An observation
Nov. 19th, 2009 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageI've just been reading the short stories written by my students. The assignment was for a realistic story, with characters similar to themselves experiencing everyday problems.
Now, my class is quite diverse. Out of 24 students, 14 speak a language other than English at home. Of those, three are white (Eastern European) and the rest are mostly from the Indian sub-continent. Five are Muslim, one is a Coptic Christian, the rest are Hindu or Orthodox Christian.
So it was with some surprise that I noted that all of their stories, without exception, used Anglophone names. There was a full complement of Melissas, Jessicas, Amandas, two different Sams, two Maxes, and a few slightly less-common ones. But not a single name in the bunch that seemed to come from their cultures. Not a single reference to cultural food or religion or clothing that wasn't North American. To read the stories, you'd think my class was white-bread middle class from the Prairies.
I find this rather disturbing. We've read more than one story from their cultures, we regularly discuss how each culture in the room has something special to bring to the table, I make opportunities to discuss the things that each culture has in common with the others and the things that set it apart, and yet when it comes to a story that was supposed to relate to their own lives, I get nothing so much as classic examples of acculturation.
I'm not sure what to do about it, though. A classroom is a place where children are enculturated, and if their culture is not the dominant one, some acculturation is almost unavoidable. That said, I want them to feel that their culture is valuable and valid in my classroom, and that a story that involves their experiences as minority cultures in Canada is not only acceptable, but perhaps preferable in this situation because it's closer to their experience. I wouldn't expect all of them to write that way, but I would have expected a few of them to do so.
I think when I get home I'll cross-post this to a community that deals with racism on LJ. I read a couple; maybe someone there will have something to add.
Now, my class is quite diverse. Out of 24 students, 14 speak a language other than English at home. Of those, three are white (Eastern European) and the rest are mostly from the Indian sub-continent. Five are Muslim, one is a Coptic Christian, the rest are Hindu or Orthodox Christian.
So it was with some surprise that I noted that all of their stories, without exception, used Anglophone names. There was a full complement of Melissas, Jessicas, Amandas, two different Sams, two Maxes, and a few slightly less-common ones. But not a single name in the bunch that seemed to come from their cultures. Not a single reference to cultural food or religion or clothing that wasn't North American. To read the stories, you'd think my class was white-bread middle class from the Prairies.
I find this rather disturbing. We've read more than one story from their cultures, we regularly discuss how each culture in the room has something special to bring to the table, I make opportunities to discuss the things that each culture has in common with the others and the things that set it apart, and yet when it comes to a story that was supposed to relate to their own lives, I get nothing so much as classic examples of acculturation.
I'm not sure what to do about it, though. A classroom is a place where children are enculturated, and if their culture is not the dominant one, some acculturation is almost unavoidable. That said, I want them to feel that their culture is valuable and valid in my classroom, and that a story that involves their experiences as minority cultures in Canada is not only acceptable, but perhaps preferable in this situation because it's closer to their experience. I wouldn't expect all of them to write that way, but I would have expected a few of them to do so.
I think when I get home I'll cross-post this to a community that deals with racism on LJ. I read a couple; maybe someone there will have something to add.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-19 04:43 pm (UTC)Sometimes it drives me bonkers knowing that on the surface, before you know anything about mine or Bryan's belief systems or political views...James Dobson would look at our little family unit & our churchgoing ways & nod smugly as though he had anything in common with us. MADDENING I TELL YOU.
Oh sorry that was a tangent.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-19 05:40 pm (UTC)The Perfectly Normal Family syndrome bugs me, too. My contribution towards equality seems to be arguing with other people who are "just like me" on the surface of things, that in fact, I'm not just like them at all and they should analyze those assumptions before they make an ass of them.
I'll let you know what happens.