I am currently taking a multiculturalism in education class and even though I have always known this intuitively, this class is making me more profoundly aware that culture can be best described, expressed and investigated via the written word. As Chekhov believed, if a writer can state a problem correctly, then the reader can make inferences, understand better and make changes in his or her society, workplace, culture, etc. One of my favorite authors who bears witness to the Latina/latino experience is Julia Alvarez. A 2010 Pura Belpre’ award winner, Alvarez has been writing books that reflect the Latino culture for both the adult and young adult audience. As she states in the interview below, books are a way for her to create a lens that not only the Latino culture can view through but other cultures as well. It is important not only for her own culture to understand the changes the Latino culture has gone through by coming into the United States but for the rest of us as well. To read is to understand – Kit McKeon.
Below Ms. Alvarez talks about how in the United States our “consumer” culture takes traditions and “sells them back” to us at a higher price, as she writes about in the book “Once upon a Quinceanera”..quality isn’t the best but she has some wonderful things to say!
Exploring the power of the printed word! 