by Seemi Aziz, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Authors outside of the cultures they are representing write both the immigration books from this as well as the previous entry. Another famous author, Ellis writes this book. Ellis has become an author who has become an authority is representing Muslims in books specifically after her success with the Breadwinner trilogy where a girl is forced to dress as a boy to help her all female family to survive in Afghanistan.
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by Seemi Aziz, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Day of the Pelican is by a renowned author, Katherine Paterson, which has the impact of migration is placed front and centre. Patterson’s book focusing on the political and religious conflicts and struggles in the Eastern European regions of Serbia and Kosovo was long over due.
The story revolves around the struggles for survival of a young girl. Meli Lleshi. She is ethnically an Albanian Muslim who is settled in Kosovo. The family of seven, are a Muslim family who stem from rural upbringing and are targeted by Kosovars and Serbians alike because of their background and their alliance to the freedom fighting group of individuals struggling for the rights of the Albanian Kosovars against Serbian oppressors known as the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army). Meli and her brother Mehmet share the major role in this story.
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by Seems Aziz, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
MIGRATION: A WAY OF LIFE
Generally, immigration can be due to many reasons some of which could be due to family/marriage, work/better life or as refugees from war, genocide, and unrest. In the effect of immigration on characters one observes a certain general impact as the characters go through the process of settling in their adopted countries while they usually settle in to a better life while continuing to hold on to their old life. Letting go of who a person has been for a long time is not easy. However, the impact of effects of genocide, war and unrest are ever present in an immigrant’s life and are not easy to shake off.
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by Julia López-Robertson, Lisa Stockdale & Amber Hartman, The University of South Carolina
A man without history is a tree without root.
Confucius
. . . students are often disinterested in their own culture because their parents have worked so hard to help them blend into the Western world and environment.
We close our blog this month with another graphic novel, Vietnamerica, and leave you with a few questions regarding students’ language and culture and its place in the classroom. The main character, G.B., is a Vietnamese American who learns about his family’s past in Vietnam and America through family stories and also by visiting his home country of Vietnam. G.B.’s parents fled Vietnam during the war in Saigon to keep the family safe and to find new life in America. Although G.B.’s family struggled to adapt to their new life in America, they wanted what was best for their children so they didn’t go back right away. G.B. grows up in the United States and it is obvious throughout Vietnamerica that he has definitely assimilated to the American culture and become extremely “Americanized.” When his parents ask him to visit Vietnam with them years later, G.B. wants nothing to do with it. He questions why they still care about Vietnam when they left it so many years ago. Eventually, G.B. comes to the conclusion that his family’s past is important, and he tries his hardest to grasp what he can before the history goes away.
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by Julia López-Robertson, Amanda Dunnigan, and Rebecca Martin, The University of South Carolina
“ . . . it has to begin with acceptance and by honoring people’s cultural practices; way of life, language and belief systems— even if one doesn’t fully understand it.”
Set in San Antonio, Texas, Going, Going by Naomi Shihab Nye follows the main character, Florrie, a teenager as she begins a grassroots campaign to protest the loss of local business to large corporations. Having worked in her mother’s restaurant as long as she could remember, Florrie understood the importance of supporting local businesses. My students connected Florrie’s struggle to maintain the local in San Antonio to maintaining our own students’ language and culture. Continue reading
by Julia López-Robertson, Deanna Futrell, Jennifer Judy and EDRD 797, The University of South Carolina
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by Julia López-Robertson, Jennifer Judy, Lisa Stockdale with Kirstin Wade, The University of South Carolina
Yang stresses the importance of being who you truly are and nothing less. As teachers it is our duty to create a classroom environment in which our students can feel free and comfortable being themselves.
Student Response to American Born Chinese
This month my students and I explore the use of young adult novels with English Language Learners; several of the blogs will provide suggestions for classroom use which will include a discussion of the assessment of English Language Learners in mainstream classrooms. We begin our blog with an exploration of American Born Chinese (Yang, 2006).
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by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX
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