31st Annual Student Research Conference
How Multicultural Literature Impacts Perspective Building
Sujash Islam Purna♦
Dr. Barbara Price, Dr. Summer Pennell, and Dr. Paul L. Yoder, Faculty Mentors
How can we integrate conversation on culture and personal identity in our classroom discussion of literature? What happens when a white majority classroom gets a chance to explore a culture that is completely different from theirs through reading a multicultural literature text? The purpose of this research is to pursue answers to these questions and to find out how multicultural literature impacts students’ building of multiple perspectives on an issue. This research looks at the way students in a rural Missouri school responded to the book American Born Chinese and discussion of the major themes from the book: identity, bullying, stereotypes. Through the journey into the stories of the major three characters - Monkey King, Jin Wang, and Chin-Kee - the students developed an understanding that requires empathy, transferring skills, and perspective taking.
Keywords: Multicultural Literature, Perspective Taking, Multiple perspectives, cultural identity, stereotypes, personal identity, white majority, American Born Chinese
Topic(s):English MAE Intern
English, Secondary MAE Research
Education
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 302-4
Location: MG 1090
Time: 1:45