The Insider/Outsider Debate

When reading these four articles I felt like I was right in with the authors on this debate. I was highlighting statements that I agreed/disagreed with and liked/disliked - my pages are marked up with my thoughts and further questions. I was so intrigued by what the authors had to say, making me want to read on even further.

Naturally I gained a lot of new knowledge by reading these articles and learned the viewpoints of the authors- yet I had a hard time figuring out my own opinion on the manner. I agreed with Shannon's points on multicultural children's literature but then when the other three questioned and were "angered" by her work, I also had to question what I thought. Are my thoughts in line with Shannon, Sims Bishop, Harris or Cai? Or are they a combination of the authors?

To sort out my thought patterns I am going to go through each article individually.

I Am the Canon: Finding Ourselves in Multiculturalism
Patrick Shannon

• His main question is: "Must I remain outside the debate and struggle -- either working overtly to protect my privileges or standing on the sidelines watching the disenfranchised claim their rightful places in our society (67)?

• ALARMING QUOTE: "They see the debate as irrelevant to their teaching and lives because they work (or will work) in rural and suburban school districts which are isolated and safe from "the crises" of multicultural metropolitan areas (67)."

I was completely shocked by this feel that some teachers have!! By not including or even caring about diverse/ multicultural literature, these students that already lead a "normal" lifestyle will have no resources to see the outside world.

• Shannon criticizes other authors for limiting their definitions of multiculturalism to only issues of race.

*He then defines CULTURE: "Is a design for living -- ways of acting, believing and valuing....Is not limited to race because it includes region, gender, language, ethnicity, economic class, and other social markers which can demarcate a social group from others (68)."

• Shannon also states that children/ readers should be able to see themselves in a piece of literature, even if it not the main characters... and the characters that don't even play a role in the story.
  

• Question that arisen from this text: Why is children's literature and multicultural literature separate?

A Reply To Shannon The Canon

Rudine Sims Bishop

• She wants to argue - that Shannon said she limits multiculturalism to issues of race. Her comeback was that she was "analyzing children's books that included Black characters (73)."

• "White writers frequently bring to their fiction about African- Americans a perspective that is not as well informed about African-American culture as do writers who know it from the inside because it is the way they have been acculturated. ...What I tried to say is that you have to know a culture intimately if you're going to reflect it accurately in your fiction (73)."

• "My discussions of multicultural literature generally focus on books that feature what I prefer to call "people of color." This is not an attempt to exclude any other groups from the body of multicultural literature. It is to call attention to the voices that have been traditionally omitted from the canon (74)."

*I agree with Sims Bishop when she states that the culture that you are writing about needs to be reflected accurately YET I also believe that an outsider can have the same intimacy with the cultural as an insider, if they have done their research and studying.


No Invitations Required To Share Multicultural Literature

Violet J. Harris

• Harris hits Shannon quite hard with her words.

• She speaks of stereotyping (79) and "The Other" (78).

• "The most egregious assertion Shannon makes is that I imply that only a person who is a part of the culture can write about that culture because the chapter authors write only about their groups. This is in error (78)."

Harris goes on to give examples of authors that are "Outsiders."


Multiple Definitions of Multicultural Literature: Is the Debate Really Just "Ivory Tower" Bickering?

Mingshui Cai

• Cai's article is written in a very orderly fashion and flows from one point to the next.

• I enjoyed reading the evolution of the definition of multiculturalism. Ending with "in short, any persons whose lifestyle ... distinguishes them as identifiable members of a group other than the 'mainstream' (82)."

• He also states that "If multicultural literature includes all cultures, the term loses its meaning."

*I agree totally with this statement. I believe that we read multicultural literature to gain insight on cultures/ lifestyles that are unlike our own. We know what the 'mainstream' lifestyle is in America and are very familiar with it. So should it be included within this genre of children's books. By this definition, and my own feelings, no.

• "Books about people of color may not directly reflect the lives of White teachers and students, but they definitely expose them to racial issues in the country which at some point their lives they must inevitably confront. Exposure to these books may help them become aware of racial discrimination and oppression (85)."

*Great quote and could not agree more. This is WHY we have multicultural literature in our classrooms!!!

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With all of that written out I have come to realize that there are two issues that are brought up in these articles:

A. Insider/Outsider Debate

• Through reading these articles and also briefing them (above) I have been able to formulate my own stance on the debate. The most important aspect of a piece of multicultural literature is if it portrays the cultural ACCURATELY. If an outsider can do this with the same passion that an insider can, I believe that their books should have similar reviews.

B. Definition of Multicultural Children's Literature... especially when it comes to issues of race.

• I see multicultural children's lit as the broadest definition possible. We as teachers are trying to educate our students of the outside world, especially the places that they are unfamiliar with. Race is not the only difference seem among people. Sexuality, family situations, religion, gender, language, social class.... and SO MUCH MORE!!
  

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It was great to read these articles and I look forward to talking to my classmates about their reactions to the readings.

*I know this post is vvverryyy long- there was a lot of things I need to sort out of these intense articles!