The Complexity of Cultural Authenticity in Children’s Literature
general article writing
Description
Answer the questions below based on the lecture and readings. Each answered the question should
utilize key examples from the readings and be no more than 2-3 content pages each, double
spaced, and MLA 8th edition citations and works cited. Make sure to BOLD your argumentative
thesis statement.
ESSAY: After reading “The Complexity of Cultural Authenticity in Children’s Literature: Why the
Debates Really Matter,” discuss what are the major pro and con issues. Using lecture examples of
Asian stories published in English in the United States, support your position as to why you
personally think cultural authenticity matters or not, specifically for children’s picture books. Be sure
to have a minimum of two citations in the body of your essay and a “Work(s) Cited.”
Kathy G. Short and Dana L. Fox
illustrators, editors, publishers, educators, librarians, and scholars all
have different points of view about authenticity that they each feel
strongly about based on the own sociocultural experiences an philo
sophical views. But do these debates about cultural authenticity really
matter? ;
We first became closely inv.olved with these issues when we
were editors of & the New Advocate, a professional journal for those
involved with young people and their literature, where we
published a number. of articles on cultural authenticity. The
controversy _and debates in intrigued us, so we read everything we
could locate on the topic. We.were impressed by the complexity of
the issues being discussed, but we were also concerned about how
often the debates quickly moved to simplis tic insider Ioutsider
distinctions, specifically whether whites should write books about
people of color. We found that no one article dealt with the
complexities of the debates about cultural authenticity, and we
realized that, given the nature of the issues, no one article ever
could reflect this complexity and range of viewpoints. That is when
the idea of this edited collection came into being.
Often, publishers discourage edited collections, believing that
arguments are not merely academic but reflect deeply held beliefs at the
heart of each person's work increating literature fo young people and
We were also concerned, however, by how often the debates
seemed to swirl back to dichotomies and simplistic outsider/insider
distinctions.
