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Re: Recap of We Need Diverse Books session at BookCon
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From: Christine Taylor-Butler <kansascitymom_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 10:23:56 -0500
Debbie,
I wanted to acknowledge your post as I think it does point to why it is so problematic to have authors who are not POC trying to write strictly based on their peripheral understanding of a culture. And why editing is so tricky when the editor is also not familiar with the culture.
It reminded me of the story of Arthur Golden who, wealthy and educated in a privileged background (Harvard, etc.), became fascinated with Geisha's after meeting an unnamed person whose mother was part of the culture. So he wrote his draft based on "book learning" and ultimately failed to understand the culture until he interviewed one:
"..... I wrote a draft based on a lot of book-learning. And I thought I had a pretty good idea of what the world of a geisha was like, and wrote a draft. Then a chance came along to meet a geisha, which, of course, I couldn't turn down. And she was so helpful to me that I realized I'd gotten everything wrong, and I ended up throwing out that entire first draft and doing the whole thing over again...."
http://www.cnn.com/books/dialogue/9903/golden.interview/
I do like the book - but also note that as part of the privilege and license he took, he violated his promise to protect the anonymity of the Geisha whose discussions helped him understand the culture. She was subject to death threats and yet he maintained he had a right to out her.
Why is this important? Because the CCBC's statistics show the majority of books written about people of color are written by people who are not people of color. It isn't that we need MORE diverse books - it is that publishers need to drastically increase the numbers of authors of color in the mix to match the growing demographic so the work resonates. And for those who are in the majority to take less creative license and spend more time immersing before they put pen to paper. I have stumbled on too many colleagues trying to "jump" on the diversity wagon with no real foundation to ground them on the people they are writing about. Book learning is not a substitute for cultural awareness.......Christine
On Jun 8, 2014, at 5:56 AM, Debbie Reese <dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> I wasn't in NYC for BookCon when the We Need Diverse Books session took place, but I used social media to follow events that day. I pulled together a series of photos and tweets from there that you may want to see:
>
> http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/06/aicl-stands-with-we-need-diverse-books.html
>
> In other news at AICL, I posted a first look at Katherine Kirkpatrick's new YA novel, BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. Tough reading for me because I felt that Inuit people were pretty heavily exoticized or othered. I did a count to check my impression and found the phrase "rubbed noses" 17 times: http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/06/rubbing-noses-in-katherine-kirkpatricks.html
>
> And! I found an excellent critique of the Oregon Trail game. The critique itself in response to the use of the graphic to celebrate gay marriage. Some fascinating history that I did not know: http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/06/about-much-celebrated-oregon-trail.html
>
> Debbie
>
>
> Debbie Reese, PhD
> Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
>
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Received on Mon 09 Jun 2014 10:24:24 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 10:23:56 -0500
Debbie,
I wanted to acknowledge your post as I think it does point to why it is so problematic to have authors who are not POC trying to write strictly based on their peripheral understanding of a culture. And why editing is so tricky when the editor is also not familiar with the culture.
It reminded me of the story of Arthur Golden who, wealthy and educated in a privileged background (Harvard, etc.), became fascinated with Geisha's after meeting an unnamed person whose mother was part of the culture. So he wrote his draft based on "book learning" and ultimately failed to understand the culture until he interviewed one:
"..... I wrote a draft based on a lot of book-learning. And I thought I had a pretty good idea of what the world of a geisha was like, and wrote a draft. Then a chance came along to meet a geisha, which, of course, I couldn't turn down. And she was so helpful to me that I realized I'd gotten everything wrong, and I ended up throwing out that entire first draft and doing the whole thing over again...."
http://www.cnn.com/books/dialogue/9903/golden.interview/
I do like the book - but also note that as part of the privilege and license he took, he violated his promise to protect the anonymity of the Geisha whose discussions helped him understand the culture. She was subject to death threats and yet he maintained he had a right to out her.
Why is this important? Because the CCBC's statistics show the majority of books written about people of color are written by people who are not people of color. It isn't that we need MORE diverse books - it is that publishers need to drastically increase the numbers of authors of color in the mix to match the growing demographic so the work resonates. And for those who are in the majority to take less creative license and spend more time immersing before they put pen to paper. I have stumbled on too many colleagues trying to "jump" on the diversity wagon with no real foundation to ground them on the people they are writing about. Book learning is not a substitute for cultural awareness.......Christine
On Jun 8, 2014, at 5:56 AM, Debbie Reese <dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> I wasn't in NYC for BookCon when the We Need Diverse Books session took place, but I used social media to follow events that day. I pulled together a series of photos and tweets from there that you may want to see:
>
> http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/06/aicl-stands-with-we-need-diverse-books.html
>
> In other news at AICL, I posted a first look at Katherine Kirkpatrick's new YA novel, BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. Tough reading for me because I felt that Inuit people were pretty heavily exoticized or othered. I did a count to check my impression and found the phrase "rubbed noses" 17 times: http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/06/rubbing-noses-in-katherine-kirkpatricks.html
>
> And! I found an excellent critique of the Oregon Trail game. The critique itself in response to the use of the graphic to celebrate gay marriage. Some fascinating history that I did not know: http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/06/about-much-celebrated-oregon-trail.html
>
> Debbie
>
>
> Debbie Reese, PhD
> Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
>
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Received on Mon 09 Jun 2014 10:24:24 AM CDT
