Journal on American Literature

TEACHING AMERICAN MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE

Winda setiasari

Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris

Universitas negeri Padang

Abstrak

Artikel ini mengupas lengkap Sastra Multikultural Amerika dan pengajarannya. Artikel ini juga membicarakan tentang penyusunan silabus dan penerapan strategi mengajar yang komunikatif dan sehingga Sastra Multikultural Amerika dapat menjadi mata kuliah yang menarik.Karya Sastra yang ditulis oleh empat etnis minoritas di Amerika serikat yaitu etnis Afrika (Negro), Asia, Indian dan etnis Latin menjadi topik utama silabus mata kuliah ini. Empat pendekatan dengan aktivitas kelas yang berbeda yaitu “Cultural Studies”, “Reader Response”, “Inquiry” dan “Critical Pedagogy” dapat diterapkan oleh pengajar sebagai strategi untuk mempertajam isu multikultural dalam karya sastra etnis minoritas.

A. Introduction

The 1980s was a meaningful decade in American history. It was a decade fraught with issue over “multiculturalism”. Ravitch mentioned multicultural as the common culture of the United States. It is a culture formed by its subsidiary cultures (qtd in Laguardia, 1996:151). Diverse cultures commingle and the United States gained a new perspective in reacting to their long dominant monoculturalism. Multiculturalism then had become a major cultural movement. The movement idealized the United States as a multi ethnic society.

In term of literary movement, multiculturalism in American literature has resulted in the recognition of non-white authors (Keith, 1996: 235) . White- Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) authors were no longer dominant in American literature. Mainstream authors were accompanied by new literary figures that were not a part of the literary canon. They are minority writers. Minority writers and ethnic minority text created a trend and new canon in American literature.

Multicultural movement in the Unites States opened up a chance for what so –called “Multicultural curriculum” to exist in many high schools, colleges and universities in the United States. Multicultural curriculum covers some subjects in multicultural perspective. American multicultural literature is one of them.. Students are introduced to minority texts and they are given sources or reading materials written by minority writers. Students learn other cultures, so that they share many common experiences. Thus, multicultural literature in the United States had become a new cultural energy.

American multicultural literature (AML) has started to be taught in some universities in Indonesia. Still, it is a new subject in some of English Department .For that reason, this article discusses AML and its teaching strategies. It is intended to open our horizon toward AML. The discussion leads to the description of a complete syllabus and the teaching strategies for AML.

B. Minority writings and the effective syllabus

Multicultural literature made it possible for the authors of ethnic minority to emerge in the list of American literary figures. Together, Minority writers started to appear in AML. They wrote to project and validate alternative value and cultural system, which are different from the white authors. It is such an exotic lesson for literature student to learn various experience of ethnic minority through literary works. They learn similarities and differences. Hence, A Lecture takes a big role to enhance student’s motivation to learn AML.

For this reason, a complete syllabus for AML class is necessary. It is set to achieve an effective study of various minority writers only in one semester. Lectures should include major minority writings and bring up some multicultural issues as the focus of the study. The detail description of major minority writings and their multicultural issues are as follows:

African American writings

. Black literature from time to time offers an interesting phenomena of a suppressed minority. Later on, they are more famous with their new “African American” name. African American writings focus on a folklore conception of humankind, an ambivalent consciousness arising from bicultural identity (Guerin,1999: 260). African American also wrote to reflect their resistance against white mainstream. They are also well known for their survival theme.

Lecture should include African American writers like Tony Morrison with her “beloved”, Alice Walker with her Color purple, Benjamin Zephaniah, Countee Cullen and Rita Dove with their poems.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>2. <!–[endif]–>Asian American writings

Asian American consists of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese etc. They refer to one unity “Asian American”. Chinese American writing is the most prominent Asian American writing. Chinese writers bring the issue of assimilation, cultural tension among generation and preserving native culture.

Other Asian American writings generally cover an experience of living in a society that perceives Asian Americans as alien (Guerin,1999: 267). Most Japanese American writers write to reveal the cultural conflict, self-alienation and childhood memory during World War II.

Lecture should include a text by Maxine Hong Kingston, poems by Lee young lee, novels and autobiography of Amy tan.

Native American writings

Native American posses their own distinctive traditional literature. Oral culture such as story telling which has been passed through passes on religious beliefs, moral values, political codes and ethics and practical lesson of everyday life has been their cultural identity for ages. Native American wrote with their languages.

In the multicultural era, their English written literary works focus on some themes like vanishing cultural tradition and identity as the result of assimilation. Lectures should include names like M. Scott Momaday and Louis Edrich who are famous for romanticizing Indian past and present values.

Hispanic American writings

Hispanic American writings include works of all Spanish speaking population in the United States. Among them are Mexican-American, Puerto Rican and Cuban American writers. Mexican American writers is the most prominent in the list of Hispanic writers

Most of Hispanic American writing clusters around the issue of massive migration, cultural conflict met by newly arrived immigrant. Mexican American writers bring the topic about the experience of ethnic group who lives between two cultures, two countries and two languages. Others Hispanic American writers also write about alienation, assimilation and Spanish degradation as their main heritage. Lecture should include works from Richard Rodriguez, Rodolfo Anaya, Tomas Rivera, and Pat Mora in the AML class.

5. A Sample for American Multicultural Literature Syllabus

Week	Subject	Writers
1	Introduction to the course
2.	What is multiculturalism? Ethnicity in the United States
3-6	African American Writings Folkloric Conception, slavery and survival Black consciousness Racism, resistance, Sexism	Joe Chandler Harris, Linda Brent James Weldon’s Johnson, Richard wright, Langston Hughes Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker,Toni Morrison etc
7-9	Asian American Writings Assimilation and their American experience Alienation, womanhood, ethnic proud, generational tension	Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan , Jade Snow Wong, Janice mirikatini, Lee young Lee
10	Mid -term
11-13	Native American Oral Cultures Myth and superstition Racial ambivalence	M. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silkon, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Louise Edrich, Will Rogers
13-15	Hispanic / Latin American Ethnic diversities in Spanish Speaking population / Spanish Supreme, Americanized People Borders,bicultural and bilngual phenomena, A mestizo (mixed Blood) Womanhood, Ethnic pride	Oscar Zeta Jones, Richard Rodriguez, Pat Mora, Gloria Anzaldua, Rudolfo Anaya
EA	Review all

C. Strategies for Teaching American Multicultural Literature

Teaching American literature must be coupled with good strategies. The effective syllabus discussed above should be accompanied with an interesting class activity. Lecture should prepare some strategies in teaching AML literature.

The Annenberg CPB channel cooperated with Harvard Smithsonian center reviewed four different kinds of guiding approach with each suggested class activity (1995) cultural studies, reader response, inquiry and critical pedagogy are some approach with different class activity conducted in American Multicultural literature class.

1. Cultural Studies approach

It is the most valuable strategy for teachers of AML because it focuses on the social divisions of class, gender, ethnicity and race. Cultural studies scrutinize at the ways in which meaning, stereotype and identities are generated within these social group. Besides, cultural studies deal with an interdisciplinary study; students integrate literature, sociology, history, education and other studies to understand varied text.

Cultural studies approach combines literary readings with social and historical analysis in AML class. At the end, student will be able to see literature as a social product with specific history. However, the central teaching strategy of cultural studies approach is intertextual reading; comparing each literary text to culturally related text. Text for reader response strategies includes advertising television, historical document, visual artwork etc.

Some class activities conducted in AML class using cultural studies approach are as follow:

Lecture introduces student before giving them materials to read, explaining that different text may raise similar issue

Lecture offers general information about the texts e.g. when they were written, by whom and for what purpose, teacher

Lecture provides the background of characters or images or other element of literary work before encouraging student to look for them

Lecture gives student an assignment such as multimedia projects and performance that combine research with literary analysis.

1. Inquiry Approach

This approach engages students in a process of questioning, research, presentation and reflection. It also encourages students to pursue information through investigation, experimentation, creation, reflection, and discussion. Students also use their outside knowledge and real life experiences in that pursuit. Lecture only acts as facilitator to encourage students to make connection between classroom inquiries and their personal lives.

In AML classroom, an inquiry approach supports students in making their own meaning from text. Besides an inquiry, approach provides students with the freedom to explore their own question. Through collaboration, discussion and interaction with series text that speak to question, coupled with collective reflection, students and their lecture together can begin to pose possible answers. Here are some possible activities engaged in inquiry approach :

– Inviting students to ask question and make connection

– Encouraging students to have conversations about what they have

Discovered

– Helping students to take their information and transform it for

Particular audience

– Making sure students reflect on the process, and encouraging

them to begin to take an action.

1. Reader Response Approach

Reader Response approach emphasizes the reader’s role in interpreting text. Each interpretation is subjective and unique because students create their own meaning based on their own emotion, concerns, life experience and reading knowledge. This approach rejects the idea of a single, fixed meaning inherent in every literary work.

Using reader –response approach in MALL class, encourages student to extract meaning from texts through experiencing, hypothesizing, exploring and synthesizing. It also encourages student to be aware of what they bring to texts as readers. Most importantly, students can recognize the specifity of their own cultural backgrounds and to work to understand the cultural background of others. They construct their own meaning by connecting the text to issues in their life.

Students personal responses are valued in MAL class since the diverse responses of individual reader are key to discovering the variety of meaning of a poem, story, essay or play. Hence, students then can become an active learner. Open –ended discussion leads students to explore their own thinking and trust on their own responses.

4. Critical pedagogy approach

It aims at encouraging students to respond to texts as politically aware members of a community. It gives students a greater authority since they are drawing on knowledge them already posses. Lecture and student create dialogue in which they both learn the issues they mutually face.

In MAL class. This approach invites student to see literary texts as social construct. They comment and developed out of given ideologies. Students are guided to have a direct investigation of literary texts, focusing on issues that are important in their lives.

Further, the critical pedagogy approach inspires student to read literature more closely, exploring why an author might have made specific literary choices to choose and resist dominant ideology and certain cultural practice.

Lecture can give student an assignment such as writing argumentative essay, petition. MAL class provides student to compare multiple literary text that explore the same issues but in different cultural setting.

D. Suggestion

Teaching Multicultural American Literature enriches our knowledge toward one perspective; how literary works served as a cultural practice. Learning AML for students similarly open up their horizon toward ethnicity and various cultural backgrounds in the United States.

English Department of Lancang Kuning University then should include AML in the curriculum. It will be a reflection of our willingness to adapt to world wide literary development. By preparing such an effective syllabus and conduct many useful strategies in AML class, this subject obviously will be an interesting subject to be learned for students in English department.

REFERENCES

Guerin, Wilfred L, et all. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, New York: Oxford University Press,1999.

Keith,M, Booker. A Practical Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism. New York: Longman Publisher,1996.

Laguardia,Dolores and Hans P Guth. American Voices: Multicultural Literacy and Critical Thinking (Second Edition). California : Marfield Publishing Company,1996.

The Annenberg CPB Channel. The Expanding Canon : Teaching Multicultural Literature. Last Updated :2005. Date of Success: February, 2 2005 <http/www.Annenberg/CPB Learner.org>