Culture is frequently reduced to a list of generalizations that do not fit anyone's actual life within that cultural group. This book challenges these simplistic approaches to culture by exploring the complex and interconnected themes between and within African and African American cultures. This resistance of generalizations and focus on exploring the diversity of experiences and connections within a culture provides a generative example of the type of scholarship we need to move forward in the field of children's and adolescent literature. Instead of the 'one chapter per ethnicity' model that has been most prevalent, we need in-depth inquiry that uncovers the complex ways of living and thinking within each culture as represented in literature. The authors of this book remind us that asking whether or not a book is authentic to a particular culture is only a first step. We also need to examine the issue of representation and whether the books available to children and adolescents reflect the actual diversity of experiences within that culture. (Kathy G. Short, Director, Worlds of Words; Professor, Language, Reading & Culture, The University of Arizona; Past President, United States Board of Books for Young People, USBBY)
Culture is frequently reduced to a list of generalizations that do not fit anyone's actual life within that cultural group. This book challenges these simplistic approaches to culture by exploring the complex and interconnected themes between and within African and African American cultures. This resistance of generalizations and focus on exploring the diversity of experiences and connections within a culture provides a generative example of the type of scholarship we need to move forward in the field of children's and adolescent literature. Instead of the 'one chapter per ethnicity' model that has been most prevalent, we need in-depth inquiry that uncovers the complex ways of living and thinking within each culture as represented in literature. The authors of this book remind us that asking whether or not a book is authentic to a particular culture is only a first step. We also need to examine the issue of representation and whether the books available to children and adolescents reflect the actual diversity of experiences within that culture. (Kathy G. Short, Director, Worlds of Words; Professor, Language, Reading & Culture, The University of Arizona; Past President, United States Board of Books for Young People, USBBY)
