When Authenticity Goes Missing: How Monocultural Children’s Literature Is Silencing the Voices and Contributing to Invisibility of Children from Minority Backgrounds

Abstract

The importance of recognising, valuing and respecting a child’s family, culture, language and values is central to socially just education and is increasingly articulated in educational policy worldwide. Inclusive children’s literature can support children’s human rights and contribute to equitable and socially just outcomes for all children. However, evidence suggests many educational settings provide monocultural book collections which are counterproductive to principles of diversity and social justice. Further, that educators’ understandings and beliefs about diversity can contribute to inequitable provision and use of diverse books and to inequitable outcomes of book sharing for many children. This paper reports on a larger study investigating factors and relationships influencing the use of children’s literature to support principles of cultural diversity in the kindergarten rooms of long day care centres. The study was conducted within an ontological perspective of constructivism and an epistemological perspective of interpretivism informed by sociocultural theory. A mixed methods approach was adopted, and convergent design was employed interpret significant relationships and their meanings. Twenty-four educators and 110 children from four long day care centres in Western Australia participated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, video-based observations, field notes, document analysis and a book audit. This study firstly identified that current book collections in kindergarten rooms of long day care centres promote mono-cultural viewpoints and ‘othering’ of minority groups through limited access to books portraying inclusive and authentic cultural diversity. Secondly, that educators had limited understandings of the role of literature in acknowledging and valuing diversity and rarely used it to promote principles of diversity, resulting in a practice of “othering” those from minority group backgrounds. The key challenges which emerged from the study concerned beliefs, understanding and confidence of educators about diversity and inclusion, and the impact of these on their approaches to promoting principles of diversity through the use of children’s books. This research contributes to discussion on the value of children’s literature in achieving international principles of diversity. These findings have important social justice implications. The outcomes of this study have implications for educators, policy makers, early childhood organisations and those providing higher education and training for early childhood educators.

“I’m not from a country, I’m from Australia.” Costumes, scarves, and fruit on their heads: The urgent need for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy when sharing diverse books with children.

“…Importantly, evidence also shows even very young children are more than capable of, and open to, having such discussions. However, many educators, including those in this study, are fearful of 'getting it wrong' or not being 'politically correct' (Adam, 2021) and this contributes to the avoidance of conversations about race or racism and instead leads to a focus on the exotic or other. Further, this uncertainty may have been the key to educators' approach and foci evident in the following four themes.…”

“…However, educators from all centres except Dockside expressed concerns about not knowing what was "politically correct"' when choosing or sharing diverse books with children. Some saw attention to diversity as mainly relating to linguistic diversity and the authors note this aspect of the study has been focused on in another paper (Adam, 2021) When educators described how they enacted book sharing to address or acknowledge diversity, they mostly referred to focusing on celebrations, or the "different" or "special" aspects of "other" cultures. Educators exhibited a noticeably high level of con dence when talking about this which contrasted noticeably with their hesitation and uncertainty when they described how they respond to children's In each of the four sessions in which the educators focused on cultural diversity, educator practice focused on cultural diversity as special or other.…”

Reading, Research and Relationships in a Third‐Grade Virtual Book Club

“…Finding primary grade level books written by a multicultural set of authors that center on in‐depth social issues and promote a call to action was difficult for us because local libraries were somewhat limited, and children's books often oversimplify social issues typically centering on individual behavior and passive activism (Echterling, 2016). “Evidence suggests many educational settings provide monocultural book collections which are counterproductive to principles of diversity and social justice” (Adam, 2021, p. 1). As Echterling (2016) posits, in order to “make real, lasting differences,” (p. 294), children's literature should do more to encourage civic engagement by showcasing the systemic problems around issues.…”

A Content Analysis of Chinese American Contemporary Realistic Fiction Books

“…Yoo‐Lee et al (2014) suggested that cultural authenticity comprises accurate details and perspectives of an ethnic group in text and illustrations without stereotypes. Other researchers (Adam, 2021; Southard et al, 2014) maintained that culturally authentic literature should also develop a sense of identity, self‐esteem, and openness for cultural diversity. Wee et al (2014) contended that “the key to accurately representing Asian American cultures in children's literature is to first recognize the diversity of Asian peoples” (p. 72).…”