Research Trip
What up?
So, I thought I'd write something about my research trip since I'm not feeling quite as hilarious today. Not to worry; I'm sure I'll get progressively hilarious as the day wears on. I always do. Or perhaps I just think I do and I actually just get better at deluding myself. Hmm, hard to say.
So tomorrow I leave for Michigan to conduct my study on how kids react to/understand cultural elements in multicultural picture books. The books being used in the study are Martin's Big Words, Dora's Thanksgiving, My Name I Yoon, and A Smoky Night.
I thought I'd use my blog today to get some feedback on my research, even though it is still questionable whether or not anyone is reading my blog :)
So, tell me about your experience with multicultural picture books as a kid. How influential were they? Did you like them? Did you relate to them? What did they tell you about other cultures that perhaps you had little experience with?
In my research, I've identified 5 problematic themes that children in the majority or non-marginalized groups (specifically white people) tend to develop. They are...
Color blindness - the belief that all people are the same and have the same opportunities. Ignores power structures and privileges. Believes that racism is a personal attitude that can be held by minorities and majorities.
Stereotyping - over simplification or exaggeration of a cultural trait, oftentimes used to mock or belittle cultural groups. Examples: Little Black Sambo, Speedy Gonzalez, the Indians in Disney's Peter Pan
Exoticizing - Depicting a culture as odd, outlandish, strange, simplistic and beautiful or exotic.
Displacement - Tendency to believe that cultural issues such as racism occurred only in a historic or fantastic past, such as, seeing racism only in slavery and the civil rights movement (history) - shown in many books, or in fantasy (like the Star-Bellied Sneetches by Dr. Seuss). Can also be location displacement - e.g., showing racism only happening in the South
White Centrality - Making the white reader the primary audience and the center. For instance, books do this when they use us/they words and refer to white US citizens as "us" learning about people of color outside the US as "them." This reinforces an "othering" of minority groups
Anyway, that's what I'm working with. Please let me know if any of these ring true for you and your experience as a child learning about other cultures. Certainly some did for me. Holla!
posted by Naomi @ 9:41 AM
1 Comments:
Although few people believe me, my First Grade teacher read the book "Little Black Sambo" to the class.
I forget exactly how it starts, but I remember that Sambo is chased by a tiger and he saves himself by running around a tree really fast until the lion turns into butter.
then him and his brother use the butter on their pancakes, or at least that is what I remember.
while the story comes from a british writer, I have seen african and indian (India) myths that are remarkably similar to this story, even down to the animal turning into butter.
I also find the cultural change that probably happened to the story very similar to how the catholic monks modified the irish myths when writing them down, "cleaning them up" in their eyes.
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