Thoughts on Authenticity

I chose to begin with the topic of authenticity as my first critical issues entry because one of the quotes I wrote down during my reading of chapter 2 of Dana L. Fox's Stories Matter: The Complexity of Cultural Authenticity in Children's Literature, was the same as one I found on a class handout.  The quote, by Rudine Sims Bishop, refers to how “much of the authenticity debate seems to be oversimplified, ignoring or downplaying both history and the complexities of the way race, power, and privilege operate in this society and in the field of children’s literature” (Fox, 29).  I would like to respond to that quote here as it really stuck out to me. 

            Sims Bishop’s context for this quote is a response to the idea of the insider/outsider perspective for authenticity.  What does this mean?  At times, the argument for publishing multicultural literature boils down to whether the author’s skin color or ethnicity is the determinant for true authenticity.  My response is that this is not how it should be.  Authenticity should not be determined by something so simple as skin color.  I have family friends who are white, but they originally came to America from Africa.  Does this mean anything they were to write would not be considered authentic?  Or to lengthen the plot a little, would anything they wrote not be considered authentic even if they had just "visited" Africa for a few months or years, instead of coming from Africa?
            This same idea should be applied to ethnicity.  Can one ethnicity be the only group of people allowed to write about their culture?  That argument encompasses skin color as well, but goes beyond saying that as long as the individual is from x country that they must be the authorities of their own culture.  The truth of the matter is that even someone from that culture can make mistakes.  Their own experience is never going to be the same as someone else, even someone from the culture.  There are just too many factors to think about.  What about the city they lived in?  Their economic standing--were they from the rich side of town or the poor side?  Were they from a one parent family or did their parents stay together?  One person's experience will never account for a whole group.  This is not to say that we do not share experiences, but rather to argue for the branching out of writing and publishing children's multicultural books by authors of various backgrounds and ethnicities. 

            Sims Bishops understands that much of the time debates such as this becomes twisted, “fodder for provocative journal articles” (Fox, 29).  These are not the real issues.  The deeper issues are that of power, privilege, and history.  What we should be considering is the reason for why each individual’s work should matter, no matter the skin color or ethnicity.  As Sims Bishop stated, even authors make mistakes about their own race or their own country.  A good author does research to prepare their work, no matter how close they feel they are to their subject and characters.  The insider/outsider view does not matter much in my eyes, as long as their research has closed the gaps that may have corrupted the intent in their writing.  Each individual should be evaluated in a way that does not consider their skin color or ethnicity, but rather their history, their efforts, and their view of the subject.  Are they viewing the subject from a perspective of the one in power (sometimes referred to as dominant culture)?  Are they obscuring the real issues the subject has to offer?

             Another topic to consider when thinking
about the authenticity of a work is its ideological underpinnings.  Sims Bishop points out that “different members of those groups [insiders versus outsiders] at different times create children’s literature to fulfill different functions” (Fox, 32).  This goes back to my statement about the author’s intent in writing.  Though intent is by no means the best way of evaluation, as good intent can also be found in problematic literature, it is a stepping-stone.  Some of the roles multicultural children’s literature is meant to fulfill is that of reinforcement, the way W. E. B. Du Bois hoped to inspire African American children to recognize that they are beautiful human beings, just as important and loved in God’s eyes as any other child.

             Multicultural literature has also been used to bridge the gap between races (Fox, 33).  This is another way of children’s literature fulfilling a function.  These books are written with an objective in mind of what information output they want their readers to obtain.  It is important to notice these ideological underpinnings because of what the child may get out of it.  Whether the author is of the culture or not, if the message is true and it teaches the child something they otherwise would not have learned, why shouldn’t the authenticity be credited to the author? 

Note: this response is solely based on Fox chapter 2 as prompted on the homework sheet.  I realize there are arguments along these lines in chapter 4 of Cai and chapter 3 of Fox.