Questions About Power in Stories and Storytelling
We're moving to the issue of power in my Jan Term class at
Saint Mary's College of California
, "Race, Culture, and Power in Children's Books." I thought my Fire Escape folk might be interested in a couple of lists I'm sharing with my students.
Questions to Ask about Power in a Story:
Who/what has the power to BE changed?
Who/what has the power to MAKE change?
Who/what has the power to PREVENT change?
Who/what GAINS power and how?
Who/what LOSES power and how?
What KIND of power does each player have? Where did they get it? Do they use it? Why or why not?
How is the child reader/listener empowered or disempowered by the story?
If I Want to Tell the Story of a "Less Powerful" Child ...
Why am I writing this story?
Could anyone else tell it better? Does that person have a voice I can seek to nurture or empower?
Have I held enough babies in that community?
Have I done my research?
Am I allowing that child/teen character to be whole and real?
What kind of power am I giving my fictional child/teen? Is it true to his/her context? Is it culturally appropriate or "western"?
Is there an outside "savior?" If so, who is it and why? How much power am I giving that "savior" over the child/teen?
Am I reinforcing a "single story" about that child/teen? (Watch Chimamanda Adichie's brilliant TED Talk if you don't get this one.)
Anything to add?Come visit me on the Fire Escape!
Questions to Ask about Power in a Story:
Who/what has the power to BE changed?
Who/what has the power to MAKE change?
Who/what has the power to PREVENT change?
Who/what GAINS power and how?
Who/what LOSES power and how?
What KIND of power does each player have? Where did they get it? Do they use it? Why or why not?
How is the child reader/listener empowered or disempowered by the story?
If I Want to Tell the Story of a "Less Powerful" Child ...
Why am I writing this story?
Could anyone else tell it better? Does that person have a voice I can seek to nurture or empower?
Have I held enough babies in that community?
Have I done my research?
Am I allowing that child/teen character to be whole and real?
What kind of power am I giving my fictional child/teen? Is it true to his/her context? Is it culturally appropriate or "western"?
Is there an outside "savior?" If so, who is it and why? How much power am I giving that "savior" over the child/teen?
Am I reinforcing a "single story" about that child/teen? (Watch Chimamanda Adichie's brilliant TED Talk if you don't get this one.)
Anything to add?Come visit me on the Fire Escape!
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Authors out there, the latter questions will help you pre-think the main character, and revise as you write or at the end. Like Mitali wrote, you MUST watch Chimimanda Adichie's Ted-Talk about the "single story." For teachers out there, this provides the fuel to take a close look at a written story and discuss the multiple stories that need to be told.
I just read Ayaan Hirsi's Infidel and Nomad. As I was reading, I began thinking about the "single" story of a Muslim girl child who does not have access to an education. She does not question her chores at age 5, her daily beatings, her marriage at a young age to an older "match," her rights to learn and see the world. She is insulated and accepts the life she is not aware of. Ayaan was one of the lucky children to have traveled, to read, to educate herself, and escape the constraints the "single" story. She can now tell that "single" story, and the multiple stories of her family with many perspectives. She has many lenses with which to look through.
Mitali, also, is an educated author with many lenses from her past and her present. She is a master at speaking of those lenses to groups of educators and students. Her writing takes all of her questions above seriously. That's why Mitali is the queen of middle school global reads!