Coming up this week in class we are going to devote a good deal of time to discussing the insider/outsider debate regarding who best to author multicultural literature. To prepare for this debate I read 4 articles that are part of an ongoing discussion about the true definition of multicultural literature. The Cai article we read described three different definitions: it is literature that covers all different cultures, focuses on people of color, or that all literature is in fact multicultural in nature.
After reading the articles I am more unsure than before what exactly the definition should be and I am also not settled on whether or not having a member of the discussed group write the book is better than having a knowledgeable outsider as the writer. I do agree with Sims Bishop that "you have to know a culture intimately if you're going to reflect it accurately in your fiction." But, I see no reason that someone who is not necessarily Native American can't write a good quality book about that culture and way of life. It may be a little more time consuming and require more research, but as long as the person is learned and qualified than the outsider works. Harris says something similar to this when she states that outsider authors can write quality multicultural literature if "they are experts in literacy...they are informed about the group's literature, and they possess the critical consciousness that enabled them to assess the literature in a forthright manner." However, even a scholar like Harris sees the difficulties in this debate when she comments, "others have spoken for them far too long and they need to speak for themselves."
I am looking forward to discussing this difficult issue further with my classmates and colleagues this week because it will give me more than my own perspective and opinions to go on. If the literary scholars that wrote these articles have trouble deciding the right answer than I am not surprised the issue it tricky for me.
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2 comments:
What puzzles me is how an outsider develops the less tangible sensibilities associated with the culture. (i.e. What's funny? What's not? What matters? What doesn't)
Sometimes the joy of reading is in the details. I just read the "Higher Power of Lucky". I almost jumped out of my seat when I saw my mom in the type of cheese grater that the French character preferred! I'm going to do some research on how Patron developed that character: is she French? Studied in France? Etc.
Yeah I see what you mean. I mean for me, I am Czechoslovakian, German, Belgian, and Polish with a tiny bit of french and we certainly have inside jokes or things that we value that is specific to those cultures. I can see how it would be difficult for an outsider to fully grasp all those little nuances of the Eastern European culture unless they had intimate knowledge with it.
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