(Download) "Celebrating Diversity Through Explorations of Arab Children's Literature." by Childhood Education # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Celebrating Diversity Through Explorations of Arab Children's Literature.
- Author : Childhood Education
- Release Date : January 22, 2007
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 189 KB
Description
Incidents of terrorism and other forms of heinous violence around the world are so dramatic and painfully wrenching that they often dictate change: in politics, in social convention, in battle, and in the classroom. The five years since the 9/11 attacks, in particular, have brought about huge shifts in the collective global view of Arabs, and it is certainly timely to examine how educators treat the literature of the people in that part of the world. While language arts teachers may feel like throwing up their arms in frustration at being asked to learn about yet another body of children's literature, it has never been more important to represent a clear-headed and balanced view of a people, their culture, and their literature. In the United States, Arabs and Arab Americans have become a minority of suspicion (Al-Hazza & Lucking, 2005), and enormous misconceptions and biases exist about these people and their culture. Mindful of all teachers' efforts to establish cultural pluralism in their classrooms (Banks, 1991), we hope to offer some guidance in defining these issues relative to children's literature that accurately reflects some of the cultural norms of the Arab world. To begin, many educated Americans do not even know what the term Arab means, and many confuse the terms "Arabs" and "Muslims." People who describe themselves as Arab speak Arabic or claim the Arabic language as their ancestors' mother tongue, possess Semitic roots, and trace their lineage to the descendants of Abraham and Hagar (Goldschmidt, 1989). The majority of Arabs are from Africa and the Middle East, in a region that stretches from Mauritania, positioned on the Atlantic coast of Africa, to Oman, which is situated on the Indian Ocean coast of the Arabian Peninsula. This territory encompasses 22 countries, located in three regions: countries in northern Africa, countries situated on the Mediterranean but not in Africa, and countries located in the heart of Arabia, on the Arabian Peninsula. All Arab countries combined constitute an Arab world population of approximately 300 million people (Elmandjra, 2004). The geographic area of the Middle East is also home to Pakistani, Kurds, Turks, Iranians, Afghans, and Armenians, who are not considered Arabs. They each have their own distinct language, traditions, and cultures.