Download - Ethniclit2012
What is Ethnic Literature?
What does “ethnic” mean?
“of or relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background.” (Webster’s Dictionary)
Ethnic classifications
Hispanics or Latinos are being classed according to language (Spanish) more so than “race.”
African-Americans are being classed according to race.
Asian-Americans are classed according to race, but often also according to national origin.
Ethnic classifications
White Americans are usually considered ethnic only in terms of strong national or religious identifications i.e. Italian, Jewish
Native Americans are usually classified by tribe, but sometimes by race as indigenous or native peoples
Ethnic Classifications
There can also be regional identifications--New Yorkers, Californians, locals
Both regional and national identifications can be strengthened by moving away from the group--when they are dominant they are often taken for granted.
Ethnic identifications
Linguistic, and cultural identifications are weakened through exposure to a dominant alternative culture as members of ethnic groups become assimilated.
The following poem by Pat Mora describes this process:
Immigrants
Wrap their babies in the American flag,
feed them mashed hot dogs and apple pie,
name them Bill and Daisy,
buy them blonde dolls that blink blue
eyes or a football and tiny cleats
before the baby can even walk,
speak to them in thick English
hallo, babee, hallo
Immigrants
whisper in Spanish or Polish
when the babies sleep, whisper
in a dark parent bed, that dark
parent fear, “Will they like
our boy, our girl, our fine american
boy, our fine american girl?”
What is Literature?
Imaginative WritingStories, novelsAutobiographypoems, song lyrics, chantsplaysFilms
So what is ethnic literature?
Literature in which the protagonists or, in the case of poetry, the speakers, are conscious of being members of a group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.
I define it by subject matter rather than the ethnic background of the author.
Who writes “ethnic” lit?
Members of ethnic groups can write literature that is not “ethnic”
People who are not part of a specific ethnic group can write ethnic literature about that group but this may raise difficult questions about authenticity.
For the most part I try to chose works written by “insiders.”
Generic characteristics of ethnic literature
Recurrent themes (list follows)
Hybridizationmixture of styles and genres
mixture of traditions from different cultures
Presence of a culture bearer-older character who passes on traditions and wisdom
Consciousness of a double audience-insiders from own culture and outsiders from dominant culture
multi-lingual
incorporation of visions, dreams or other supernatural elements
Themes of ethnic literature
Experiences of prejudice, discrimination, or racism
generational conflicts--particularly between immigrant parents and their American-born children or grandchildren,
nostalgia for or struggle to recover a lost ethnic identity,
pride in and celebration of one’s heritage versus shame and discomfort at being different,
Themes of ethnic literature
The feeling of being caught between two worlds.
Conflicts between “American” values and “ethnic” values,
The conflict and convergence of differing ethnic traditions.