Insider/ Outsider Debate

Insider/ Outsider

Before reading any of the articles I had the thought, after reading some children's literature books that inaccurately described a particular culture, that only an insider should write about their particular culture. Insider being someone of that culture. But after reading the first article by Patrick Shannon my idea of insider got pushed. He defines culture as, "a design for living- the ways of acting, believing, and valuing; it's a shared set of ideas, behaviors, discourses, and attitudes which internally and externally define a social group." So then my thought began to wander a bit... if a culture can be gender and I write a book about being female, my perspective of being female could be totally different than someone else's who may also be female. One is not necessarily right or wrong, they are just different. And attempting to have all of those opinions in one classroom seems to be impossible. So first and foremost I think it is important to explain to students that although two people may be a part of the same culture they may have totally different lifestyles or ideas.
As he went on to talk about different books that were "multicultural literature" he described how many individuals were able to connect on some level, multiculturalism being a part of all of us and seeing that although we may not see ourselves as part of one culture there may be a subculture within that that we do belong to. For example, I am not part of the African American culture but a female African American writer who talks about being teased from boys would be relatable to many girls. Therefore her and I would share one culture but not another. I feel that these connections are very important to make because they bridge that gap of thinking that since we are all from different cultures we must be different. When the fact of the matter is we are bound to have at least one similarity with many individuals, whether it be religion, gender, or food preference.
Reading the other articles I found myself not being able to make a decision about whether or not I thought insiders should only write about their culture. I think insider is hard to define and that is where my undecisiveness begins. I think what I am most concerned about is accuracy. I understand that everyone has different perspectives which is to be celebrated but when sharing non-fiction & fiction pieces about cultures it is important to distinguish the facts so that students are able to have correct knowledge. I think as long as the author indicates at the beginning of the story it's realtion to that culture than that should be sufficient, but I think it is the reader's right to know & understand how the writer is connected to that culture and then it is up to the reader to decide whether or not they want to engage in the book.