Insider/Outsider Debate - Multicultural Literature

"Diversity without equity is not the goal of multiculturalism." -Mingshui Cai

As Cai mentions in his article Multiple Definitions of Multicultural Literature: Is the Debate Really Just "Ivory Tower" Bickering? this debate directly affects teachers in that we are an integral part of maintaining goals of providing a multicultural education. I personally am having a lot of conflicts when reading the articles for class because I feel as though there is a lot of tension between the authors and not much unity on the subject. This is not an easy debate nor does it have a correct answer. Overall I lean towards the notion that an insider can best represent his or her own culture, whether that is a racial, religious, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, education, or any other element of multicultural literature. That does not exclude those who are educated in other cultures different from their own or those who have close relations with those various cultures. I would like to think of it as an issue of expertise – just as a doctor who specializes in optometry would not perform surgery on the foot or similarly a dermatologist would not be best to recommend joint pain medications, I would prefer the right man for the right job. As Bishop explains, an African American is most likely more fit for the job of writing African American literature due to the fact that “it is the way they have been acculturated.”

I question Shannon’s basis for many of his claims as well as how he can assume such things like in the second paragraph where he states:

More often, however, they [female, white educators in the rural and suburban school districts] see the debate as irrelevant to their teaching and lives because they work (or will work) in rural and suburban school districts which as isolated and safe from “the crisis” of multicultural metropolitan areas. (Shannon 1)

Since I nearly fit his description of such a (future) female educator, I am confused as to how someone could actually feel that this debate is unsafe as well as distant. This seems to me to be a very narrow view of the world, almost as if they (those white females he is depicting) desire this sheltered isolation. Shannon presents to his readers the idea that Rudine Sims Bishop “reduces multiculturalism to issues of race” when in fact he is taking her literally and out of context, which she defends in her article – she simply identifies best with the racial aspect of multiculturalism and therefore discusses that topic most often. She is not in anyway denying that there are other functions of multicultural literature.

It is also critical to have a working definition of culture. I feel this includes any and all aspects of your individual life. Each experience you have shapes you into who you are which can be seen in your values, racial orientation, sexual preference, and other such dimensions of your life. It is important as future teachers to be on guard and watchful of fallacies within literature in order to prevent misconceptions, stereotypes, and other such uneducated pieces of literature to enter our classrooms. Being a critical reader will be an important tool when deciding if an author correctly represents the culture as a whole.