Multicultural Review

      This collection is significant in two very distinct ways. First, it is a collection of Asian-American writers, specifically a collection about the experience of being Asian-American living in America - with more than half of the collection focusing on the stories of immigration and the challenges and heartbreaks that accompany it. Second, there is a focus on how to come to terms with the duel identity of being from two cultures along with overcoming stereotypes and growing up different. The collection is so cohesive because it deals with different aspects of very similar topics. Each book explores immigration and the stereotypes that pressure all people in the Asian-American community. While the experiences are seen through different narrators’ eyes, it all brings a different aspect to being Asian-American in America. This collection consists of all fiction books about preteens. Because the authors own backgrounds of being Asian-American, they can incorporate some of their own experiences into their writing while also focusing on other important topics that may not have happened to them but were a point of contention for the period in which the story was written. The age of the main character helps to attract the target audience of pre-teens and teenagers because they can better associate with a character that is closer to their age that has to juggle similar situations in school or love.

Kadohata, Cynthia (Japanese-American)

Kira-Kira

     This is a novel set in the late 1950’s Georgia, where Katie Takeshima finds herself in the midst of family tragedy while growing up in a time where Americans were racist and classist. Another primary character is Katie’s older sister, Lynn, who has taught Katie about the Kira-Kira (the glittering of the stars). Lynn has taken care of Katie ever since they moved to Georgia, because her parents work such long hours to help provide for the family and is Katie’s best friend.  

      Racism and stereotypes are evident when Katie starts at a new school and as the only Japanese-American in her class. She faces average grades compared to her sister’s straight A’s, fake friends, and a constant undertone of a society that sees the Asian-American community as second-class citizens. Katie does make friends with another girl from school named Silly Kilgore, whose mother works with Katie’s mother. When Lynn gets sick, Katie finds herself taking care of Lynn and, while she does not resent Lynn, not realizing how serious Lynn’s sickness is.  Their parents buy a new house and for a while Lynn gets better until a terrible accident with their younger brother happens; this leaves him with a permanent limp. Yet this incident does show that not all of the people are blinded by their racism when it is in fact two white men who come to help out Sam, Katie’s brothers.

      Katie finally becomes aware that Lynn has Lymphoma and, by the time that Katie is eleven, Lynn dies.  That same day, Katie’s father destroys his boss’s car out of frustration and when he owns up to the mishap is fired.  A few days later Katie’s mother votes for the union because of its three-day grief leave for family members going through tragedy. While it is too late for her to be given time off, it is not too late for another family. Katie realizes shortly after Lynn’s death that she told her about Kira-Kira because Katie needs to see the world as a glittering place and to never lose hope no matter what. This is a great message for Katie because she has to face hardships not only because of her ethnicity but because she is growing up as an immigrant who others view as second-class citizens.

      With Katie’s father now out of a job due to destroying his boss’s car, and subsequently finding a new job in Missouri, the family decides to take a vacation. Katie chooses to go to California because she says that is what Lynn would have wanted. When they get to California Katie is sure she can hear Kira-Kira in the ocean waves.

      This novel, while fiction, is a great window of Japanese American immigrants in the 1950’s because it showcases the racism of the time. Segregation was still a big part of society there, keeping non-whites oppressed.  This also brings to light a form of the authors own life and hardships because she is Japanese-American and moved to Georgia in 1956 where her father worked on a chicken farm. Making this a fiction novel allows Kadohata the freedom to incorporate her own experiences while adding elements that she made up in order to emphasize the struggles of her people.

 

Woo, Sung J. (Korean-American)

Everything Asian

      Everything Asian starts with a young boy of 12, named David Kim, coming to America to meet up with his father again after 5 years. David, along with his mother and sister, have just moved from South Korea to join his father in America, where his father owns a store in the mall called When East Meets West. This story highlights the culture shock and the tough situations a young boy faces from knowing no English and nothing of living in America to learning it all as he grows up in such a different place than where he was raised.

      David’s sister is miserable with their move to New Jersey in the 1980’s and his mother is not to happy either, but David makes the best of a situation. He takes solace in the family being reunited after years apart and learning to grow together again. David loves working in the shop When East Meets West and he loves visiting the stores around the shop, but it is not always the easiest place to work.  

      Working in the second-class mall, Peddler’s Town, the Kims face competition from other storeowners and a literal fire. The novel gives entries from different people, including the other shop owners giving a greater idea of the hardships that immigrants and other people working in Peddler’s Town had to face in a daily life. Each of the different narrators bring a different feel to the novel - with each one focusing on trying to make a life for themselves and in the process create a full picture of who they are and their own intrinsic values.

      In the end, you find the Kim family slowly adjusting as well as they can to America and their previously confusing ways as they come up on the anniversary of their first year in America. David is realizing that straddling two cultures is hard and complicated at times, but it is his life now and he is going to make the most of it. This brings him full circle to the start of the book where 15 years after this first year, David looks over the remains of the Peddler’s Town mall and reminisces.

      This novel is a fictional version of Woo’s own experience, bringing a deeper understanding of what the character of David was going through and how real characters may have acted in the same situation. Woo adds an element of coming to understand a Korean immigrants experiences when first coming to America by showing it through a child’s eyes – adding another layer of newness and struggle to come to terms with the world around. By telling the story in such a way, the readers are able to connect with personal feelings of youth even if they have not experienced the life of an immigrant.

Kwok, Jean (Chinese-American)
Girl in Translation

      Girl in translation is truly a story of translation; not only of the actual language, but of an individual who is essentially two different people in order to accommodate her new American culture and her Chinese culture.  Girl in translation is about a young girl, Kimberly Chang, who moves to Brooklyn in the 1980’s with her mother so that they can work in her aunt and uncle’s sweat shop. When Kimberly arrives in America, she finds herself as the interpreter for her mother and she doesn’t even understand half of what is said. Being busy with work, Kimberly’s mother does not have the inclination to learn English for herself, so the responsibility falls on Kimberly.

      During the day, Kimberly goes to school with her American classmates and becomes a studious student who feels that school just might be her escape from her life.  However, Kimberly is dragged down by this very ambition because the pressure to succeed is very heavy, by both her mother and herself. Kimberly sees school as her ticket out of the poverty that she and her mother live in, without end in sight, leaving pressure to do well while taking care of her mother at the same time.

      At night after school, Kimberly goes to the factory to help her mother create garments to help generate some more income. Their income is constantly bing taken by their aunt and uncle to pay for the expenses that the aunt and uncle had originally finances - such as the cost of moving them to America.  Thankfully, they make just enough to rent a rat infested apartment and feed themselves.

     All the while, Kimberly faces tough decisions in love and life. She falls in love with a young man that works in the factory, but she realizes that she cannot be with him because he has none of her ambition to leave this life behind him. Kimberly has to set aside her own wants for the good of her family, being further separated in her own life. The pressure of duty to her family keeps Kimberly separated from her desires, which she questions many times, but in the end she finds that dealing with these pressures help her understands who she is.

       The pressures of being a good student, working to help support the family, being the main translator for the family, and the elevation of family duty over personal desires are things that affected many of the Chinese immigrants even in the 80’s. These people suffered through culture shock, sometimes relying on the younger members of the family to be the prime communicators for the rest of the family. These children often faced stereotypes that were based on these very situations. The children who did not adhere to these stereotypes often struggled even more in the face of family needs and authority expectations.

Yee, Lisa (Chinese-American)
Millicent Min: Girl Genius

      Millicent Min: Girl Genius is a story of a Chinese American girl who is not so very normal in the fact that she is an 11 and a half-year-old genius who is already in high school. Millie has the problem of being extremely smart but she has problems interacting socially with others due to her high IQ and the judgment of others.  Millie attends high school in Rancho Rosetta California where she is seen as socially awkward and a nerd.

       Millicent wants to have friends and be normal like any other 11 year old, but no one wants to befriend the “super smart girl.” Therefore, Millie finds herself without friends at the end of her junior year of high school. Then, her mother signs her up for volleyball. Further, Millie not only has to play sports but her mother also signed her up to tutor Stanford Wong, an 11 year old sixth grader, who is great at soccer but terrible at math. 

       Millie arrives at Volleyball camp to meet Emily, who doesn’t know that Millie is a genius, and befriends her. With hiding her intelligence from her first true friend and tutoring her newly made arch nemesis, Stanford, Millie is suffering from the expectations from all around her.  With the decision to tell Emily about her true self, she finds out that being herself is the only way to have lasting friends.

       This novel focuses a lot on the stereotypes that surround the Asian American community and sheds a different light on the pressures that are put upon the youth to succeed and do well. Millie is a representation of the very-smart-Chinese-American-girl archetype, and shows the stereotype that all children with ties to the Asian community suffer from. But, it is also the need for these children to not just succeed in school, but to exceed in everything they encounter.  The push to make these children well rounded and to be exceptional at all that they do is very hard for young children to handle, and isolation such as what Millie went through would be a way to keep focused on the duties that the children feel they must fulfill.

       This insight into the difficulties of a gifted young woman (specifically with math, a recurring thematic stereotype in the book) emphasizes the troubles brought by unreasonable expectation.  The author does use known stereotypes to help create a character that is lovable but socially awkward to help people understand that despite a person’s intelligence, they are still just people. The fact that Millie is a second generation Chinese American just adds to the fact that she has troubles fitting in because of the weight of her duty to perform well academically, physically, and to focus on helping her family every way she can.

Yang, Gene Luen (Chinese-American)
American Born Chinese (graphic novel)

      This graphic novel is actually three separate stories told in one book.  With the stories all being told at the same time, it helps you get a feel for how interconnected these three stories are. The first story you are introduced to is the Monkey King, who is originally denied entrance to a dinner party because he is not wearing any shoes. After being denied, the Monkey King decides to study the twelve disciplines of kung fu. He is then summoned to the underwater kingdom for execution. He goes willingly, but is stopped by his creator, where after the Monkey King flees, carving his names on the five pillars on his way out. When the Monkey King meets up with his creator again, it is shown that the pillars were actually the fingers of his creator and then the Monkey King is buried in Rubble.

       The second story is about a Chinese-American boy named Jin Wang who has just moved.  Jin meets an old woman who grants him anything he wants in exchange for his soul, to which Jin asks for a transformer toy. When Jin goes to school on the first day people mispronounce his name, he is picked on, and rumors are started that he is betrothed to a girl at the school. When a new Taiwanese student transfers to his school only two months later, Jin is angry. Then, he realizes that Wei Chen (the new student) and he can be really good friends. The story picks up after this when Jin is in 7^th grade where Jin finally asks his classmate Amelia out after saving her from being trapped in the closet with his friend Wei. The last part of the story has Jin going on a date with Amelia but blowing it. Jin attempts to ask Amelia out again but can’t, so he asks Suzy, his friend Wei’s girlfriend, for advice. Instead of receiving advice, he kisses Suzy, causing Suzy and later Wei to punch him.  That night, Jin dreams and wakes up with his head hurting, showing that Jin is in fact Danny from the third story.

       The third story is about American boy named Danny who is on a study date with the girl he likes, Melanie, when his mother announces that Danny’s cousin, Chin-Kee, has arrived for his yearly visit. Chin-Kee then makes fun of Melanie causing her to run off. When the story resumes, Chin-Kee is the epitome of Asian-American stereotypes by being praised for his extraordinary grades, being rude, pulling rude pranks on Danny’s friends, and even bringing a dead cat to lunch to eat. At the end, with the new knowledge that Jin is actually Danny, he fights Chin-Kee to stop him from being loud in the library. When he punches Chin-Kee, he is revealed to be the Monkey king in disguise. The Monkey King then changes Danny back into Jin and tells him that his son, Wei Chen, but that his Wei no longer wanted to see him. The Monkey King had chosen Jin to show the error of his ways becasue he had done Wei Chen wrong by kissing his girlfriend, Suzy.  The Monkey King had appeared as Chin-Kee to prove as Jin’s conscience, causing Jin to seek out Wei and tell him about everything that happened to try and prove how sorry he was. Wei accepted his apology.

       These three stories work so well together not only with getting the storyline across, but with bringing to the forefront the issues that are very present with the Asian-American community. The first is the connection that many Asian-Americans have with both their traditional heritage or culture and their American culture. The traditional culture of the Chinese is told through the incorporation of the Monkey King and how the effects of the traditional culture can be felt by all generations no matter how far removed from their home country or society.

      The character of Chin-Kee grossly exaggerated the stereotypes that are often attributed to Chinese people, but it was done in such a way that Jin was forced to overcome them in order to no longer be judged by them. All of Chin-Kee’s actions were in essence a test for Jin to overcome, especially when it is found out that Chin-Kee is actually the Monkey King, and the epitome of traditional culture. Jin also realizes that culture is not something that he must simple overcome or push away. His Asian culture is part of himself, and his true goal must be to supersede the expectations placed upon him using his own character and integrity.

Kadonhata, Cynthia. (2006.) Kira-Kira. New York: Atheneum.

Woo, Sung J. (2009). Everything Asian. New York: Thomas Dunne Books
Kwok, Jean. (2010). Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead Hardcover.

Yee, Lisa. (2004). Millicent Min: Girl Genius. New York: Scholastic Paperbacks.

Yang, Gene Luen. (2008). American Born Chinese. New York: Square Fish

Article Review 3: White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack.

McIntosh, P. (1990). White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack. Independent School, 49 (2) 31-36. http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf

       This article explores the very real fact that while those of a different race, sex, sexual orientation etc. are seen as disadvantaged, it is in a way the opposite - with the people in power such as white people, males, heterosexuals, etc. who are in fact over-privileged. Much of the resistance in overcoming these boundaries in obtaining true equality is for those in power to recognize that they are given privileges that others are not - such as male privilege over female disadvantage, because women are still not given the same consideration as men.  McIntosh proceeds to describe some incidents where this white privilege would be most noticeable, with things such as "I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider." Also, in more extreme cases, "I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion." White privilege has a very large impact on the way that white people see the world, especially when the issues start to change so that the situation is no longer a privilege as seen before - rather conferring dominance.

      One main issue of white privilege is the white group having power over another group because the white privilege simply confers dominance in the issues where white privilege undermines, or alienates another. This brings McIntosh's distinction between conferred dominance and earned strength. With an unearned entitlement, issues such as every human being is part of humanity are explored - showing that some privileges do not need to be earned. With the development of the research for this article, McIntosh found that many unearned advantages and conferred dominance issues such as male dominance and advantages over women are not seen as distressing by the one holding the power, in this case that would be the man. This is the situation for those who don't see racism or sexism as a problem because it does not affect them negatively or personally.

      "I was taught to think that racism could end if white individuals changed their attitudes. [But] a 'white' skin in the United States opens many doors for whites whether or not we approve of the way dominance has been conferred on us. Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end, these problems." This is a very important issue that McIntosh addresses because it shows that many white privileged people do not realize that they are over-privileged rather than just seeing others as underprivileged, and that many of these privileges are obtained through conferred dominance. This is even more tragic due to the fact that many things must be changed in order to fix this, but this will not happen without much resistance from the white privileged.

      The white privileged face a hard road to eradicating racism in the world, which is only compounded by their own resistance to change the status quo. This is, of course, because with the change they would lose their conferred dominance and with it their power over other races. The obliviousness to this issue is a large issue also because it affects everyone, including those who are clueless, and how future generations will be treated if something is not changed. The gender issue faces the same problems in which something has to be done by everyone in order to help create a better, more equal world.

      Gender and race are two very important topics that are still an issue in today's world. While the world has come a very far way in gaining equal rights and advantages for everyone, there are still problems with many of these people not truly being given equal rights. Much of these two issues could be solved through the acknowledgment of not only these issues still being a problem, but also the ability of those in power to give up their power.

Social Bookmarking 3: Irish Culture and Customs

Irishcultureandcustoms.com

The Irish culture and customs website is a great example of an entire culture being accessible to everyone through the internet. This site explores all aspects of the Irish culture and their customs from literature to everyday life in modern Ireland to the myths and superstitions of Ireland in honor or Halloween. This look into the culture of the Irish people brings understanding and humor to the differences and similarities of culture and life from one town to the next. This site explores all aspects of Ireland and even has a section that helps visitors to understand some Irish phrases and words that would be helpful for anyone who may decide to visit Ireland on their own so as to avoid trouble or to help get out of a tough situation.

Social Bookmarking 3: One Society Many Cultures

http://www.onesocietymanycultures.org/

One Society Many cultures is a great website not only for it's message of acceptance of all cultures but also for it's ability to get information about all these different cultures out to the public. With news about the breaking stories dealing with different cultures this site allows everyone to keep current with what is happening in today's world along with giving the reader a background in the different terms used in today's world dealing with culture. With it's base in London they also have demonstrations and gatherings so that others can come out and meet to talk and support each other about the most current topics that are present.

Article 2: Diversity and intercultural issues in library and information science (LIS) education

Abdullahi, I. (2007). Diversity and intercultural issues in library and information science (LIS)

education. New Library World, 108(9/10), 453-459.

This article focuses on four characteristics that the best LIS teachers and library professionals have utilized to successfully reach out to the diverse population. First, LIS professionals need to be conscious of the sociocultural issues that exist in the world today so that they can see the impact that location and culture have upon individuals. This is important to LIS professionals because through understanding your own sociocultural identity you can understand the connection between the purpose of the library and the needed interaction from a library professional. Through this understanding, LIS professionals can help break down social barriers that have been created or perpetuated through discrimination by helping students and patrons to see diversity as a chance to improve . This is the second characteristic that allows LIS professionals to better help diverse populations - seeing students of all backgrounds as intelligent contributors to the classroom. The third characteristic is seeing oneself as a person responsible for bringing about change that would lead to schools being more accepting and receptive to all students. LIS professionals must “be the change” so that they can influence and affect all those who they come in contact with and to be aware and accepting of the cultural diversity in the library. Lastly, LIS professionals and teachers must assist in building upon current knowledge of students and using this to help expand knowledge beyond previous boundaries. These teachers must use the previous tenets to help students in creating new ideas in order to understand the world rather than depending on previous memorized knowledge.

These four qualities serve as the organizing framework for infusing attention to diversity throughout the library education curriculum. They represent the conceptual strands to be woven throughout the learning experiences of prospective librarians in coursework and fieldwork so that, collectively, those experiences cultivate the qualities of culturally responsive information professionals.

This quote by Abdullahi’s Diversity and intercultural issues in library and information science (LIS) education is extremely important because these characteristics are exactly what are needed to help create culturally conscious librarians. These four characteristics describe how a library professional must conduct themselves around students or library patrons to really make a great librarian. Each of the four characteristics are a skill that needs to be learned, but that involves using it in conjunction with all other skills to make it the most effective. Social consciousness, helping students see themselves as a contribution rather than a hindrance, being an agent on change, and building upon current cultural knowledge to create and accept new cultural ideas all are needed to reach the peak library professionalism and improve the lives of all of those they interact with.

It is incredibly important for the LIS community to both attend these classes and to eventually be able to teach these classes, because it gives a depth of understanding to the library professional and the community. These characteristics allow for a better understanding between cultures and, if properly utilized by the library professionals, it can become a starting point for incorporating ideas and acceptance of different cultural ideas to help create better programs and activities that are available to the patrons. These characteristics are incredibly important to the development of a degree in library and information sciences because without these skills you can only be as effective as the stereotypes that you may or may not be perpetuating because of a personal lack of knowledge. Without classes to teach library professionals these skills, and much more, the library would not be able to be the agent of change that it so drastically needs to be in relation to acceptance of different cultures.

The idea of multicultural classes and introducing students to sociocultural consciousness of both the individual and society should be mandatory to attend, because of the inherent knowledge you learn not only about yourself, but also about different cultures and the hardships and triumphs that they have been involved in. With knowledge of multiple cultures, it becomes easier to connect to different people, which makes assisting them easier and a much more comfortable situation. Without this knowledge of different cultures, it is harder to predict the needs of different patrons, leading to miscommunication, confusion, frustration and the inability to properly assist the person.

The lack of any one of these characteristics would leave a wide gap that would make the overall aim much less effective. If any of these skills were compromised, it would effect the individual's ability to properly utilize the other skills because they are so deeply intertwined. For example, without sociocultural consciousness, you would not be able to add to a student's knowledge base hindering them from creating new ideas and continuing learning on their own. It is imperative that all four skills are taught for this very reason.

Social Bookmark 2: Bridge culture

The Bridge culture website takes art and culture and combines them to help others understand culture from around the world. This site mostly caters to productions that are available at the Brooklyn Bridge park but also gives many links and information about the many cultures that are involved in these different productions. This site offers a fantastic chance to librarians, especially those in the New York/Brooklyn area, because this blend of dance, music, storytelling and culture helps to educate the people while entertaining them!
http://www.bridgeculture.org/

Article 1: Jaeger, P. T., Bertot, J. C., & Franklin, R. E. (2010). Diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented populations in LIS research.

Jaeger, P. T., Bertot, J. C., & Franklin, R. E. (2010). Diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented

populations in LIS research. Library Quarterly, 80, 175-181.

This article focuses on the lack of diversity in the population of library professionals compared to the widely diverse people whom they assist. With a more diverse library staff it can help encourage young children to become successful by seeing the success of many different types of people working in the library. It is with this thought that research is encouraged to explore the lack of diversity in the library profession and through this research the diversity issues can be addressed.

Research in diversity should be necessary for all professional fields because, as Jaeger states,

“Consistent exposure to this area of research stands as a key means through which students in LIS programs can become ready to provide inclusive information services to the wide range of patrons they will encounter in their professional lives. The diversity of the population in the United States is rapidly increasing and will continue to do so. If students are not aware of the range of issues of diversity, inclusion, and under-representation related to information and the ways to provide services that meet the needs and expectations of diverse populations, these students will not be able to adequately serve their communities or their profession.”

The research of diversity in library science is necessary to, not only keep current, but also be able to better assist those very diverse people who frequent the library. It is through research and study that students and library professionals can truly understand and better assist patrons, because it gives them insight into what they may need and without this knowledge it would be all too easy to have many miscommunication problems arise.

Students, like myself, can gain not only knowledge, but also confidence, by being comfortable in the knowledge that they are able to connect with people easier due to this research into the many issues of diversity that are constantly being faced in the world today. Students are not the only people who can gain from this research, but all library professionals and those involved in the library and information community. With a better understanding of today's issues the LIS community can help enable those who are negatively impacted by their diversity by bringing understanding support and new ideas to help them in any way possible.