The article by Torres-Padilla was a challenging read that left me with a lot of questions. The use of militaristic language throughout the article and in the title was interesting coming from an academic source. I agree with Torres that the "canon" of literature is unacceptably tilted toward the white, New England, and Puritan. Still, by the end of the article, I struggled to find agreement with his vision of the ideal American education. From my perspective, schools should do a better job of teaching students how to learn about and respect the cultures around them, but I do not personally want that education to lead to a complete embrace of multiculturalism as this author seems to think it should. All cultures have good parts and all cultures have bad parts. For example, I am personally grateful that my culture does not cut off the hands of thieves or sew shameful bold letters on the clothes of people who use profanity. Some cultures did that (or currently do). That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate other cultures; I owe so much of my life and education to the contributions of many world cultures. It's just that I prefer my own culture to abide by certain norms, and I suspect most other people do too. A few questions I have about this article are what should the "Originary narrative" be supplanted by? Who is the ultimate gatekeeper that decides which cultures get priority? How do we ensure fair representation, and what does "fair" mean? Who decides how we should make those types of decisions? Ironically, I think the answer depends on the culture you live in.
Torres-Padilla, J. L. (2005). Death to the originary narrative! or, insurgent multiculturalism and teaching multiethnic literature. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 30(2), 13–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/melus/30.2.13
I really enjoyed reading your post, Ben. There are so many cultures that we cannot individually decide which ones get priority in the classroom. Should this be a national standard, or statewide standard? Of course we want to include all the cultures surrounding us, but that doesn't mean we are trying to "push" a culture on to students or coworkers. I would predict a very controversial pushback from parents if all cultures were taught; unless it became mandatory and regulated by some higher ups.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the perspectives you brought up in your post. Something that particularly resonated with me was your thoughts on teaching students how to learn about and respect the cultures around them. I feel that this is a challenge universally. Helping students to approach people and situations with an open mind, teaching students how to really listen to others, and teaching students how to make authentic connections are the kinds of soft skills that can help our students in a variety of situations.
ReplyDeleteIn then end, I too struggled to find agreement with Torres-Padilla and his ideas on the ideal American education. I liked a lot of the things that he had to say - especially about "crossing borders" and facilitating discussions around multicultural books - but he fell short on selling me on the idea of making sweeping changes to the literature our students read.
Great questions, Ben. Do you think that we may be adjusting the originary narrative right now? There was, as Torres-Padilla shows, intentionality in the framing of the originary narrative, there wasn't a set group of individuals who sat down and wrote any one thing in particular. So perhaps many of us thinking and talking about these issues, as well as reading books written from a variety of perspectives, are contributing to the reframing that isn't happening quickly, but may be happening as we speak. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI do think that the work of understanding the world around us, including cultures, is never ending. The fact that we actually even think about and talk about it like we do shows that our culture is more open to other cultures than it was at the start of the country, for sure!
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