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obligations and representation
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From: Marc Aronson <aronson.marc_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:08:46 -0400
I share Dr. Aziz's concern with the very limited and perhaps stereotypical knowledge too many Americans have of the rest of the world in general and Islam in particular. And certainly an individual artist may herself question whether a character or situation in a novel fosters such views. But we as reviewers, teachers, librarians, critics have no right to demand any such "social responsibility."
For one thing, there is no single agreed upon image of any group -- so responsible to what? To whose selected image? Second, just this week the Republican National Committee objected that the AP US History framework "reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation's history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects." (cited from an article in Education Week). I think many of us on this list would see one group's "negative" as another's "honest." But more to the point, our goal must be to have students inquire, investigate, question any view - "positive," "negative," "socially responsible," or
"entirely personal." Neither political groups nor we as critics have any right to tell writers how to write, nor to impose our vision of how we would like a society -- here or overseas -- to be depicted.
As to whether Suzanne wrote as a once-over-lightly tourist or careful, deeply-engaged, investigative reporter -- that is for individual readers to judge.
Marc Aronson
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Received on Wed 13 Aug 2014 03:09:12 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:08:46 -0400
I share Dr. Aziz's concern with the very limited and perhaps stereotypical knowledge too many Americans have of the rest of the world in general and Islam in particular. And certainly an individual artist may herself question whether a character or situation in a novel fosters such views. But we as reviewers, teachers, librarians, critics have no right to demand any such "social responsibility."
For one thing, there is no single agreed upon image of any group -- so responsible to what? To whose selected image? Second, just this week the Republican National Committee objected that the AP US History framework "reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation's history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects." (cited from an article in Education Week). I think many of us on this list would see one group's "negative" as another's "honest." But more to the point, our goal must be to have students inquire, investigate, question any view - "positive," "negative," "socially responsible," or
"entirely personal." Neither political groups nor we as critics have any right to tell writers how to write, nor to impose our vision of how we would like a society -- here or overseas -- to be depicted.
As to whether Suzanne wrote as a once-over-lightly tourist or careful, deeply-engaged, investigative reporter -- that is for individual readers to judge.
Marc Aronson
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Received on Wed 13 Aug 2014 03:09:12 PM CDT
