Analyzing Multicultural LiteratureAnalyzing Multicultural Literature

LIB 617 Readings and Research in Young Adult LIB 617 Readings and Research in Young Adult LiteratureLiteratureFall 2010Fall 2010

Why analyze literature?Why analyze literature?

To discover the full spectrum of To discover the full spectrum of the contentthe content

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A little Newtonian physicsA little Newtonian physicsIsaac NewtonIsaac Newton first used the word first used the word

spectrum (spectrum (LatinLatin for “appearance” or for “appearance” or “apparition”) in print in “apparition”) in print in 16711671 in in describing his describing his experimentsexperiments in in opticsoptics. . Newton observed that, when a narrow Newton observed that, when a narrow beam of white beam of white sunlightsunlight strikes the face of a strikes the face of a glassglass prismprism at an at an angleangle, some is , some is reflectedreflected and some of the beam passes into and and some of the beam passes into and through the glass, emerging through the glass, emerging as different colored bands. as different colored bands. – NationMaster Encyclopedia

> Visible light

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Spectrum requires a prismSpectrum requires a prism

Estonian composer Estonian composer Arvo Pärt:Arvo Pärt:– I could compare my music to white

light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener. • about his music: Alina

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Prism as a filterPrism as a filter

Historian Doris Kearns Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin:Goodwin:– The biographer finds that the

past is not simply the past, but a prism through which the subject filters his own changing self-image. • Goodwin, Doris Kearns (1979).

‘‘Angles of Vision’’, in: Mark Pachter (Ed.), Telling Lives: the biographer’s art. Washington, DC: New Republic Books. Cited in Debate and Reflection: How to Write Journalism History

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A prism to view the full spectrum of literatureA prism to view the full spectrum of literature

PPersonalersonal

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RRealeal

IInventednvented

SMSMiley faceiley face

Personal?Personal?

Do you feel as if you’re involved; Do you feel as if you’re involved; part of the action?part of the action?

– That these are real people we’re dealing with—some identifiable personalities (even when they’re not “people”?

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Real?Real?

Is there something that makes you Is there something that makes you feel that this could have happened? feel that this could have happened? – Even when it couldn’t in real life?

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Invented?Invented?

Is this story invented, created by Is this story invented, created by one or more authors (not necessarily one or more authors (not necessarily “artificial,” rather is it fiction)? “artificial,” rather is it fiction)?

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Smiley Face?Smiley Face?

Does it seem generic, impersonal?Does it seem generic, impersonal?

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Two ContinuumsTwo Continuums

RealReal Invented Invented

PersonalPersonal SMiley Face SMiley Face

Put ‘em together! Put ‘em together!

Personal

SMiley

Real

Invented

Application to Literature???Application to Literature???

. . . and Indians????. . . and Indians????

Top Left Sector of MatrixTop Left Sector of Matrix1414

Up close and personal—and real!Up close and personal—and real!Real

Personal

FolkloreFolklore: consists of culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. (Wikipedia) Invented

A rival to Paul Bunyan and John HenryA rival to Paul Bunyan and John Henry

Fink, MikeFink, Mike, 1770?–1823?, 1770?–1823?– American border hero, whose exploits have been so

elaborated in legend that the actual facts of his life are difficult to discover. He was born probably at the frontier post of Pittsburgh, took part in the wars against the Native Americans of the Ohio region, and subsequently became a keelboatman on the flatboats of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He later turned to trapping.• “Mike Fink.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008.

Retrieved September 17, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Fink-Mik.html

• See also Mike Fink: an American anti-hero

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Mike Fink taleMike Fink taleBy “the then beautiful village of By “the then beautiful village of

Louisville”Louisville”– Among [a] band of [Indian] outcasts was a

Cherokee, who bore the name of Proud Joe . . . Joe still wore, with Indian dignity, his scalplock; he ornamented it with taste, and cherished it, as report said, until some Indian messenger of vengeance should tear it from his head, as expiatory of his numerous crimes. Mike had noticed this peculiarity; and, reaching out his hand, plucked from the revered scalplock a hawk's feather. . . . [Mike’s] ball had cut it clear from his head; the cord around the root, in which were placed feathers and other ornaments, still held it together; the concussion had merely stunned its owner; farther - he had escaped all bodily harm!

• “Mike Fink, the Keel-boatman” in Thorpe, T.B. (1854). The Hive of “The Bee Hunter.” A Repository of Sketches, Including Peculiar American Character, Scenery, and Rural Sports.

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Bottom Left Sector of MatrixBottom Left Sector of Matrix1717

Invented, but Personal Invented, but Personal RealP

ersonal Invented

Quality literature, sometimes Quality literature, sometimes adaptations, or else original adaptations, or else original

writing, with universal appeal and writing, with universal appeal and meaning for everyman and meaning for everyman and

everywomaneverywoman

A personal, if invented YA storyA personal, if invented YA story

The Absolutely True Diary of a The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianPart-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie, Sherman Alexie– The National Book Award-winning novel THE

ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie is such a magnanimous stew of reality and hope --- and the particular traumatic existence of a reservation teen in contemporary America --- that you can't possibly put it down, no matter how sad, disgusted or freaked out it makes you. • Reviewed by Jana Siciliano

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Personal, invented and more controversialPersonal, invented and more controversial

The “Little House” seriesThe “Little House” series– If Pa Ingalls had built his little house on

the periphery of an antebellum southern mansion and Mrs. Wilder had described its Black slaves in the same terms she depicted the Osage Indians, her book long ago would have been barred from children’s eyes, or at least sanitized like some editions of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mrs. Wilder’s book even contains the popular variation of General Sheridan’s racist remark about what constitutes a good Indian.• Dennis McAuliffe, Jr., Little House on the Prairie

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Real Smileys!Real Smileys!

Top Right of the MatrixTop Right of the Matrix2020

Real

Recognizable stories, Recognizable stories, but unoriginal and but unoriginal and shallowshallow

A real smiley?A real smiley?My Heart Is On the GroundMy Heart Is On the Ground

Ann RinaldiAnn Rinaldi– The book adds to the great body of

misinformation about Native life and struggle in the United States and Canada. This one book epitomizes the utter lack of sensitivity and respect that has come to characterize the vast majority of children's books about Native Americans. Non-Native readers of My Heart Is On the Ground will continue to be validated in whatever feelings of superiority they may have; Native children will continue to be humiliated.• Review in Oyate. See also the accompanying essay

“Literary License” or “Mutated Plagiarism”? and Fiction Posing As Truth

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Invented smileys Invented smileys [perhaps contrived?][perhaps contrived?]

Bottom Right of the MatrixBottom Right of the Matrix2222

Invented

Generic, unoriginal, Generic, unoriginal, impersonal, shallowimpersonal, shallow

A stilted example?A stilted example?

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Functions of multicultural literatureFunctions of multicultural literature

Rudine Sims Bishop:Rudine Sims Bishop:– provide knowledge or information– expand how students view the world by offering

varying perspectives– promote or develop an appreciation for diversity– give rise to critical inquiry– illuminate human experience

• In Using Multiethnic Literature in the K–8 Classroom (ed. Harris, V.J. (1997)), cited by Debbie Reese in Native Americans Today, a ReadWriteThink lesson from NCTE and the International Reading Association

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Useful resourcesUseful resources

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