Cultural authenticity portrayed in picture books: A systematic approach toward diversity education for children

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Cultural authenticity portrayed in picture books
A systematic approach toward diversity education
for children

• Eun-Young Yoo
• eunyoung_at_nccu.edu
• Pauletta Bracy
• pbracy_at_nccu.edu
• North Carolina Central University

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Problem Statement

• Examines the issue of cultural authenticity
  reflected in multicultural picture books in order
  to provide a new direction for diversity
  education for children.
• Conducts a systematic and empirical analysis of
  picture books that represent four different
  ethnic groups including African-Americans,
  Asian-Americans, Hispanic- Americans and
  Native-Americans.
• Proposes cultural authenticity in multicultural
  picture books as a pedagogical construct.

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Objectives

• To what extent do childrens picture books depict
  cultural authenticity via literary content and
  illustrations?
• What are the differences and similarities of
  cultural authenticity, non-stereotyping, and
  cultural accuracy among ethnic groups?
• Why does cultural authenticity matter? What are
  the implications of cultural authenticity
  analysis for librarians and educators?

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Method

• Selection of Books
• Coders
• Coding Scheme Content Analysis

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Selection of Books

• 15 picture books for each ethnic group
• African American
• Asian American
• Hispanic American
• Native American
• Total 60 picture books selected
• All published after 2000
• All available from local public or academic
  libraries

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Selection of Books (cont.)

• Selection tools
• NoveList
• An electronic readers advisory resource for
  fiction for children and teens
• A division of EBSCO host
• Search subject search, limit publication year,
  sort by popularity
• CCBC (Cooperative Childrens Book Center)
  Choices, 2000-2008
• Understanding diversity through novels and
  picture books (Knowles Smith, 2007)

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African-American List
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Asian-American List
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Hispanic-American List
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Native-American List
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Coders Selection Criteria

• Two coders per ethnic group
• Intercoder reliability
• Insiders of the culture
• Assessing cultural authenticity
• Gender
• Professions
• Librarians
• LIS students/graduates

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Data Collection Scope of Coding

• Major character
• Name, demographics (gender, age), social roles
  (occupation, relationship with other characters)
• Minor character
• Name, demographics (gender, age), social roles
  (occupation, relationship with other characters)
• Setting
• Context, location, environment, place, etc.
• Stereotypical features
• Whether stereotypical features are depicted in
  terms of text illustration if yes, to what
  extent
• Cultural authenticity
• To what extent the book portrays cultural
  authenticity of the ethnic group in terms of text
  illustration

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Definition Stereotype

• A stereotype is a preconceived idea that
  attributes certain characteristics (in general)
  to all the members of class or set. The term is
  often used with a negative connotation when
  referring to an oversimplified, exaggerated, or
  demeaning assumption that a particular individual
  possesses the characteristics associated with the
  class due to his or her membership in it.
  Stereotypes can be used to deny individuals
  respect or legitimacy based on their membership
  in that group. (Wikipedia)

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Definition Cultural Authenticity

• Cultural authenticity is not just accuracy or the
  avoidance of stereotypes, but involves cultural
  values, facts, and attitudes that members of the
  culture as a whole consider worthy of acceptance
  and belief (Mo, W. Shen, W., 1997)

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Preliminary Findings

• Profiles of major characters
• Settings
• Cultural authenticity
• Stereotypes, cultural authenticity cultural
  accuracy

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Profiles of Major Characters
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Settings
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Cultural Authenticity African American

• Coders agree that most books depict the culture
  authentically although some are overlapping or
  conflicting with negative stereotypical features
  of the culture
• Positive aspects
• Importance of family tradition
• Perseverance/ resilience
• Appearance in illustrations
• Negative aspects
• Singe family home
• none of my business mentality

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Cultural Authenticity Asian American

• Coders agree that majority of the books depicted
  the culture authentically, even though some
  cultural details (e.g., cooking process and
  wedding ceremony) lacked authentic descriptions.
• Most books tried to portray important parts of
  Asian Americans culture such as inter generation
  conflicts/gaps, historical/cultural details (i.e,
  food, Chinese New Year, Chinese wedding), and
  immigrants adaptation process (i.e. languages,
  food, cultural differences).
• Adoption stories (3 out of 15)

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Cultural Authenticity Hispanic American

• Coders agree that majority of the books depicted
  the culture authentically.
• Positive aspects
• Correct translation of Spanish words
• Extended family Family closeness
• Hard working Hispanics
• Family-centered business
• Use of bright colors in illustrations
• Diverse Hispanic descents
• Negative aspects
• Incorrect translation of Spanish words
• Single parent home

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Cultural Authenticity Native American

• Coders agree that majority of the books depicted
  the culture authentically, but they also
  mentioned that stories/illustrations were rather
  contemporary than traditional in order to avoid
  stereotypical features of the culture.
• Problems lack of accuracy in some books (e.g.,
  The frog princess, Solomons tree).
• A few books were too universal, and not depicted
  Native culture specifically.
• One of the coders studied whether
  authors/illustrators were Natives. If not, how
  they got to create the work of the culture.

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Stereotypes, Cultural Authenticity and Cultural
Accuracy
Cultural authenticity Non stereotyping
(?) Cultural authenticity Cultural accuracy (?)
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Stereotypes, Cultural Authenticity and Cultural
Accuracy

• Presence of some types stereotypical features via
  text and images in books of all groups.
• Presence of inaccuracy in some historic stories
  and cultural issues in Asian Americans and Native
  Americans.
• Need to examine how presence of stereotypical
  features and inaccuracy affect the overall
  cultural authenticity of the story.

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Excerpts from coding Visiting Day (African
American)

• Stereotypical features Criminal, Dysfunctional
  family, Poor
• The main characters father is in
  prison
• Cultural authenticity
• Family Loyalty I do not agree that this
  is a stereotypical attribute within African
  American culture. The significance of family and
  the unspoken belief that no matter what happens
  the family must remain together and strong are
  elements that appear in this story that are
  authentic to African American culture.
• Additional comments
• Although Visiting Day revolves around a
  story of a father who is incarcerated and his
  daughter and grandma who visit him regularly, I
  do not feel that the story attempts to portray
  all African Americans as criminals.

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Excerpts from coding Bad River Boys A Meeting
(Native American)

• Stereotypical features Wearing feathers,
  headless with arms, etc. Indian style broken
  English
• The illustrations are historical,
  depicting the people wearing what is now
  considered stereotypical clothes and living in
  tee-pees.
• Cultural authenticity
• The text seems to be based on the
  journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  Though the story is supposed to show the incident
  through the eyes the Indian boys, the text is a
  mixture of Indian talk (short sentences),
  contemporary American talk, and facts pulled from
  the journals of the expedition. There is probably
  very little, if not nothing, to dispute about the
  authenticity of this event. Illustrations
  Again, this is a historical story and portrays
  this Plains tribe wearing clothing of the era.
• Additional comments
• The author is a member of the Rosebud
  Sioux Tribe and grew up on their reservation. The
  illustrator is not Native American but enjoys
  doing extensive research on his subjects
  (according to a note on the book jacket).

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Future Plan

• Further analyses on cultural authenticity in
  multicultural picture books beyond nonstereotypes
  or cultural accuracy.
• Information on to what extent the multicultural
  picture books that have widely been selected and
  read by librarians, educators and readers depict
  cultural authenticity of four different ethnic
  groups.
• Implications for authors, illustrators,
  librarians, educators, parents, readers and
  researchers on multicultural picture books as a
  pedagogical construct for our rapidly changing
  diverse education.