LITR 5731: Seminar in
American Multicultural Literature
Student Research Project
Devon Kitch
Multiculturalism: Understanding and Middle ground
I have had an immense amount of trouble deciding how to focus my research journal because I tend to want to discuss too many topics to fit into a single project. I will attempt to discuss Multiculturalism, “of or relating to a social or educational theory that encourages interest in many cultures within a society rather than only mainstream cultures”, as a means of understanding and accepting the many differences we each possess, regardless of color. I will discuss several of the texts we have read in class, along with journal articles, non-fiction, and young adult fiction to support my viewpoints.
My goal is to highlight the importance of cultural heritage, since we all need to know exactly who we are; but also, to present this importance by focusing on cultural similarities rather than differences. As a future high school English teacher, I fully support a multicultural approach to learning, but one that presents many cultures including those we have studied in class (Mexican-American, African American, and Native American), while also incorporating different religious preferences (Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Christian, etc), sexual orientation, and the good old “Dead White Guys”. For multicultural education to work, the content must be truly multi-cultural, finding a delicate balance between the current literary “canon” and something more diversified. In a four year English program, there is no reason why our students can not be exposed to literature, from or about, the different groups mentioned above, but also from the Japanese American experience (especially before, after, and during the Internment), Samoan culture, French culture, and many others. We live in a multifaceted country with hundreds of nationalities. Some will inevitably be left out, but we must begin somewhere.
My Cultural Heritage
My grandmother and mother moved from England to America
around the year of 1970, making me, I believe, a first generation American on my
mother’s side. My British
heritage has been a relatively small part of my life, only apparent in my
mother’s cooking and Nanna’s “proper” way of doing things. The name, Devon, is distinctly British after Devonshire, and
I appreciate it more at the age of twenty six than I did at the age of seven
when I wanted to be a Jenny. I
suppose I was feeling the pressure of mainstream society to have a “normal
name” that you could easily find on souvenir license plates and mugs, a name
that everyone pronounced the right way. Now,
I embrace my name, its separateness, its roots, and its undeniable link to the
past of my family. In fact, this
class has made me more interested in reclaiming my own cultural heritage to the
point that, I may even try to learn how to make Yorkshire pudding this
Thanksgiving! (Yorkshire pudding is
a popover like quick bread served with roast beef,
typically baked in the drippings of the beef {dictionary.com}).
Though a predominantly Anglo culture, the British have distinct characteristics that separate them from other cultures, even those as geographically close as Ireland and Scotland. The British obviously speak English, but the vocabulary is often quite different and the accent hard to understand. To top it off, these differences in dialect experience slight changes when moving from one side of England to the next. Along with language differences, people tend to exhibit negative attitudes toward people who reside a good distance outside of their own cities. For example, the people of London typically regard anyone ten miles north of the city as inferior, harboring the idea that the people in the less developed areas near the Lake District (farther North, near Scotland) are of lesser intelligence and status than themselves. These attitudes are not unusual and actually coincide with Texan opinions of “city dwellers” regarding “country folks” that are often so lovingly coined as “rednecks”.
A
Multicultural Society
I had to say all of that, to get to this; the cultural climate of the United States is not much different than that of England, and probably not much different than many countries in the world. This is a major generalization but probably fairly accurate in so far as we all have our differences, comforts, preferences, and distinct characteristics that make each of us individuals within a larger society. It is what we choose to do with these differences, how we accept the differences of others, and how we work together as a unit to maintain our personal cultures while joining together in unity to support the collective identity of “Americans”.
If multiculturalism focuses on many cultures, rather than mainstream culture alone, then we must first discuss what constitutes multiculturalism and minority status. As we have learned from this class, cultural differences are not only based on race, but sexuality and gender as well. Though we did not widely discuss the topic, religious preference also constitutes a minority, making a Homosexual Jewish woman, a triple minority.
Would it be possible to extend this definition, while still applying the term as we did in class, to include the people who refuse to follow like sheep? Could individuality, one thing that leads a person onto the road less traveled, actually constitute a minority? The majority of America chooses to follow the unspoken societal rules of daily life, but there are those who challenge these things. In the young adult novel, The Chocolate War, the protagonist, Jerry Renault develops his own sense of individuality based on the poster in his locker that reads “Do I dare disturb the universe?” When his school decides that each student must double their quota of chocolates to sell for the school fundraiser, Jerry outright refuses to participate. Brother Leon, assistant headmaster employs the leader of the high school bad-boys, The Vigils, to intimidate Jerry and the other students into selling. However, Jerry has already made the decision to “Disturb the Universe” and sticks to his decision, finally causing him to be severely beaten at a school event while the administration turns their heads.
The reason I bring this story up, is to illustrate the parallels between certain racial minority experiences within the mainstream culture, in comparison to the upper middle class white student’s negative experience within his own culture. Jerry suffers persecution because he chooses to be different, making him a minority within his school, feeling helpless and alone. It is often overlooked that members of the dominant culture ever experience such feelings of isolation and abuse.
This example is a bit extreme for class purposes, but I feel that people from different cultures experience the same dilemma as Jerry when trying to maneuver between their native cultures and their adapted cultures. While Jerry’s situation is largely the result of his defiance, most minority groups do not have the luxury of choices, but are usually forced into stereotypical subgroups. When group members do not adhere to these subgroups, they face a sort of social persecution and ridicule for acting out of the norm.
Not Mexican Enough, White enough, or Black enough
We have all seen the person walking down the street, dressed or behaving in an atypical way for his or her culture. The white kid who embraces the hip-hop culture is accused of “acting black,” while the black kid who dresses preppy and embraces his education, is accused of “acting white”. Mexican children are caught somewhere in the middle, being accused by white and black cultures of attempting to cross- over into their respective groups. Even within their own group, Mexican-American’s face discrimination if they don’t speak Spanish, don’t speak English, or have lighter or darker skin tone. In fact, I have difficulties determining my daughter’s own racial status, for she is half Mexican American with whatever British American that came from me. She will hopefully grow up bilingual, but will she ever truly be accepted by the Mexican-American or white cultures, or is she the new multicultural hybrid that makes up our pluralistic society?
What we need is cultural understanding within and across the cultural groups. The white rapper, Eminem, though discovered and supported by the famous black rapper, Dr. Dre, experienced a bit of resistance as his white rapper status was momentarily compared to that of the ultimate white poser, Vanilla Ice. His success is attached to the fact that he raps about his personal experiences and other issues that are meaningful to him, just as earlier rappers did (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem#Entering_the_mainstream). Does his immense success constitute a true cross-over into hip-hop culture, or African American culture? Some claim that he crosses class lines, but not race lines, leaving him on the outer fringe of the hip-hop culture. But how can the number two rapper of all time, second only to Tupac, be outside of the culture which he is an integral part? He is the representative of the poor white community, just as 50 Cent, is the counterpart for the poor black community; yet, each of these artists, after much success are unable to cross-over into the other culture. Eminem is not black enough, or white enough, to be completely embraced by either culture.
This problem persists outside of the hip-hop world of drugs, sex, and gun fights, as John McWhorter reveals in his book, Losing the Race: Self- sabotage in Black America. The idea of being “culturally black” encompasses many different cultural attitudes such as separatism and anti-intellectualism. The core of separatist thought lies in the idea that what isn’t culturally black and good, must be white and bad. When white people imitate the African American culture, it “is evidence not of an identification with black people, nor of a desire for cross-cultural harmony or understanding, but of a desire to eliminate the black presence via co-opting what makes them unique” (56). McWhorter gives the example of white’s use of blues and jazz in the creation of rock, asking the question, “did they do this because they were racists, or because blues and jazz are among the most sublimely intoxicating aesthetic creations man has ever known?” (56). Rather, the white culture saw an amazing form of musical genius and adapted it to their own culture. As I discussed in my midterm, poetry and rap go hand in hand, but no one accuses African American’s of stealing poetry and turning it into the brilliant cultural phenomenon it has become today. Thoughts, ideas, and cultures are constantly being changed and molded into something new. Today’s jazz music is very different from the type of jazz that spawned it. Run DMC joined with the white rockers, Aerosmith, to record a rap/rock version of “Walk this Way”. At the core of multiculturalism is this idea of crossing over, of morphing into different cultural ideas, and to find commonalities between the groups.
The black student who values his education is often accused of acting white, evoking the sense of anti-intellectualism that McWhorter sees as a core trait of the African American community. In order to be accepted, you must adhere to black standards and buy into the idea that there is a “black psychology and white psychology” which further separates African American’s from whites (75). In reference to this cult of anti-intellectualism, McWhorter recalls a classroom experience, as a professor at Berkeley, in which he taught a history course in black musical theater (95). He found that his white students particularly enjoyed the historical material, whereas the black students slouched and appeared bored throughout the historical lectures and only embraced what they already knew, material beginning around the 1970’s (95-96).
This “cult of anti-intellectualism” is unfortunately affecting large groups of society, regardless of race, class, or socio-economic status. McWhorter focuses on his own culture as a call for improvement, since if the problem is not admitted, solutions can not be forged. His book is sometimes offensive, but ultimately rewarding in that it can be applied cross-culturally. He wants African Americans to hold themselves in the same high esteem as the men and women of the early 1900’s who believed that focusing on equality and similarities is the only way to achieve true liberation (McWhorter 75). These were the people who would not buy into the idea of “black vs. white psychology”, since we are all human beings made up of the same color blood and number of chromosomes. Cultural differences, yes, but different physical, cognitive, and psychological abilities, no.
So what does it mean to be “culturally black”, or white, or brown, or blue? Why can’t we emulate the characteristics of other groups, without being denied comradeship within our own cultural group? I am no innocent bystander myself, I have laughed at the white boys who embrace the hip-hop, or Mexican rap cultures. I have even laughed at myself for singing along to gangster rap, because I speak the lyrics like a foreigner to a new language. And why should I be embarrassed for driving with the windows down, blaring notorious B.I.G.? McWhorter quotes June Jordan in a statement that I find particular fascinating in regards to stereotypical cross-cultural opinions, “Can a person who reads Jane Eyre as well as Native Son, considers Molefi Kete Asante a charlatan, and thinks of O. J. Simpson as a murderer be culturally black?” (73-74). A person’s culture, color, or identity should never be stripped because they embrace aspects of other cultural groups.
Examples
of Cultural Prejudice in Selected Literature
In the Song of Solomon, Milkman faces prejudice from his own racial group for not being black enough. Guitar accuses him of trying to act white because he parties among the upper class, lives away from the predominantly black Southside, and has the lazy attitude of privilege, lacking conviction and desire for the plight of his fellow black man. Perhaps Milkman is deserving of Guitar’s reality check, for the abrasive comments partly lead him to his self-discovery.
Macon Dead reeks of self-righteous superiority in comparison to the rest of the African American men throughout the story. The men of the Southside detest him for not being lenient toward his fellow black men in quest for his due rent. Macon sees himself as the product of hard work and determination, a man who owes no one for his success. The cultural connection of skin color does not pay Macon’s bills and does not earn anyone else special privileges. I believe he would react the exact same way to his white tenants, as he is a man who seemingly lacks emotion. Color is not an important factor in his collection of rent, since he is a businessman above all else.
In the book, Boy From Nebraska, Ralph Martin chronicles the story of Ben Kuroki, a Japanese American war hero who actually had to fight to obtain the dangerous job of tail gunner. He flew an amazing 58 missions in his desire to prove his allegiance to the United States. Disappointingly, after being a decorated war hero and surviving his many tours in Europe and the Pacific, Kuroki was stabbed by a fellow soldier who disliked “Japs”. He recovered, but the onslaught of discrimination and racism was only beginning as he and his fellow Japanese American friends were denied hair cuts, hotels, and almost every other unalienable right that citizenship should entail. This discrimination is very similar to the African American experience during the same time, as both Japanese American’s and African American’s were treated as second class citizens. The effects of the Japanese internment can also be paralleled to the slavery of African Americans. Though slavery was much worse and of longer duration than the Internment, they were both institutions that restricted the freedoms of United States citizens.
Embracing
a Common Language as a Pathway to Integration
If you have ever visited a foreign country, you will have noticed the difficulties that arise when you do not speak the native tongue. As earlier mentioned, even English speaking peoples may be difficult to understand due to differences in dialect. Thus, when the language is completely foreign, using different vocabulary, or even a different alphabet, communication becomes difficult, if not impossible. Imagine trying to negotiate your way through China, without having a clue how to read the street signs. Now, imagine yourself a newly immigrated Chinese teenager, trying to learn Chemistry in English.
It is not hard to imagine the difficulty immigrants must have when trying to negotiate their new lives in America. Unfortunately, without a common language, we remain divided as individuals with little hope of achieving unity as a nation. Common language becomes especially important when thinking about the future of our public school system and the costs of teaching each group separately. Aside from the costs, keeping the groups separate only furthers the segregation that cultural differences already put into play.
As we have seen in Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio immediately notices that most of the other children speak English and he separates himself from them “Thereafter I kept away from the groups as much as I could and worked alone. I worked hard. I listened to the strange sounds. I learned new names, new words (Anaya 54).” To further his discomfort, at lunch time he realizes that the other kids are eating sandwiches made with bread, while he had green chile, beans, and tortillas. While his language immediately set him apart, something as small as his choice of lunch widened the gap between Antonio and the rest of the children. Stories like Bless Me, Ultima stress the importance of English acquisition, while also showing how one’s cultural heritage remains an integral part of life. Antonio learns to balance between the family and school cultures as we watch him grow over several summers.
Perhaps Antonio felt the “constant pressure of English” as Ada Savin coined the term in relation to the prevalence of English in Mexican American literature. It is near impossible not to feel some sort of pressure to learn the national language of the country in which one resides, or even a country one plans to visit long term. Savin quotes Gloria Anzaldua saying “ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my language” and explains that this idea sums up the Mexican American search for identity (Savin 2). Identity is intertwined with language, and the loss of language can lead to identity confusion.
In the book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Yolanda returns to the Dominican Republic to visit her family after several years in the United States. Yolanda’s aunts ask her to tell what she has been doing with herself and ‘in halting Spanish, Yolanda reports on her sisters. When she reverts to English, she is scolded, ‘En Espanol!’ The more she practices, the sooner she’ll be back to her native tongue, the Aunts insist (Alvarez 7).” Moving to New York City in the 1960’s, Yolanda deals with the problem of assimilation, losing her native tongue being one of the casualties.
Similarly, today’s Latin authors experience the same problem in choosing to write in English over Spanish, sometimes forming a hybrid that unifies the two languages into one (Savin 2). Sandra Cisneros provides excellent examples with Woman Hollering Creek as her characters both embrace, push away, assimilate, and resist, both the American, and Mexican cultures at different points throughout her short stories. Cisneros reveals her Latin soul and the passion of her language, while speaking the tongue of her adopted country.
Savin quotes Octavio Paz’ remark that “language is the soul of a people; in order to write works of imagination---poetry, novels, plays---one has to change one’s soul or change the language in which one intends to write (5)”. I somewhat agree with Paz’ statement because, though I have taken years of Spanish, I would never be able to write as fluently as I can in English. English is who I am, the way I can most eloquently communicate my thoughts and feelings. Perhaps the best way to truly record the feelings of the Spanish speaking Mexican American would be through writing in Spanish, then translating to English. Some beauty and meaning is always lost in translation, but a greater portion of the population would likely be reached, and with a more authentic text. In contrast, however, Sandra Cisneros attended American schools and speaks English fluently, therefore, the crossover does not hinder her tone or message. Her abilities thrive regardless of the language with which she chooses to convey her thoughts.
Language differences are not just a problem for the Spanish speaking people of our country. For years, the validity of Black English has been debated in courts and school systems. McWhorter denies this validity by stating that Black English is a form of English dialect, but is not actually a separate entity which uses African language with English words (59). As a linguist, he finds the notion absurd that the differences between Black English and Standard English should be a reason for black students to read and write poorly, while immigrant children who speak a completely different language are not so quick to make excuses (McWhorter 118).
From a pop culture perspective, language barriers are slowly getting better. The success of the Asian films, “Hero”, “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”, and the “House of Flying Daggers”, as well as the French film “Brotherhood of the Wolf” have opened American eyes to new cultures. These movies presented amazing cinematography and special effects, but most importantly, they were all spoken in foreign languages with English subtitles. Perhaps this is but a small demonstration of openness to new cultures and experiences on the part of mainstream America, but it is still an important step toward cultural acceptance.
Learning the language of the dominant culture does not force people to forget the language of their ancestors. In fact, being bilingual, especially in the Houston area, gives those people an advantage over their monolingual counterparts. It is extremely liberating to be able to speak Spanish to someone and have them understand you, and appreciate the effort. The public school system actually encourages bilingualism in that each student is required to take at least two years of foreign language. In a truly multicultural society it is important to be fully fluent in the dominant language, but nearly as important to maintain bilingualism.
How
Does Multicultural Literature Benefit Our Teens?
In the article, “Multicultural Literature: Reading to Develop Self-Worth”, Leticia de Leon expresses the importance of reading literature that reflects the many different ethnicities within our culture (49). Students are more inclined to understand themselves and to better apply their own cultural awareness to other cultures. De Leon uses Sandra Cisneros’ House on Mango Street to reach her Hispanic students, but found that this one cultural connection enabled them to sympathetically view the characters in other, typically Anglo, books. She is not making a call to eliminate the current literary canon, but she desires to incorporate multicultural texts into the existing curriculum that she feels “is full of arrogant self-confidence that refuses to admit its blind ignorance at having mistreated our ancestors and the ancestors of other cultures” (De Leon 50). De Leon’s point of view raises some important points, but does her opinion foster further hatred within her students? America has been a land of opportunity for many, as well as a land of oppression, but there have been many ethnic groups, including groups of Anglo’s, that have also felt this oppression. So, even the “dead white male” western writers may have experienced different forms of oppression and perhaps should not be so indelicately and irreverently labeled as such.
Most importantly, De Leon concludes by saying that many of her minority students fail to realize that teens from other cultures experience the same feelings as themselves (51). Through multicultural literature she has been able to show them how the characters of Cisneros’ book, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye all experience similar feelings that come from being a part of this world.
Furthermore, the incorporation of minority literature into
high school classrooms will likely lead to a higher level of cultural tolerance
and acceptance of differences. Perhaps
America has spent the past hundreds of years taking away the voices of our
immigrants, citizens, women, and homosexuals, but the trend can be reversed
through our current generation. In
fact, people seem to be allowed more voice and choice than ever before, with no
opinion being kept shut away in silence. Through
multicultural literature, the suppressed voice of our minorities can find a
place to shine and flourish, helping them better relate to the mainstream
culture in an attempt to form a diverse, yet unified nation.
Conclusion
Perhaps this was sort of a turn on what we discussed in class, but hopefully it gave a sense of some of the cultural issues that exist on a daily basis across ethnicities and minority groups. I had really wanted to discuss women and homosexuals within this topic, but the results would be too broad and unfocused. As it is, if you couldn’t tell by the rest of the essay, I lean heavily toward a form of assimilation that allows all of us to remain individuals while adapting to the cultures around us. After all, most of us are all from somewhere else! I am not stressing forced participation, or choosing tortillas over bread, but I am encouraging myself, my students, and my family, to be more accepting. In answer to the tortilla comment, I am extremely picky and actually have a favorite type of tortilla, the uncooked kind that my mother in law buys at the carniceria (meat market). I love my new cultural connections and am proud of the amount of Spanish I can speak. But it isn’t good enough that I just speak Spanish, I should want to learn Chinese, or Arabic. There are so many cultures that we know so little of. We fear the unknown, breeding hatred and disgust for those that are different from ourselves. This problem is prevalent throughout all of society, regardless of color or class, or even sexual orientation, and could be helped through the understanding that multicultural texts can provide.
Works Cited
Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Penguin, 1992.
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley: Tonatiuh-Quinto Sol Intl., 1989.
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Dell, 1986.
De Leon, Leticia. “Multicultural Literature: Reading to Develop Self-Worth”. Multicultural Education, pp. 49-51, Volume 10, Number 2, winter 2002.
Martin, Ralph. Boy From Nebraska. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1946.
McWhorter, John. Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America. New York: The Free Press, 2000.
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Penguin, 1987.
Savin, Ada. “A Bridge Over the Americas: Mexican American Literature”. Bilingual Review, May-August 1995, Vol. 20, Issue 2 (Retrieved from Academic Search Premier 3/28/06).
Wikipedia, “Eminem,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem#Entering_the_mainstream
Definition of multiculturalism, www.dictionary.com