Post 222: Teaching Literature for Social Justice

Post 222: Teaching Literature for Social Justice

Just like English Composition theory where the Writing for Social Justice movement had English Composition instructors teach students to write for empowerment of social change, cultural studies classes popped up to teach students about the social inequities inherent in different cultures in the US.

These classes had different names, 'Cultural Diversity Class', 'Multicultural Education', 'Ethnic Literature class', or 'Intercultural Communication', whatever the name of the class the main focus was to make students aware of the different cultures in the US besides the white dominant middle class most students are familiar with. If there are multicultural students in the class, then multicultural students can learn more about their own culture.

The purpose of Cultural Studies or Literature for Social Justice is to take cultural studies away from the study of "classic literature" but instead study the lives of everyday people. There was a growing need for students to be exposed to more progressive ideas and introduce students to oppositional thinking, critical discourse, and questioning the status quo.

Literature teachers started teaching about novels by more ethnic writers like American Indian writers, Asian American writers, Hispanic American writers or African American writers instead of the 'high' culture literature of mainly European or white male authors (who are great in their own right). The idea was not do do away with white male authors, but instead to include in the literature curriculum, a broader spectrum of ethnic writers so ethnic students can see a representation of themselves in literature.

What I liked about teaching Asian American literature for instance was opening the eyes of my students that Asian Americans exist outside of the stereotypes portrayed on TV or the media. Many students were surprised at how 'American' Asian American lives were and how alike we all are where we all worry about money, jobs, education and we all worry about getting a fair chance at a higher education or a stable job with benefits. It was interesting teaching students about the difference between how Asian parents (Tiger Mom's) raise their children (where the emphasis is on high grades, 'Why did you get that 99%? What happened to that 1% wrong?) vs American parents (where the focus is less on grades, but more on the proper socialization of children, "Can Johnny read and get along with others? along with good grades.)  It was fun taking examples from my own life and my own family in humorous ways to teach students the differences between Asian and American culture and to make students aware of what a hyphenated American goes through on a daily basis.

When we read the Asian American literature, we were all able to see a little bit of ourselves in the stories. And to me, when we read literature, we are able to see other points of view, learn about history from other times and most of all, we escape the comfort of our own comfort zone.  Students gain an appreciation of other cultures and other ways of thinking.  I once had a 5th grade student tell his friends, "Prof. Ho likes books with racism as a major theme." Up to that point, I had not even realized I had been choosing books all with racism as a major theme! What a smart kid! I was proud I was the one who made him aware of racism in other cultural groups too!