Insider vs Outsider

I believe that as an outsider, you can, with the right knowledge and experiences, write about another culture that you are not apart of. It would not be as easy, and I think one needs to really do their research and try to submerge themselves (at least for a period of time) in the culture they are writing about, but I think that it can be done in an appriorpriate way. I very much agree with Rudine Bishop that an author needs to know a culture “intimately” in order to write about it. If an author does know a culture well, and the content of their writing is correct, then I do not see why one would have to be an “insider” in order to write about a culture. I think that the only thing an author would lack is the actual feelings that a person of a culture might experience. For example, I am partly Middle Eastern and have experienced some discrimination in my life. I know my culture fairly well, but I am sure that there are many people out there who have studied my culture who although might lack personal feelings of discrimination, would be more qualified than I am to write a diverse piece of literature with Arab characters. On the other hand, I think that there are things that an author can do in order to have a better understanding of the emotions that one goes through when they are discriminated against. For example, I studied abroad in Durban, South Africa last spring. Do to South Africa’s history, I saw an extreme amount of discrimination, and even experienced discrimination myself. Durban holds the highest population of Indians outside of India in the world. I befriended a lot of Indians while I was there, and often racially passed as Indian. It was a very humbling experience and I think it allowed me to gain a much different perspective on what it is like to be Indian in South Africa then some of my friends who could not pass as Indian. I do not know much about the Indian culture, but because of these experiences, I would probably be more equipt to be able to write about certain aspects that an “outsider” would not be able to write about. Overall, I think that content is by far the most important component that should go into determining what is and what is not good diverse literature. There are certain things that one can do in order to gain a better understanding about a culture different from their own, and in my opinion, this is what is necessary to do in order to accurately write a good piece of diverse literature. I like Shannon’s definition that “culture is a design for living-ways of acting, believing, and valuing…” and I think that if an author can do their research and understand these beliefs, then they can be qualified to write about them. I also think that is very important to recognize the point of view from which one is reading.

I found the video about Native American mascots and discrimination to be incredibly eye opening. Aside from a few colleagues at work, my exposure to, and knowledge of the Native American culture is unfortunately very limited. Before watching this video, I probably would not have thought much or possibly anything of seeing an Indian mascot at a sporting event. In the past I have seen such mascots and never realized that they were offensive. I empathized after hearing how offensive and hurtful it was, especially after seeing (I do not remember the exact examples) things like “The New England Catholics” or “The Midwest Caucasians” on team flags.

I was apauled by the view points and lack of understanding from some of the alumni and faculty members that were interviewed from the University. In my opinion, it is one thing to not realize that you are offending somebody or someone’s culture, but it is another thing to not try and change it once it is made clear that you are. One of the people being interviewed made the comment that the mascot was representing Native Americans in an “honorable and dignified” way. Clearly they are not if people are offended by it! Another made the comment that “minority rights are not always right.” I was very surprised by these comments. This video made me realize the importance of educating myself and students about cultures different from my own. I think that good, diverse literature one great way of doing this!

Introduction

I am a senior at Michigan State University majoring in Elementary Education and Language Arts. I am creating this blog for a class I am taking about diverse adolescent literature. I am very excited to be taking this class, as I love learning about other cultures different from my own. In my future classroom one of my main priorities will be to provide a comfortable and welcoming environment for my students. In order to provide this type of environment I strongly feel that I must educate myself and my students about other cultures. I think that learning about other cultures through literature is a great experience because the reader can empathize with the characters and hopefully have a better understanding of different view points. I am looking forward to this course and discovering how to find good literature that I can use in my future classroom and for my own personal benefit!