With Patricia
Dunn, Author of Rebels by Accident
 |
| Out of the Box, 2007, Rios |
I
understand that the intentions of the school were noble especially within the context
of the time. In fact, many prep schools even today do this sort of “minority” grouping
for networking & support and with positive results, I might add. But for
someone like me who was raised in a diverse neighborhood and attended an integrated school (back when
diverse still meant many different groups together—including whites), this specialized welcoming
experience felt more like segregation to me.
It was that box-me-in, you-tell-me-who-I-am
experience. It’s not surprising that I
failed miserably at navigating that prep school’s racialized social terrain. I had never compartmentalized relationship building
that way, had never chosen friends by ethnicity or race. I had been raised with the openness and freedom
(a luxury now-a-days!) to choose relationships based on affinities...like all children
should, you know—to be the out-of-the-box children we want them to be.
Likewise, some
books are cornered off in the “multicultural literature” section of Barnes and
Nobles. This is boxing. So is creating cultural specific labels on
bookshelves at school or hosting a multicultural day when white kids look at
the “others” to teach them something different rather than
feeling like they too should explore the awesomeness of their unique identity. Of course, in segregated schools, none of
that matters. In some brown schools that I’ve worked in, they only teach multicultural books for the children. So while in Scarsdale or Chappaqua they’re
still working to diversify their selections, brown kids in urban settings read almost entirely about minorities. Doesn’t this type of
“framing” our exposure to the literary experience limit a child’s thinking? Doesn’t this perpetuate our mis-understanding
of American identity?
It’s worthy
to briefly mention here another term used called identity literature. Perhaps this term has greater merit because it
stems from Erikson’s definition of identity which is: making sense of and
finding one’s place in an almost limitless world.[1] Still, identity literature tends to segregate
between “identity status literature” for whites and “ethnic identity literature”
for non-whites. Again, we have to be
very careful with how we use language and labels—especially when it comes to education
as a liberatory practice and literature.
We want both to be expansive and creative endeavors. Schwatz talks at great length about how our
understanding of identity and “identity literature” is limited because research
hasn’t yet sufficiently crossed over race, class and levels of educational attainment.
In
contemporary US culture, young children are not only oriented by their own
multiple cultures (racial, ethnic, age, gender and family, to name several),
but also by living and learning within a socio-culturally conditioned world
filled with many different conditions of cultural difference.[2]
The contemporary child experiences early exposure to multiethnic perspectives
and are often more adept at negotiating multiple perspectives and realities
then they are given credit for. In this
way, traditional labels and schooling practices can “box” children into
traditional groupings that no longer suit the needs of the contemporary
child. What new literature speaks to the
contemporary students’ multidirectional, multidimensional, multilingual and
multiethnic experience and how can we build upon it towards non-linear forms of
critical thinking and subsequent agency in a global community?[3]
Patricia
Dunn, author of Rebels by Accident, wrote a young adult novel about an Arab-American
teenager who is forced to travel to Cairo during the first days of the Egyptian uprising (to be released this summer, Alikai Press). Patricia is not
Arab-American. Seventeen years ago, Patricia converted to Islam, married an Egyptian and although she is currently divorced, finds
herself raising an Arab-American Muslim son in Westchester county. Interesting!
Patricia Dunn’s personal life reflects our contemporary, cross-cultural
American experience in which we negotiate multiethnic perspectives and
realities openly, critically and with compassion. In this space, Patricia like many
contemporary writers & educators (raising multi-ethnic, multilingual
offspring), daringly steps out of the box
and into another person’s shoes. Boldly
and willingly through writing we can share our multidimensional nature and
through this experience redefine our understanding of identity. Patricia offers us Rebels by Accident, the story of Mariam (an Arab-American, Muslim
teenage girl) who is on an adventurous yet emotional exploration of self in a
time when teenagers globally are using social media and other expansive tools
to step out the box and challenge stereotypical labels that persist on the
inside and on the outside of oneself: What does it mean to be a Muslim woman? If “Jihad” means personal responsibility and
doing what is right and just—then why does the media spin it as act of terrorism
and war? “Rebels” which I now fondly
call Pat’s book, explores themes such as individual vs. collective identity,
acculturation, political agency and the fierce, passionate intersection of all
these things—especially for Arab Americans post 911—who are emotionally & spiritually tossed between
two worlds, all of this through the eyes of a US born Mariam, set in the US
and Egypt.
It doesn’t surprise
me that when talking to Pat who struggled for six years to get this story
published (see Pat’s website to
read more about this…) I learn that she writes for her son. “I just really wanted to write a story that
would make Ali proud,” she said. “I also
guess I was tired of seeing Muslim girls always being depicted in literature as
being victims or saved by the West.”
Patricia, of Italian & Irish heritage, who was born and raised in
the Bronx (yes, another Bronx girl!) grew up surrounded by first generation
Italians who spoke and breathed Italian and looked at Patricia as the outsider,
the “American.” “Hearing a language other
than English was always a part of my experience so when later I traveled in the
Middle East, being immersed in Arabic was not so strange.” If you get a chance to read Rebels by
Accident, and I recommend this book for teachers who wish to engage in critical
discussions about social justice and identity (upper middle/HS grades), you
will see how Patricia skillfully uses the Arabic language and phrases, so that
the reader understands the importance of language as an expression of
culture.
“Ultimately, it’s a human story,” Pat says, “A
teenager whose top priority is to fit in.
Mariam grows in the story, not wanting to be an outsider, doubtful of
the beauty of her own heritage… Her best friend Deanna who has a facial
disorder (she can’t smile) also is an outsider and together they learn that
through connecting with something greater than themselves, they find
self-acceptance and belonging.”
Literature
gives shape to all values that guide our way of viewing the world. Early contact that children have with
literature may be a great step in their education towards diversity and to an
integration of diversity in the building up of their identity.[4]
Following the rise of radical Islamic terrorists and 9/11, Arab Americans and
Arab immigrants have often been the target of discrimination, as many Americans
associate Islam with terrorism (McMurtie et al., 2001; Wingfield & Karaman,
1995).[5]
Cross-cultural, multi-lingual, authentically “American” literature that meshes
more than one culture, more than one language and even crosses borders has the
power to build greater understanding and
inclusiveness around the American
diaspora. Most of us no longer reside in just one box. At the heart of agency is not only the bold
declaration of a love for one’s unique self, but it’s having the courage to
walk in someone else’s moccasins for mutual liberation, social justice and a
relentless desire for global community.
[1]
Schwartz, S. (2005) A new identity for identity research: Recommendations for
expanding and refocusing identity literature, Journal of Adolescent Research 20
(3)
[2] Hyun, E. (2007). Cultural complexity
in early childhood: Images of contemporary young children from a critical
perspective, Childhood Education, 83(5) Research Library, pg. 261
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
Da Natividade Pires, M (2011). Building identity and understanding diversity—Children’s
literature and traditional literature potential in the school curriculum.
[5]
Craft Al-Hazza, T. & Bucher, K (2010) Bridging a cultural divide with
literature about Arabs and Arab Americans, Middle School Journal
thanks for the wonderful and thoughtful review.
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