Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Multicultural fiction'
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Clarke, Adrienne L. "Making literature meaningful, exploring cultural identity in realistic young adult multicultural fiction." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ31187.pdf.
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Kecskes, Gabriella. "Representations of the Nation through Corporeal Narrativity in Contemporary Multicultural British Fiction." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2010. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/61769.
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EnglishPh.D.
This dissertation focuses on the function of human bodies in articulations of the nation in contemporary British multicultural fiction, more specifically in novels by Salman Rushdie, V. S. Naipaul, Hanif Kureishi, and Monica Ali. Combining the Andersonean claim that narrative fiction is an especially sensitive medium for imagining the nation with Daniel Punday‘s assertion that the human body is the basic organizing principle of narrative structure, this study examines the ways in which corporeal representations in novels negotiate dominant paradigms of the national imaginary. Each chapter focuses on a key text from which it opens up the discussion to the authors‘ oeuvre. The study establishes the palimpsest as a mode of representation and interpretation of cultural and national identities showcased in Rushdie‘s The Moor‘s Last Sigh. The fragmentation of narrative and human subjectivity via the trope of the palimpsest in this novel is central to conceptualizations of the nation in Rushdie‘s oeuvre as well as in the other texts in this study. Based on the make-up of Rushdie‘s palimpsests, the characters‘ bodies manifest not a mixture of different elements but a conglomerate of often mutually exclusive, yet intrinsically combined alternatives. For V. S. Naipaul, the function of corporeality is the negotiation of the national imaginary via representations of narrative space. In The Enigma of Arrival as in his other novels, Naipaul uses circuitous movement and palimpsestic layering of the kinetic space to complicate agency for his characters, to emphasize the illusory nature of narrative authority, and to call attention to the ambiguous operations of national and postcolonial discourse. Hanif Kureishi‘s The Body among his other novels shows a ground-breaking attitude toward the possibilities of narrativity in the age of transmutable corporeality. His characters‘ diminishing corporeal presence is the source of their agency and their increasingly complex cultural identifications. In Brick Lane, Monica Ali‘s keen attention to kinetic space creates unexpected ripples in the narration and the protagonist‘s cultural identification, which shift the meaning of the novel from an optimistic ethnic/gender emancipation narrative to claiming agency by resisting cultural affiliations.
Temple University--Theses
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Mitchell, Shamika Ann. "The Multicultural Megalopolis: African-American Subjectivity and Identity in Contemporary Harlem Fiction." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2012. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/167490.
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EnglishPh.D.
The central aim of this study is to explore what I term urban ethnic subjectivity, that is, the subjectivity of ethnic urbanites. Of all the ethnic groups in the United States, the majority of African Americans had their origins in the rural countryside, but they later migrated to cities. Although urban living had its advantages, it was soon realized that it did not resolve the matters of institutional racism, discrimination and poverty. As a result, the subjectivity of urban African Americans is uniquely influenced by their cosmopolitan identities. New York City's ethnic community of Harlem continues to function as the geographic center of African-American urban culture. This study examines how six post-World War II novels --Sapphire's PUSH, Julian Mayfield's The Hit, Brian Keith Jackson's The Queen of Harlem, Charles Wright's The Wig, Toni Morrison's Jazz and Louise Meriwether's Daddy Was a Number Runner-- address the issues of race, identity, individuality and community within Harlem and the megalopolis of New York City. Further, this study investigates concepts of urbanism, blackness, ethnicity and subjectivity as they relate to the characters' identities and self-perceptions. This study is original in its attempt to ascertain the connections between megalopolitan urbanism, ethnicity, subjectivity and African-American fiction.
Temple University--Theses
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Lundgren, Jodi. "Narrative aesthetics, multicultural politics, and (trans)national subjects : contemporary fictions of Canada /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/9523.
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Nephew, Irene J. "An ethnographic content analysis of children’s fiction picture books reflecting African American culture published 2001-2005." Diss., Kansas State University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/2067.
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Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Secondary Education
Jacqueline D. Spears
BeEtta L. Stoney
An ethnographic content analysis was conducted to explore the African American cultural content contained in the text of picture books portraying African Americans published 2001 through 2005. The picture books were limited to beginning readers, stories in rhyme and poetry, historical fiction, fictional biography, and contemporary fiction portraying African Americans and set in the U.S. The books were categorized based on the genre to which they belong and classified as generic books or books with African American cultural content. The African American cultural content in the books in the study was compared to the cultural content contained in picture books in a survey conducted by Rudine Sims Bishop in 1982. Differences between the work of African Americans and non African Americans are discussed. A data collection instrument was constructed and used by several additional raters to test the reliability of the instrument. Each additional rater was given an operational definition for generic books and books with cultural content. The raters were each given one book to evaluate. The research revealed (1) that more than half of the picture books published during the period of this study were classified as generic, (2) in most cases, only the books written by African Americans contained cultural content and (3) more than half of the picture books with cultural content are classified as historical fiction. (4) Although it is possible for a non African American to write an authentic picture book with cultural content, such books are usually the result of in depth research. (5) During the period of this study, not all generic picture books were written by non African Americans; some African American authors choose to write generic books portraying African Americans with minimal content specific to African American culture.
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Roupakia, Lydia Efthymia. "Multicultural Questions, Family Matters : Gender, Generation and Ethics in some Contemporary Fiction by Women in Canada and England." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.508685.
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Häggblom, Charlotta. "Young EFL-pupils reading multicultural children's fiction : an ethnographic case study in a Swedish language primary school in Finland /." Åbo : Pargas : Åbo Akademi University Press ; distribution, Tibo-Trading, 2006. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/summary/eng0801/2007358492.html.
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Emmambokus, Shehrazade. "Contemporary adolescent fiction from the South Asian diaspora : multicultural children's literature of the millennium and the potential for bibliotherapy." Thesis, Kingston University, 2011. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/20273/.
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The study of children's literature from the South Asian diaspora has been mostly overlooked by postcolonial studies, cultural studies and children's literature studies alike. This thesis responds to this academic oversight and it is not only the first study to solely explore the diasporic experience presented in these novels, but also opens up an area of research which has great cross-disciplinary potential. At the centre of this thesis is the argument that existing theories of identity negotiation offer only partial explanations of how young, second generation individuals negotiate their cultural identities, and that children's literature, by contrast, illuminates an alternative means of identity formation. There is no definitive cultural identity model which focuses solely on how post-migrant generations, including foreign-born migrant children, negotiate their cultural identities. Yet the fiction this thesis examines demands the need for precisely such a model. Drawing on the works of Homi Bhabha, A vtar Brah and Stuart Hall, the model that emerges from the fiction is best identified as what I have termed: Overlapping Space. Engaging with a wide range of postcolonial, cultural and sociological theorists, the study focuses on novels published since 2000 and identifies how they offer a model of Overlapping Space identity formation. Engaging with Bali Rai's What's Your Problem? and Kavita Daswani's Indie Girl the thesis begins by identifying how issues of race and racism are still prevalent to contemporary concerns. Developing these concerns, the study draws on Marina Budhos's Ask Me No Questions and Mitali Perkins's First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover to investigate how media influences post-9/l1 have affected young peoples' cultural self-identities. Shifting the focus from imposed 'home'land cultural alienation to self-imposed 'homeland' cultural estrangement through abjection, the study identifies the psychological effects of visiting ancestral homelands as depicted in Vineeta Vijayaraghavan's Motherland and Mitali Perkins' Monsoon Summer in order to demonstrate the experience of emotional situational ethnicity through unexpected enculturations. Continuing with the discussion of emotional situational ethnicity, using Narinder Dhami's novelization Bend it Like Beckham and Baljinder K. Mahal's The Pocket Guide to Being an Indian Girl, this thesis explores how young second generation members of the South Asian diaspora navigate between 'peer' and 'parent' zones and analyses the significant role that subcultures can play in the approval of 'transgression'. Lastly, by focussing on Tanuja Desai Hidier's Born Confused and Bali Rai's The Last Taboo, this thesis continues its exploration in 'transgressive' behaviours and analyses the dating and interracial relationship cultural concerns presented in these two novels. By exploring these themes, issues and concerns, this study ultimately foregrounds each text's potential for bibliotherapy and demonstrates that, as well as making significant contributions to literature and cultural studies, these novels serve an important social function as well. Consequently, via the universalising bibliotherapeutic function of these novels, this thesis ultimately argues that these novels not only foreground and legitimise Overlapping Space identities but actively help build these identities as well.
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Nola, Nina. "”My Two Countries Firmly Under My Feet”: Explorations of Multicultural Identity in the Fiction of Amelia Batistich and Yvonne du Fresne." Thesis, University of Auckland, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2137.
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This thesis offers a detailed reading of the fiction of the Dalmatian New Zealand author Amelia Batistich and the Danish New Zealand author Yvonne du Fresne from the perspective of multicultural literary criticism. It draws strongly throughout on interviews and discussions with the authors themselves, and on their personal papers. The Introduction explores the term "multicultural literary criticism", examines its significant development in theory and practice in Australia (especially in the writings of Sneja Gunew), and discusses the challenging issues raised by its use in a bicultural context, in New Zealand. The body of the thesis is organised into two parallel sections, the first (of five chapters) on Batistich and the second (of four chapters) on du Fresne. Each section begins with an introduction to the writing life of the author concerned, with particular reference to the forces. Shaping her sense of identity as a New Zealander from an ethnic minority community. Subsequent chapters then discuss chronologically the development of the author’s work from short fiction and articles through to the later novels. Each author's struggle to find a fictional voice which expressed her identity as a hybrid New Zealander is highlighted. The role of editors and publishers in shaping the migrant voice of both authors is also explored, and the reception of both authors' works by critics often unwilling or unable to read for difference in a literary landscape dominated by the perception of New Zealand as socially homogeneous. The thesis argues - in an extended enquiry into the constructedness of identity - that both authors have struggled throughout their careers to find a place for both themselves and their characters in New Zealand literature. The bibliography contains a checklist of the published writings of both authors, primary and secondary material related to the field of ethnic minority writing, and a checklist of other migrant writings and creative multicultural works in New Zealand. “No matter how far fate has blown the frail tree of my life across foreign lands, its roots have always sucked nourishment from that little barren clod of soil from which it sprung." Ivan Meštrović (Dalmatian sculptor, 1883-1962.) “The earth is our mother, wherever we find ourselves." Amelia Batistich, The Olive and the Vine. “Today a gap had closed; I felt my two countries firmly under my feet. Both equal." Yvonne du Fresne, Motherland P.205 My Two Countries Here is the fern, the kauri sapling straight as a larch Young, like my county, strong. There is the olive, grey with dreams Crouched over the stony land - like a woman in childbirth. Both gave me life - the kauri and the olive. Here my father ate the bread of exile. There my grandfather ate the black bread of poverty- By the blue Adriatic But what matter now? My grandfather sleeps in his own earth- His bones have melded with his own soil- Alien, my father sleeps on Hillsborough Hill overlooking the Manukau. But here was his work- Here was his home. Amelia Batistich (1985)Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.
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Appley, Becky Kay. "The effectiveness of fiction versus nonfiction in teaching reading to ESL students." PDXScholar, 1988. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3754.
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In recent years with the growing emphasis upon communicative activities in the classroom, controversy has risen as to which type of reading material is best for teaching reading in the ESL classroom, fiction or nonfiction.
A study was conducted with 31 students of which 15 were taught with non-fiction and 16 were taught with fiction. Both groups were taught the same reading skills. Each group was given three pre-tests and three post-tests in which improvement in overall language proficiency and reading comprehension in the areas of main idea, direct statements and inferences was measured. Also, each group was observed for positive and negative behaviors during the fourth and eighth week of the study as well as responding to a questionnaire given the last week of the study which solicited their attitude toward the reading material used.
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Lesuma, Caryn Joan Lefaga. "Windows and Mirrors: Selecting Multiethnic Young Adult Fiction to Increase Adolescent Engagement with Academic and Cultural Literacy." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2013. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3516.
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Current scholarship in literacy education underscores the inefficacy of standardized education in public schools, particularly for minority students. At the same time, a longstanding lack of understanding between the various culture groups that live in the United States often results in minority groups that are either stereotyped, misunderstood, or viewed as Other. Both of these issues can be traced to the literature that students read in school, which focuses on "classic" literature—often synonymous with "white" literature—that excludes minority narratives. While minorities struggle more with "academic literacy" (the ability to read and write in an active, reflective manner), there is also a pressing need to educate all students in "cultural literacy," or a knowledge of and appreciation for difference in worldview, culture, and opinion. One possible solution is a more effective implementation of multiethnic young adult literature in the classroom. Careful consideration of specific cultural texts can help minority students connect positively with literature, increasing student engagement with academics. Providing educators, librarians, and parents with a framework for selecting literature that begins to address this issue is a critical first step in empowering minority students with emotional and intellectual development as well as providing mainstream students with alternative perspectives that establish common ground, develop social awareness, and reduce stereotyping across groups. This thesis examines literacy and education studies to develop criteria and rationales for selecting books that appeal not only to minorities, but to readers from outside those groups. These criteria provide useful guidelines for educators and librarians in selecting multicultural novels for young adults that (1) act as "mirrors" of relatability to boost self-esteem and foster a love of reading in minority youth, and (2) provide "windows" into other cultures that promote greater cross-cultural respect and understanding. After setting up a theoretical framework that lays out the challenges and benefits to this approach as well as criteria for selecting these novels, this paper provides analyses of several books that meet these criteria as well as a booklist of additional titles. Addressing these issues within the context of young adult literature is crucial to the development of self-assertive, productive adults who value themselves and the different individuals that they interact with on a daily basis; on the other hand, failure to address these issues early perpetuates a cycle of marginalization and distrust that is difficult to break in the adult world.
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Armstrong, Michael. "A novel - The dues of St Fitticks: and essay - Paying your dues in the lucky country: Anglo-Celtic Australian attitudes to migrants." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2010. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1815.
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Through the medium of the novel and an accompanying essay, this project explores the relationship, particularly since the end of World War II, between the dominant (Anglo-Celtic) and non-dominant Australian cultural groups. I argue that upholding the dominance of Anglo-Celtic culture, particularly as a centre or “core” of Australian identity, is discriminatory and detrimental to the development of Australian society in general and the goal of multiculturalism in particular. Moreover, I question the thesis that Australia can have a “core” culture without marginalising the groups that do not reside within it. Instead of projecting Anglo-Celtic culture as the archetypal Australian identity and thereby reinforcing its hegemony, I argue that we should allow migrant cultures to impart their influence on Australian culture and identity. Only then can we facilitate a national identity representative of all Australians—a bone fide multiculturalism.
Anglo-Celtic Australia has a history of discriminating against non-Anglo-Celtic Australians and my novel, while focusing on the post-war migrant boom, attempts to articulate this antipathy as a continuum that stretches from white settlement to the present. The characters in my novel are symbols of my interpretation of the Australian cultural milieu and they express my main concern with race as a marker for national identity. I illuminate the irony inherent in the Australian ideals of tolerance and egalitarianism by juxtaposing these national myths with the treatment of, and antipathy toward, migrants and Australia’s indigenous.
Although my novel might be considered social realist, I was influenced by a range of authors and philosophers and I do not attempt to subvert the socio-economic hierarchy, as is the intent of many social realist novels. Indeed, I resist any categorisation of my novel as such, by, at times, questioning both poles of the political spectrum.
The theoretical bases that drove the narrative in my novel were influenced by the theses of sociologists, academicians and political and social philosophers that speak, directly or indirectly, to my interest in race, identity and the Australian cultural dynamic. I do not, however, attempt to provide an antidote to the cultural antipathy I chart. I seek merely to uncover and question it.
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Shehadeh, Marlen, Ellenor Fransson, and Shkurte Feka. "Världens framtid sitter i mitt klassrum : En intersektionell analys av skönlitteratur för årskurs 1–3." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för svenska språket (SV), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-96515.
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Bakgrunden till denna studie är det idag växande mångkulturella samhälle vi har i Sverige. För att arbetet inom skolan ska kunna ge nästa generation kunskaper om människors likheter och olikheter, behöver verksamma inom skolan arbeta med litteratur som visar upp en mångfald på ett inkluderande sätt. I arbetet för ett mer inkluderande samhälle är litteraturen ett viktigt verktyg. Syftet med denna studie är att analysera och undersöka vilken didaktisk potential det finns i tre för studien utvalda böcker. Teorier som studien utgår ifrån är intersektionalitet som handlar om att studera hur flera olika skikt bidrar till mellanmänskliga maktstrukturer. Studien utgår även ifrån Martha Nussbaums begrepp narrativ fantasi och världsmedborgare. Det sistnämnda definieras som en människa som tar hänsyn till att det finns andra kulturer än ens egna och att det finns många olika normer och seder som anses vara det normala. De böcker som i studien analyseras är utgivna av förlaget Olika och skrivna av Ebba Berg. Resultatet visade på att de tre böckerna har olika teman och en bred didaktisk potential. Vår förhoppning är att denna studie ska väcka ett intresse hos läsaren i att välja böcker med en didaktisk potential i ett arbete för barns utveckling till framtida världsmedborgare.
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Lyons, Reneé C. "Trips & Treks: Life Sustaining Expeditions Portrayed in Children’s Nonfiction." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2014. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/2385.
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Discover the stories of major natural science expeditions, as depicted in award-winning children's non-fiction. Examples include Robert Siebert award winner, Parrots over Puerto Rico, and Orbis Pictus winner, Quest for the Tree Kangaroo. While sharing Common Core correlations and reading promotion activities, participants explore how literature encurages children to care for and consider the natural world of which they are part.
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Perfect, Michael John. "Celebrated fictions of multicultural London of the 1990s and 2000s." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609563.
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Kato, Megumi Humanities & Social Sciences Australian Defence Force Academy UNSW. "Representations of Japan and Japanese people in Australian literature." Awarded by:University of New South Wales - Australian Defence Force Academy. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2005. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/38718.
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This thesis is a broadly chronological study of representations of Japan and the Japanese in Australian novels, stories and memoirs from the late nineteenth century to the twenty-first century. Adopting Edward Said???s Orientalist notion of the `Other???, it attempts to elaborate patterns in which Australian authors describe and evaluate the Japanese. As well as examining these patterns of representation, this thesis outlines the course of their development and change over the years, how they relate to the context in which they occur, and how they contribute to the formation of wider Australian views on Japan and the Japanese. The thesis considers the role of certain Australian authors in formulating images and ideas of the Japanese ???Other???. These authors, ranging from fiction writers to journalists, scholars and war memoirists, act as observers, interpreters, translators, and sometimes ???traitors??? in their cross-cultural interactions. The thesis includes work from within and outside ???mainstream??? writings, thus expanding the contexts of Australian literary history. The major ???periods??? of Australian literature discussed in this thesis include: the 1880s to World War II; the Pacific War; the post-war period; and the multicultural period (1980s to 2000). While a comprehensive examination of available literature reveals the powerful and continuing influence of the Pacific War, images of ???the stranger???, ???the enemy??? and later ???the ally??? or ???partner??? are shown to vary according to authors, situations and wider international relations. This thesis also examines gender issues, which are often brought into sharp relief in cross-cultural representations. While typical East-West power-relationships are reflected in gender relations, more complex approaches are also taken by some authors. This thesis argues that, while certain patterns recur, such as versions of the ???Cho-Cho-San??? or ???Madame Butterfly??? story, Japan-related works have given some Australian authors, especially women, opportunities to reveal more ???liberated??? viewpoints than seemed possible in their own cultural context. As the first extensive study of Japan in Australian literary consciousness, this thesis brings to the surface many neglected texts. It shows a pattern of changing interests and interactions between two nations whose economic interactions have usually been explored more deeply than their literary and cultural relations.
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Caetano, Langfeldt Marcia. "A Amazônia e os impasses da civilização em relatosdos séculos XX e XXI." Thesis, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018USPCA106/document.
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Depuis la découverte de l’Amazonie, la région a été représentée de différentes manières, à travers les récits e voyage. Compte tenu des différentes représentations de l’Amazonie effectuées au fil des siècles, il est important d’évaluer dans quelle mesure les récits produits par des Brésiliens sur cette région incorporent ou rejettent ces perceptions, dans la dialectique entre l’élément extérieur et celui intérieur, qui constitue la principale question culturelle des pays postcoloniaux comme le Brésil. Dans ce panorama, l’analyse se concentre sur la relation existant entre la littérature, la science et l’identité nationale. L’objectif est d’examiner comment ces formes de discours entrent en compétition pour constituer l’ethos national brésilien, durant une période clé d’autodétermination au BrésilSince the discovery of the Amazon, the region has been represented in different ways, mainly through travelogues. Concerning the geographical borders of the Brazilian Amazon, they will only be defined in the early twentieth century. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the representations of the Amazon, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, through the point of view of national authors. In this sense, it is important to analyze how Brazilian literature presented the relation between identity and memory, in competition with other forms of discourse
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Kinsman, Melanie Jane. "'The Nightwatchers' a novel and 'Breaking English' an exegesis on 'The Nightwatchers'." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/83640.
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The creative work ‘The Nightwatchers’ is a novel with gothic undertones, written for a young adult audience. Twelve-year-old Mattie Russo and her best friend Harry are the ‘nightwatchers’, who entertain themselves by watching the comings and goings of the residents of their apartment block. When five-year-old Sammy goes missing, they play detective, discovering his corpse by the local river. Mattie and Harry realise the murderer is someone from the apartments who’s been watching where the local children play; this puts them in danger. Mattie cannot turn to her illiterate Italian grandmother (Nonna), or her depressed father for help; nor can Harry turn to his drunken, violent parents. When another boy disappears, Mattie and Harry return to the river in search of him, terrified that their silence has cost the boy his life. The plot of the novel is a device to engage the young adult reader; the novel is most importantly a ‘multicultural’ work, drawing attention to the need for cross-cultural communication in Australia. The relationship between Mattie and her Italian migrant grandmother is crucial to the novel. Their struggles to communicate (Nonna’s broken English and Mattie’s inability to speak Italian) mean they must each ‘culturally negotiate’ two cultures. Although the contemporary relevance of the concept of multiculturalism has been contested, I use the arguments of Wenche Ommundsen to support my claim that recognition of cultural difference and representation of minority groups is still important to Australian society and literature. My exegesis, ‘Breaking English’, analyses contemporary sites of ‘cultural negotiation’, including my own experiences of negotiation, both as a ‘writer’ and a supporter of ‘multiculturalism’. I examine multiculturalism in a social and political context, in relation to contemporary literature and to my own novel. I compare my novel to Melina Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi and other multicultural young adult narratives. Finally, I consider the process of writing a novel with my illiterate grandmother Esterina as a muse.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2012
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Liu, Li. "Images of Chinese people, Chinese-Americans, and Chinese culture in children's and adolescents' fiction (1980-1997)." 1998. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9841891.
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Since the United States has become an ethnically and culturally diverse country and has become a microcosm of the world, multicultural children's literature has attracted more and more attention and raised questions about its quality. The purpose of this study was to determine what images of Chinese people, Chinese-Americans, and Chinese culture were attributed in children's and adolescents' fiction. The study was achieved by examining 57 fictional books written by Chinese-American authors and other-American authors for readers from kindergarten through junior high school published in the United States from 1980 to 1997. This study was an example of the descriptive method of research using content analysis, a technique for evaluating the descriptions and information from the selected books in a systematic and objective manner, to achieve "systematic examination" by analyzing the information identified in the books under the study. The content of the books was analyzed to discover the ways Chinese people were portrayed and the ways Chinese cultures were represented, and to examine whether or not they were stereotyped. This study used two instruments, including a total of thirteen categories, to examine the images and representations from different perspectives. The results of the study indicated that the images of Chinese people were attributed both realistically and in a stereotypic manner, and the representations of Chinese culture in many books were inaccurate and unauthentic. It was also found that most of the inaccurate information and misrepresentations were made by non-Chinese-American authors and illustrators, though a few inaccurate pieces of information were made by Chinese-American authors and illustrators. The present study may be helpful to authors, illustrators, book reviewers, curriculum specialists, and others working with written materials about China, Chinese and Chinese-Americans, and also to scholars of children's literature who wish to analyze other cultures well. Directed toward the elimination of the stereotypes of Chinese and Chinese-Americans in Children's and adolescents' literature, the study promotes the realization of intercultural understanding, a necessary concomitant to the further development of cultural pluralism in this country.
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Minaki, Christina Georgia. "Great Responsibility : Rethinking Disability Portrayal in Popular Fiction & Calling for a Multi-cultural Change." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/30113.
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This thesis is an occasion to examine how normalcy – as a phenomenon constructed in society and so not natural but human-made – is reproduced as a hegemonic ideal through oppressive portrayals of disability in literature. Many of the fictional texts I analyze reproduce the privileging of normalcy. I therefore work to disturb normalcyʼs hold through critical analysis of a wide variety of currently popular fiction for youth and adults. Combining interpretive inquiry and personal narrative, I bring forward new understandings of normalcy, disability and culture. Along with showing how normalcyʼs supremacy is upheld within the book industry, and critiquing texts that do disability as usual (through both survey and close analysis approaches), I discuss at length several literary works that write disability in anti-oppressive, anti-ableist ways. To close this thesis, I discuss my own transformation as an author and scholar through disability studies.
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Brožová, Kateřina. "Využití filmu a beletrie ve výuce jako možnost ovlivňování postojů žáků." Master's thesis, 2019. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-405359.
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Methods aimed thesis deals with theme of attitudes, stereotypes and prejudices and possibilities of its influencing by films and fiction. It presents four lessons which process on their basis issues of exclusivity in children group, disability, racism and religious tolerance. The goal of these lesson is to support pupil's values of plurality, diversity and tolerance. These lessons take advantages of activation educational methods and methods of Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking programme. Lessons were applied in primary school classes. Their effectivity was find out using questionnaires filled in before and after the lessons. Thesis also processes written experiences with lessons, which were given by pupils and teachers. Recommendations for the next using of suggested lessons are thus outcomes of this thesis.