Who gets included in the term multicultural?

Before coming into this class when I heard the term diverse or multicultural literature my first thought probably would have been race, African Americans, Indians, Arabs, Asian, etc. I probably would not have included white and it also wouldn't have occured to me to really think too much about gender issues or ideas of religion. I have been working on the readings for our upcoming class period and I was amazed at the reaction Patrick Shannon sparked with his article. I will need to reread some of the articles again but at first the writers that were responding to Shannon's article seemed almost defensive that he said they thought race deserved the most recognition in regards to multicultural literature. It made me stop and think about my own definitions again. The Cai article goes through and lists various definitions for what multiculturalism might mean and they all have some basis and it would be extremely difficult for me to pick the one that I think is the best.

The community I came from was very homogenous in regards to just about everything, race, religion, socioeconomic status. While I love my community I have also seen some of the detrimental effects of not learning enough about other cultures. I would like to someday get a job in the same area so I can see my future role as a teacher including bring in books about many many topics to expose these children to cultures and ideas that they do not come into daily contact with. This means going beyond just racial issues and bringing in texts about different religious practices or different family lives.

This brings up an important point in my mind though. What is the main purpose of diverse literature, or does there need to be a point? Should a teacher include diverse literature in her classroom so every student can find a book that he or she can connect with on a personal level, or should diverse literature be brought into the classroom so students can explore cultures different from their own? I think both of these answers are right but they are questions I will be exploring as the semester continues.

Poem

Where I’m From


I am Anne with an e
But don’t ask me to recite Anne of Green Gables
I was never a fan

I read “Little House” and cheered for Laura Ingalls
With stacks of books covering every space in my bedroom
Bringing me to faraway places

I am not from “Up North”
I’m from da U.P. eh?
No, not Canada, Michigan has two peninsulas

My community is logging and mining and farming
With wide open fields and tall, tall trees
But most of all, loving

I am from hunting and fishing and skiing
Fish boils each summer and venison all November
And sometimes even flannel wearing

But we’re not backwards or backwoods or back anything
Every car in my yard is running
And the bathroom in my house has real indoor plumbing

I am from the smell of fresh cut grass
Swinging a golf club through the sweet dew
Enjoying an early round on the course

I am from summers spent under the stars
Camping with smoky fires and s’mores
With the smell of sunscreen and warm summer days

I am from a family of five
With five generations of parents and grandparents all from my little town
I would never trade where I am from

Books

I'm very excited for the upcoming semester in part due to the wide variety of literature that we will be exploring. I have always enjoyed young adult literature because it is always just so fun to read. Our coursepack readings for the week about Native American literature really interested me. I found it rather incredible that such a small percentage of Native American literature is actually written by Native Americans. Do we feel like Native American stories have become more like lore than true stories? This seems to relate back to young children refusing to believe that there are still Indians in this country even though they do not wear "traditional" outfits. I never really realized that there was that perception among many children because growing up near several reservations there were several Native Americans that attended my school. Many of them still celebrated their history and would attend pow-wows and they would explain it to the rest of the students. When I read Heart of a Chief, our novel for this week, I thought it was good that the book was placed in present time so that students could identify with the main character more. Then I read another one of our coursepack readings that talked about how it was initially difficult to get her story published because her stories involved Native Americans but that was not the focal point of the story. The editors were not impressed because the character was middle class which did not fit in with the stereotype. This led me to question the image that the novel put forth of the people living on the reservation all being very poor. Now I'm not sure if it's further perpetuating a stereotype or not.