We totally need music for this site, don't you think? Yes? Okay, I have a plan.
In order to implement this plan, I could use some help. I want to make a themed playlist each month, starting with World Music in January.
What's your favorite musical artist, song, or songwriter that fits into any of these categories?
1) World Music?
2) African American?
3) African-descent and not American?
3) Asian or of Asian descent?
4) Latino/a or of Hispanic descent?
5) Native American?
6) Other category reflecting diversity?
Multiple answers in any category are encouraged, I'll be trying to find the songs on Playlist.com and some things can be hard to find. Creating your own subcategories is encouraged, also--African American covers jazz and motown and hiphop and all kinds of stuff, Asian covers an entire continent, "world" covers an entire, like, world. So depending on how many suggestions I get, I'll break it down more. If I get zero suggestions, you'll be at the mercy of me and my hiphop-loving kids.
Showing posts with label Discussion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Discussion. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Discussion Question: What is Diversity?
I've had some questions about what "counts" as diversity. Are we looking for authors who are minorities? (That would leave out many foreign authors)
Are we looking for authors who are foreign, or immigrants? Children of immigrants? (That would rule out Native Americans and many black authors)
Does it have to be a book that somehow emphasizes the person's different-ness from the reader? Ralph Nader, for example, is first generation Lebanese-American, but that may not be obvious to readers of his books on public safety and politics. So do we count The Seventeen Traditions, in which he talks about his childhood, but not In Pursuit of Justice?
Nobody has asked about Lisa See, unless you count me asking myself. She's only 1/8 Chinese and she looks caucasian. But, she grew up in L.A.'s Chinatown and her work contains Chinese themes. She self-identifies as Chinese-American, but she's less Chinese than I am Italian or German, and I don't self-identify as either of those. Does she count?
If a reader commits to 6 books and yet leaves out black authors, are they being sufficiently diverse? On the other hand, what if they commit to only black authors? What if they love Toni Morrison and have read every one of her books except A Mercy? Can they count that, or does it have to be an author who's new to them?
Here are my answers: yes, yes, yes, maybe, maybe, maybe, probably not, probably not, no, yes.
But I'm asking each of you to challenge yourselves, which means that ultimately you have to be the one to answer these questions to your satisfaction. Asking ourselves the hard questions about who we choose to read and why, is an integral part of the challenge.
So, it's your turn: In what way are you hoping to stretch yourself with this challenge, and what do you consider sufficiently diverse?
Are we looking for authors who are foreign, or immigrants? Children of immigrants? (That would rule out Native Americans and many black authors)
Does it have to be a book that somehow emphasizes the person's different-ness from the reader? Ralph Nader, for example, is first generation Lebanese-American, but that may not be obvious to readers of his books on public safety and politics. So do we count The Seventeen Traditions, in which he talks about his childhood, but not In Pursuit of Justice?
Nobody has asked about Lisa See, unless you count me asking myself. She's only 1/8 Chinese and she looks caucasian. But, she grew up in L.A.'s Chinatown and her work contains Chinese themes. She self-identifies as Chinese-American, but she's less Chinese than I am Italian or German, and I don't self-identify as either of those. Does she count?
If a reader commits to 6 books and yet leaves out black authors, are they being sufficiently diverse? On the other hand, what if they commit to only black authors? What if they love Toni Morrison and have read every one of her books except A Mercy? Can they count that, or does it have to be an author who's new to them?
Here are my answers: yes, yes, yes, maybe, maybe, maybe, probably not, probably not, no, yes.
But I'm asking each of you to challenge yourselves, which means that ultimately you have to be the one to answer these questions to your satisfaction. Asking ourselves the hard questions about who we choose to read and why, is an integral part of the challenge.
So, it's your turn: In what way are you hoping to stretch yourself with this challenge, and what do you consider sufficiently diverse?
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