“…Recent shifts in book publishing leave us optimistic (see, e.g., Simon & Schuster's new Salaam Reads imprint). As publishers respond to market trends, however, we also find it worthy to take a critical look so the urgency to respond does not undermine the original goal by reinforcing harmful ideologies in a different way (May, Holbrook, & Meyers, ). We encourage teachers to engage in critical, culturally relevant practices in both selecting texts and facilitating the classroom interactions that surround them (May & Bingham, ; May, Bingham, & Pendergast, ).By identifying books and talking with students about what they notice, teachers can focus student attention on how Middle Eastern Muslims are portrayed and teach them to think critically about the books.…”
The authors describe how Middle Eastern Muslims are represented in a text set of award‐winning picture books. Most were written by authors with outsider perspectives who wrote about (a) antiquated times and practices and (b) war‐stricken countries and dangerous journeys. Although most of the books are not problematic on their own, the large number of the same two stories obstruct many other Middle Eastern Muslim representations, creating blind spots for readers. Authentic books about authors’ beliefs, stories remembered from childhood, and connections between the Middle East and the West are also present, although to a much smaller extent. These themes are described and titles listed for classroom use. Ultimately, although children's literature offers the potential to validate readers’ communities and teach about others, it can also create barriers to understanding by only sharing partial stories, obscuring some stories by overrepresenting others, and revealing information that should not be shared.
“…Recent shifts in book publishing leave us optimistic (see, e.g., Simon & Schuster's new Salaam Reads imprint). As publishers respond to market trends, however, we also find it worthy to take a critical look so the urgency to respond does not undermine the original goal by reinforcing harmful ideologies in a different way (May, Holbrook, & Meyers, ). We encourage teachers to engage in critical, culturally relevant practices in both selecting texts and facilitating the classroom interactions that surround them (May & Bingham, ; May, Bingham, & Pendergast, ).By identifying books and talking with students about what they notice, teachers can focus student attention on how Middle Eastern Muslims are portrayed and teach them to think critically about the books.…”
The authors describe how Middle Eastern Muslims are represented in a text set of award‐winning picture books. Most were written by authors with outsider perspectives who wrote about (a) antiquated times and practices and (b) war‐stricken countries and dangerous journeys. Although most of the books are not problematic on their own, the large number of the same two stories obstruct many other Middle Eastern Muslim representations, creating blind spots for readers. Authentic books about authors’ beliefs, stories remembered from childhood, and connections between the Middle East and the West are also present, although to a much smaller extent. These themes are described and titles listed for classroom use. Ultimately, although children's literature offers the potential to validate readers’ communities and teach about others, it can also create barriers to understanding by only sharing partial stories, obscuring some stories by overrepresenting others, and revealing information that should not be shared.
“…To do so, I created a table for the books that includes a short summary of the books, character descriptions, their relations to the Middle Eastern Muslim identity and three components of culturally relevant pedagogy that bolster the healing through positive and authentic portrayals. While cursory references (May et al , 2010) to culturally relevant pedagogy were available in the books, only one book includes the themes of culturally relevant pedagogy. Thus, my analysis of these 25 books led me to a single book because it is the only book referencing the three themes of culturally relevant pedagogy.…”
Purpose
In this paper, the author adapts the concept of culturally relevant pedagogy and the pedagogy of hope for Middle Eastern Muslim students' education. This paper aims to develop a new perspective for educating Middle Eastern Muslim students by focusing on Islam by considering being Muslim as a cultural way of being and living.
Design/methodology/approach
Pedagogy of hope (Hooks, 2003), particularly the concept of healing in education and culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995), guided this study during the research process.
Findings
Three themes of culturally relevant pedagogy through a picturebook by Mobin-Uddin (2007) entitled The Best Eid Ever was examined to illustrate how this picturebook can be used as an example of culturally relevant pedagogy.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation is the researcher’s interpretation as a Middle Eastern Muslim who lived in a Western country. The Best Eid Ever (2007) can be used in the classroom for Middle Eastern Muslim students' education to discursively build a positive identity and educate students from different backgrounds. More studies may investigate other texts (e.g. novels) with Middle Eastern Muslim characters. Further research can also explore the use of this book in the classroom.
Originality/value
This study provides qualitative description of a picturebook from culturally relevant pedagogy and pedagogy of hope to guide teachers to bolster Middle Eastern Muslim students’ schooling experiences.
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