Why are children’s stories so powerful? Who has the right to tell stories about marginalized communities? This course will explore the question of authenticity in storytelling and unmask explicit and implicit messages about race, power, and culture communicated through books for young readers. A secondary course goal is to help students improve their analytical writing.
- Part One: The Subversive Power of Children’s Stories
- Part Two: Race in Children’s Stories
- Part Three: Culture in Children’s Stories
- Part Four: Power in Children’s Books
The great subversive works of children's literature suggest that there are other views of human life besides those of the shopping mall and the corporation. They mock current assumptions and express the imaginative, unconventional, noncommercial view of the world in its simplest and purest form. They appeal to the imaginative, questioning, rebellious child within all of us, renew our instinctive energy, and act as a force for change. This is why such literature is worthy of our attention and will endure long after more conventional tales have been forgotten.On the flip side, children’s literature has also been a key part of state propaganda used by totalitarian and oppressive governments to impose certain social and moral codes on child readers. As Bruno Bettelheim argued in The Uses of Enchantment, stories told to children powerfully shape their moral world. Children with a well-developed sense of justice and compassionate hearts widened by stories can significantly serve the common good. Storytelling is a powerful act, especially when it involves young hearts and minds. From Uncle Tom's Cabin to Harry Potter, books can either repudiate or encourage stereotypes and injustice.
Students will explore and debate five questions:
(1) BOOK COVERS: Should young adult and middle grade novels depict faces on covers?
(2) BOOK AWARDS: Should ethnic book awards be based on the race/ethnicity of the author/illustrator?
(3) BANNING: Should certain children’s books be banned in homes and classrooms because of racism or cultural stereotyping?
(4) BOWDLERIZATION: Should we “bowdlerize” children’s classics that—seen with today’s eyes—are racist, or let them stand and be read as is?
(5) AUTHENTICITY: Should a story be told only by a cultural “insider” to guarantee authenticity?
This year I'm privileged to introduce my 26 students to Debbie Reese, who blogs at American Indians in Children's Literature, Stacy L. Whitman, editor at TU Books, and Yolanda Leroy, editorial director of Charlesbridge, via Skype. Renee Ting, publisher of Shen's Books, will visit us in person. Since the theme of Jan Term 2013 is "inspiration," students will also be writing and creating picture books that explore a theme related to race, culture, or power.