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Categorizing Multicultural Literature Re: Coming in at the end...
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From: Ebony Elizabeth Thomas <ebonyt_at_gse.upenn.edu>
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 00:00:58 -0500
Barbara wrote:
> A last point here - I am part of a librarian list, where the discussion came to categorizing their children's and YA collection. One talked about her experience in differentiating between Sports, Historical, Horror, SciFi, Coming-of-Age - and Multicultural. It ended up being a learning experience for her when she realized how few diversity titles they had. She had never considered it an issue before until she actually looked and realized what she didn't have. Once she knew she was in a position to change things. I was of two minds about the story, I hated the idea of considering multicultural books something separate (my library has put How I became A Ghost as Youth Historical and If I Ever Get Out Of Here as YA Coming Of Age). But I also know that if someone asked how many multicultural or diversity titles do you have, there would be no immediate answer.
I did this in my office in the fall, Barbara -- primarily for multicultural literature, but also for genres. My collection was such a mess that one day between meetings, I just began piling books everywhere, throwing them off the shelves.
It was an enormous help. I was able to see all my gaps… so many gaps. The bulk of my collection is African American children's and young adult literature, but there are dozens and dozens (and dozens) of classics that I've read and no longer have, have been misplaced, were sent to the middle school, that I've given away. I'm fine with that.
There is so much that I need to do on my other multicultural sections. The two sections of my YA library that I'm working on now are Latino YA and Middle Eastern/North African/Muslim YA texts. I've done far more reading in the former category than in the latter… one of my current students grew up with Benjamin Alire Saenz and is working on some of his novels.
Stories about the contemporary Middle East, and immigrants here from those communities was the largest gap I noticed on all my shelves -- at home, in my office, and at the middle school library that my students run -- and yet, we have two students writing dissertations about the topic, and I'm from a region where I grew up with, taught, and learned from immigrants from so many of those nations and cultures. So next up on my reading list are Anna Perera's GUANTANAMO BOY and THE GLASS COLLECTOR. Dave Low, who co-taught the graphica course with me, raved about HABIBI, which I haven't gotten to yet although I've read the reviews.
Sometimes I worry about "head counting" in all this. I can't represent everything and everyone on a thirteen week syllabus. Every semester, my students teach me about more gaps… "where are the books set in the contemporary Mississippi Delta?" "As a Cambodian American, I never saw anything about my culture in literature except for the war… and maybe a couple of folktales." They bring me the gaps, and I help them search. But no matter how huge this task is, representation is vitally important to me.
When I realized I didn't have any books on my current YA lit seminar syllabus featuring Muslim protagonists, I started to actually order novels for everyone in my class so they could have it. When our admin told me the total, I realized that I couldn't afford it. But I certainly feel the lack, and will correct it in future semesters.
I tell myself there's always so much more to learn. Assuming a learning stance about all these matters (and a dash of humility) is the only way forward that I can perceive.
Ebony
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 00:00:58 -0500
Barbara wrote:
> A last point here - I am part of a librarian list, where the discussion came to categorizing their children's and YA collection. One talked about her experience in differentiating between Sports, Historical, Horror, SciFi, Coming-of-Age - and Multicultural. It ended up being a learning experience for her when she realized how few diversity titles they had. She had never considered it an issue before until she actually looked and realized what she didn't have. Once she knew she was in a position to change things. I was of two minds about the story, I hated the idea of considering multicultural books something separate (my library has put How I became A Ghost as Youth Historical and If I Ever Get Out Of Here as YA Coming Of Age). But I also know that if someone asked how many multicultural or diversity titles do you have, there would be no immediate answer.
I did this in my office in the fall, Barbara -- primarily for multicultural literature, but also for genres. My collection was such a mess that one day between meetings, I just began piling books everywhere, throwing them off the shelves.
It was an enormous help. I was able to see all my gaps… so many gaps. The bulk of my collection is African American children's and young adult literature, but there are dozens and dozens (and dozens) of classics that I've read and no longer have, have been misplaced, were sent to the middle school, that I've given away. I'm fine with that.
There is so much that I need to do on my other multicultural sections. The two sections of my YA library that I'm working on now are Latino YA and Middle Eastern/North African/Muslim YA texts. I've done far more reading in the former category than in the latter… one of my current students grew up with Benjamin Alire Saenz and is working on some of his novels.
Stories about the contemporary Middle East, and immigrants here from those communities was the largest gap I noticed on all my shelves -- at home, in my office, and at the middle school library that my students run -- and yet, we have two students writing dissertations about the topic, and I'm from a region where I grew up with, taught, and learned from immigrants from so many of those nations and cultures. So next up on my reading list are Anna Perera's GUANTANAMO BOY and THE GLASS COLLECTOR. Dave Low, who co-taught the graphica course with me, raved about HABIBI, which I haven't gotten to yet although I've read the reviews.
Sometimes I worry about "head counting" in all this. I can't represent everything and everyone on a thirteen week syllabus. Every semester, my students teach me about more gaps… "where are the books set in the contemporary Mississippi Delta?" "As a Cambodian American, I never saw anything about my culture in literature except for the war… and maybe a couple of folktales." They bring me the gaps, and I help them search. But no matter how huge this task is, representation is vitally important to me.
When I realized I didn't have any books on my current YA lit seminar syllabus featuring Muslim protagonists, I started to actually order novels for everyone in my class so they could have it. When our admin told me the total, I realized that I couldn't afford it. But I certainly feel the lack, and will correct it in future semesters.
I tell myself there's always so much more to learn. Assuming a learning stance about all these matters (and a dash of humility) is the only way forward that I can perceive.
Ebony
-- Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Reading/Writing/Literacy Division Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216 Office: (215) 898-9309 Fax: (215) 573-2109 Email: ebonyt_at_gse.upenn.edu Website: http://scholar.gse.upenn.edu/thomas Twitter: _at_Ebonyteach Tumblr: ebonyteach "If I do not love the world--if I do not love life--if I do not love people--I cannot enter into dialogue." --Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed --- 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 28 Feb 2014 11:01:28 PM CST
