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Fwd: Blind spots
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From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 18:15:13 -0500
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com> Date: Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 4:58 PM Subject: Blind spots To: ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu
I confess I still haven't read HOW I BECAME A GHOST (I put a hold on it at our public library and it still hasn't come in; now I've ordered a copy.)
Nonetheless, I've profited from and much enjoyed the discussion and appreciate Mr. Tingle's comments. I look forward to meeting him at the Texas Library Association conference in April--it appears we're on a panel together ("Religion in YA fiction").
My weekend offering was inspired by Marc Aronson's reference to "blind spots" several days back, and then reinforced by Mr. Tingle's observation on February 20: "...I am attempting a subtle reminder that West Culture often sees Natives as colorful beings rather than full-fledged humans......"
How true. Years ago, when working on my novel THE CLIFFS OF CAIRO, set in modern Egypt, I asked a friend to read the draft. He did and said he liked it, "but you don't have a single admirable Egyptian in your story!" Ouch. He was right. Yet I loved living in Egypt and certainly thought I had a very positive attitude toward Egyptians! Well, I fixed it, and have tried to do better ever since.
I think what had skewed my presentation of the Egyptians in my story was a woeful blind spot: the undetected bias that although they were interesting, eccentric, maybe a bit humorous, and definitely colorful; they were still only *characters; *whereas the main characters in my story--the American girl and her family--were *real people. Mea *ethnocentric
*culpa. *
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 18:15:13 -0500
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com> Date: Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 4:58 PM Subject: Blind spots To: ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu
I confess I still haven't read HOW I BECAME A GHOST (I put a hold on it at our public library and it still hasn't come in; now I've ordered a copy.)
Nonetheless, I've profited from and much enjoyed the discussion and appreciate Mr. Tingle's comments. I look forward to meeting him at the Texas Library Association conference in April--it appears we're on a panel together ("Religion in YA fiction").
My weekend offering was inspired by Marc Aronson's reference to "blind spots" several days back, and then reinforced by Mr. Tingle's observation on February 20: "...I am attempting a subtle reminder that West Culture often sees Natives as colorful beings rather than full-fledged humans......"
How true. Years ago, when working on my novel THE CLIFFS OF CAIRO, set in modern Egypt, I asked a friend to read the draft. He did and said he liked it, "but you don't have a single admirable Egyptian in your story!" Ouch. He was right. Yet I loved living in Egypt and certainly thought I had a very positive attitude toward Egyptians! Well, I fixed it, and have tried to do better ever since.
I think what had skewed my presentation of the Egyptians in my story was a woeful blind spot: the undetected bias that although they were interesting, eccentric, maybe a bit humorous, and definitely colorful; they were still only *characters; *whereas the main characters in my story--the American girl and her family--were *real people. Mea *ethnocentric
*culpa. *
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
---
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Received on Sun 23 Feb 2014 05:16:26 PM CST
