Should We Teach Habibi?

I was very interested to hear about the West Bloomfield school district's decision to cut Habibi from the curriculum. I thought that this was an extremely poor decision. I did agree with some parents that Habibi wasn't used to its full potential. However, the book was not intended to teach about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; it was included in a unit about diversity. The book does portray many aspects of Arabic culture. If the book was supposed to teach about the conflict between the Jews and Arabs, more literature would definitely be needed to provide a fair and accurate portrayal of the situation in Isreal, and other cultures, particularly Jews. Furthermore, I think the teachers needed to provide more scaffolding for the students in order to use the book effectively. The conflict over the land in Isreal has a long and complicated history, and teachers should have explained it to students before reading the novel.

I was so upset about the removal of the novel from the curriculum because I believe it is a form of censorship. Parents didn't seem to understand that the students were not being encouraged to follow the author's ways of thinking about the subject. The parents, staff, and students needed to keep in mind that the novel is written by an Arab woman, so it makes sense that she would portray Arabs in a favorable light. Also, although there is definitely violence committed by both Jews and Arabs in Isreal, the Jews are in control of the country and the Arabs are currently being oppressed. This is not to say that either Jews or Arabs are the rightful people of Isreal; I just think that the current politics of the area need to be considered. I was bothered that the school board removed the book from the curriculum instead of adapting the curriculum to include the book in a way that made all parents comfortable. What kind of message are we sending to children if we say that certain books are not appropriate for the classroom? If I was in a position of leadership in this situation, I would encourage balanced literature and class discussion about the Jewish/Arabic conflict in Isreal, and about the many different cultures portrayed in the novel, whether or not the portrayals were favorable. I think it would have been an excellent opportunity to discuss misconceptions even in literature, and the school board hindered the students' learning and critical thinking by removing the book from the curriculum.

Racism in America

I just saw this article and thought it was interesting. There has been a lot of talk of race during this presidential campaign, and I thought the polls were particularly interesting with respect towards the attitudes of different races about discrimination and racism.

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-race-in-america

Terrorists and Fundamentalists

While I was reading the articles for class this week, I was really in awe of how much evidence there is in history, in the media; essentially, anywhere you look, about Arabs as second class citizens. The article "The Minority of Suspicion" states that anti-Arab sentiments have "served the interest of colonialism in the West for over a hundred years." This prompted me to think about colonialism and its effects on the world. When we read The Heart of A Chief, we talked about Europeans colonizing the United States, terrorizing and massacring Native Americans and attempting to destroy their culture by dragging their children off to boarding schools. I knew that there was anti-Arab sentiment in the United States after 9/11, that much is obvious. I was not aware that the negative treatment and feelings towards Arab people has been happening in this country for over a decade, as the article "The Minority of Suspicion" stated. I'm currently taking an IAH class about Arabs in America, so I was familiar with a lot of the historical and cultural information from the article.

I was also struck by another quote about the portrayal of Arabs by the media: "This consistent treatment of Arabs in films has become the trademark of the American film industry to such a degree that youngsters are likely to not even be aware that they are observing a dramatically lopsided pitting of good versus evil. Not since cowboys roamed the range killing bad Indians have such stereotyped images been a part of popular culture, and this idea seldom is raised in American classrooms." (34) This quote was particularly significant to me because of the suggestion that people do not even realize that they are looking at images that are likely to lead to negative stereotypes. I am really starting to realize just how much negative stereotyping children are exposed to without even thinking about it. I feel like I have a big responsibility to make my students, even if they are very young, aware of stereotypes and teach them that not all of them are true and some of them can be very harmful and hurtful. I always was aware of this responsibility, but after reading about the negative images of another group in this country, I am feeling a little overwhelmed. How will I have time to teach about dispelling stereotypes while teaching all of the other knowledge my students need? I am worried that I will be an "outsider" to too many groups and that I will present my students with inaccurate information without even meaning to do so. How do we monitor our behavior and our teaching methods so that our students are able to have a greater understanding of multiculturalism and diversity? It seems like a really significant challenge.

Insider/Outsider Debate

I wasn't really sure where I stood on the insider/outsider debate before I read the articles. I really identified strongly with Shannon in his article when he talked about being white, middle class, etc. I ask the same questions of myself that he does in the opening paragraph of his article. I wonder how I am going to be able to appreciate multiculturalism and diversity when I never struggled with anything in my life. On the one hand, I want to be able to have diverse literature in my classroom and encourage my students to share their experiences and be proud about their backgrounds and lives. On the other hand, won't I look hypocritical discussing some issues with my students that I know nothing about and can never fully understand?

After reading the other articles, I came to the conclusion that I think that only insiders should write about a particular culture. However, this posed some more questions for me. I wonder how one can truly be considered an insider. Surely there are different definitions of an insider and how can we be sure that one is correct or authentic? Secondly, what should happen if there are no insiders available to write about the culture? For example, who is qualified to write about ancient Mayan civilizations? How much exposure or research with a group is considered enough for the author to be considered an insider?

My main concern with outsiders writing about a culture is accuracy and room for interpretation or error. Bishop's article addressed the issue of gaps and accuracy when it stated that, "the father a writer's background, knowledge, and experiences are from the culture of the person or people about whom he or she is writing, the greater the necessity for the author to fill the cultural gaps, the greater the effort needed to do so, and the greater the risks of mistakes." (Bishop, 17) How can we ensure that there are little or no mistakes made while still trying to provide quality literature for our children and for ourselves? I think that the most appropriate approach is to say that insiders should write about the culture. As outsiders, we need to come to terms with the fact that we never will gain an insider's perspective on a particular culture, but we can have as much knowledge and information by reading literature written by someone who is an insider to the culture.