Mayra Lazara Dole's Blog - Posts Tagged "poc-authors"
Some literati have started blogging again about who's allowed to write true diversity
If you're white and can dance like the following, please write an abundance of books with authentic diversity! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb35M4... (I tried to find intellectual Latino youtube videos, to no avail--believe it or not, we come in many yummy flavors and different classes, and we aren't all dancers and baseball players!)
If authors writing a culturally authentic novel incorporating Latina/o characters have no clue what the following means, "Ay, chico, para de comer lo que pica el pollo" or they need to study glossaries to understand common and contemporary Latino American words, I imagine they'd get Cuban and other Hispanic characters wrong, thus my concern and why I strongly believe authenticity is highly important in YA realistic fiction.
Must you be Latino/Hispanic to write Latina/o characters and true diversity?
Of course not!
White authors who’ve lived and breathed my culture will undoubtedly write novels filled with Cuban American characters that feel authentic. Unfortunately, some writers who don't know us well and think all Latinos are alike, and similar to the following youtube, have repetedly depicted us as such and have gotten most of us wrong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxZ9Vn...
We live in a free country and writing what moves you is highly important.
The deal is this: We need more publishers/editors (white or not) who deeply understand diversity and different cultures so when they spot stereotypes they know the writer hasn’t a clue… For those who haven’t read my essay in Vermont College Fine Arts journal of the arts: http://www.hungermtn.org/authentic-la...)
Unfortunately, most white authors and script-writers have gotten people of color wrong and they’ve used a myriad of hurtful stereotypes to describe us. No wonder most of the population think Latinos are mostly illiterate, drug addicts/alcoholics, criminals or maids. Most Hollywood films have depicted us as lower working-class attending to white folks’ needs.
One main issue is getting our culture right so the world understands who we are as opposed to what authors who don't know about us think we are.
If you're not African American, Latina/o, Native American, Hindu, Asian, etc., haven't been raised in above cultures, have never lived in their communities and have no close people-of-color friends, would you really feel confident in writing a culturally correct POC novel (think American Indian) and getting it right?
Tidbits:
* White guy gets Cuban slang and pronunciation wrong, but his Cubanito buddy at the end kills it (of course!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ovxM...
* If you can't distinguish between Latino accents, you won't understand the importance of getting us right in lit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvLup_...
* If you understand this video, and the humor behind it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knvUE5... please write an all Cuban book asap!
* Must you be Gay to write realistic fiction about homos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9gbQK... , black to write about AfAmericans, etc?
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...
If you're white and can dance like the following, please write an abundance of books with authentic diversity! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb35M4... (I tried to find intellectual Latino youtube videos, to no avail--believe it or not, we come in many yummy flavors and different classes, and we aren't all dancers and baseball players!)
If authors writing a culturally authentic novel incorporating Latina/o characters have no clue what the following means, "Ay, chico, para de comer lo que pica el pollo" or they need to study glossaries to understand common and contemporary Latino American words, I imagine they'd get Cuban and other Hispanic characters wrong, thus my concern and why I strongly believe authenticity is highly important in YA realistic fiction.
Must you be Latino/Hispanic to write Latina/o characters and true diversity?
Of course not!
White authors who’ve lived and breathed my culture will undoubtedly write novels filled with Cuban American characters that feel authentic. Unfortunately, some writers who don't know us well and think all Latinos are alike, and similar to the following youtube, have repetedly depicted us as such and have gotten most of us wrong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxZ9Vn...
We live in a free country and writing what moves you is highly important.
The deal is this: We need more publishers/editors (white or not) who deeply understand diversity and different cultures so when they spot stereotypes they know the writer hasn’t a clue… For those who haven’t read my essay in Vermont College Fine Arts journal of the arts: http://www.hungermtn.org/authentic-la...)
Unfortunately, most white authors and script-writers have gotten people of color wrong and they’ve used a myriad of hurtful stereotypes to describe us. No wonder most of the population think Latinos are mostly illiterate, drug addicts/alcoholics, criminals or maids. Most Hollywood films have depicted us as lower working-class attending to white folks’ needs.
One main issue is getting our culture right so the world understands who we are as opposed to what authors who don't know about us think we are.
If you're not African American, Latina/o, Native American, Hindu, Asian, etc., haven't been raised in above cultures, have never lived in their communities and have no close people-of-color friends, would you really feel confident in writing a culturally correct POC novel (think American Indian) and getting it right?
Tidbits:
* White guy gets Cuban slang and pronunciation wrong, but his Cubanito buddy at the end kills it (of course!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ovxM...
* If you can't distinguish between Latino accents, you won't understand the importance of getting us right in lit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvLup_...
* If you understand this video, and the humor behind it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knvUE5... please write an all Cuban book asap!
* Must you be Gay to write realistic fiction about homos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9gbQK... , black to write about AfAmericans, etc?
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...
