Lack Of Multiculturalism

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The Lacking of Multicultural Children and Young Adult Literature Karen Patricia Smith discusses in her article “The Multicultural Ethic and Connections to literature for Children and Young Adults,” which was printed in Library Trends in 1993, the interest of identifying specific issues concerning the lack of multiculturalism in children and young adult literature. She also explains the relationship between literature and the multicultural perspective and the response to the need of multicultural books for children and Young Adults. Smith states several reasons and concerns as to why there is a problem with the lack of multiculturalism in children’s and young adult literature including the potential for stereotyping and the lack of interest from multicultural authors and illustrators. She also states several possible solutions as to how these situations can be deterred, on the librarians and educator front, from occurring and effecting children. Also, Smith gives examples of how it would be possible to bring more interest from multicultural authors/illustrators to this field of literature. Smith introduces the concept of multiculturalism and how America has “always been a ‘multicultural’ country” (Smith, p.1), but didn’t become a realization to the American people until the 1960s and the civil right movement. She explains how the word “multicultural” was used as a synonym to earlier interpretations of “minority”. This included the African American, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American cultures to name a few. As time would go on this would eventually include “the handicapped, gay and lesbian individuals, and, in short, any persons whose lifestyle, enforced or otherwise, distinguishes them as identifiable members of a group... ... middle of paper ... ...ultural background to be introduced, but never gives a definite example on how to do this. Multicultural literature, especially children’s literature, can affect how an entire culture can be perceived. The lack of multicultural literature for children and young adults, and the lack of those who write from the vast number of cultures, can have negative effects on how cultures are viewed by those who are outside them. A better and more effective way to increase multicultural literature for young people must be found in order to create better relationships that cross culture boundaries. Smith, Karen Patricia. "The multicultural ethic and connections to literature for children and young adults." Library Trends Winter 1993: 340+. General OneFile. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA13208327&v=2.1&u=mlin_b_bunkhcc&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w

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