's and young adult literature.
--KT
On 2/13/2014 10:24 PM, Elsa Marston wrote:
> In these twelve days of informed and passionate commentary, I have yet
> to see the words "Arab," "Arab-American," "Muslim," or even "Middle
> Eastern" (except once, as an example of a silly error.) Of course we
> all write about what's important to us. But what threw me from the
> start was CCBC's statistical breakdown of books by cultural grouping,
> in Merri Lindgren's message of February 5. The four groupings, which
> have come up in other postings, are African/African-American, Native
> American, Latino/Latina, and Asian/Pacific and Asian/Pacific-American
> (which I assume includes everything from Iran to Kamchatka!)
>
> But not a word about the Middle East/North Africa. So here's the first
> pitch for the Arab world. (Of course there are other, non-Arab
> countries and societies in the Middle East, but I'm dealing here with
> what I know best.)
-- Kathleen T. Horning Director Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 N. Park St Madison, WI 53706 http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc horning_at_education.wisc.edu 608-263-3721 (phone) 608-262-4933 (fax) --- You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu. To post to the list, send message to: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To receive messages in digest format, send a message to... ccbc-net-request_at_lists.wisc.edu ...and include only this command in the body of the message: set ccbc-net digest CCBC-Net Archives The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp To access the archives, go to: http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net and enter the following: username: ccbc-net password: Look4PostsReceived on Fri 14 Feb 2014 09:00:06 AM CST
