Why Literature Matters

Why Culturally Relevant Literature

In Why Literature?:  The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for Teaching, Christina Vischer Burns illustrates the challenge of trying to engage students in literature that they may be culturally and socially disconnected from. She writes, “A text only decades older than my students, but still culturally removed from most of them, can also present challenges.  The student of mine who found the characters’ names in Toni Morrison’s Song of Soloman to be ridiculous...was ready to dismiss the entire novel as too far-fetched to be in any way believable, but his frustration suggested that he was experiencing a clash of cultural assumptions.”³  Teachers of students of color know all too well the frustration students feel when confronted with a text they feel “culturally removed from.”  One example is teaching a text such as J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Initially, many of my students have a hard time understanding how a rich, white, prep school kid from 1950’s Leave It to Beaver America, can have such an overtly cynical attitude towards everything.  The protagonist Holden Caulfield’s experiences are so alien to many of my students that they have a hard time relating to the main character or his story.  It is true that one of the roles of teachers is to help students make connections between their own experiences and the seemingly dissimilar events of a text; indeed, one of the joys of literature is exploring and being exposed to a world utterly distinct from one’s own, with differing and diverse ideas, while at the same time uncovering the connections to your own personal world.  This is what I do with The Catcher in the Rye.  I’ve had students from diverse backgrounds engage in and connect with Salinger’s Holden Caulfield in a very impactful way--and I still teach The Catcher in the Rye to my sophomore students.  In fact, I would argue that students of color should read classic, Anglocentric literature. To deny students the reading of these works and thereby deny them access to the cultural literacy that they should have, especially if they plan to pursue their education beyond high school, is doing them a disservice.  In many respects I agree with Carol Jago when she advocates in her book With Rigor for All: Teaching the Classics to Contemporary Students, the importance of teaching “classic” literature.  She claims, “a critical reading of literature results in a deep literacy that I believe is an essential skill for anyone who wants to attempt to make sense of the world.”⁴  Jago’s position does have its merits; however, too many times when it comes to reading classic literature, making “sense of the world” represents a myopic view of the world.  Far too often the world of students of color is not represented, and that’s a problem. We cannot continue to give students only literature that makes them feel that their experiences are not part of mainstream American society.  Using culturally relevant texts can, in fact, be a bridge to these classic works. Iliana Alanis, in her article “Developing Literacy through Culturally Relevant Texts,” points out that “When teachers use culturally relevant texts, students have a better understanding of the books and, as a result, become more engaged in their reading.  Their enjoyment and interest increase, and they become motivated to read more.”⁵

But just as students should read classic literature to know and understand the world presented from one perspective, it is just as important for students--both the students of color and white students--to understand other worlds, worlds that are presented through the use of a diversity of texts that represent the full spectrum of varied experiences.  This is why culturally relevant literature matters.  Writing in her Why Literature? Bruns quotes C.S. Lewis regarding literature’s ability to help students examine how they view themselves and the world around them, and foster their awareness and empathy towards other cultures,  “We want to be more than ourselves.  Each of us by nature sees the whole world from one point of view with a perspective and a selectiveness peculiar to himself...we want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well with our own.”⁶  Gloria Ladson-Billings in her article “But That’s Good Teaching!  The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy” further illustrates the need for culturally diverse literature because it gives students the tools to become not only better students, but also better citizens: “...students must develop a broader sociopolitical consciousness that allows them to critique the cultural norms, values, mores, and institutions that produce and maintain social inequities.  If school is about preparing students for active citizenship, what better citizenship tool than the ability to critically analyze the society.”⁷  Ultimately, advocating for culturally relevant literature does not call for expunging all classic literature by white authors; however, it does present teachers with an opportunity to increase student comprehension and engagement, provide a basis for transitioning to less relatable works, and explore a more sophisticated perspective on the world.