Reading with a Critical Global Perspective: A Study of Children's & Adolescent's Literature on

357 Pages·2017·4.34 MB·English

by  Manika Subi Lakshmanan

University of Missouri, St. Louis
IRL @ UMSL
Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works
7-9-2010
Reading with a Critical Global Perspective: A Study
of Children's & Adolescent's Literature on South
Asia, 1989-2009.
Manika Subi Lakshmanan
University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected]
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Lakshmanan, Manika Subi, "Reading with a Critical Global Perspective: A Study of Children's & Adolescent's Literature on South
Asia, 1989-2009." (2010).Dissertations. 476.
https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/476
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READING WITH A CRITICAL GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: A STUDY OF
CHILDREN‘S AND ADOLESCENT‘S LITERATURE ON SOUTH ASIA, 1989-2009.

by
MANIKA SUBI LAKSHMANAN
B.A., University of Perugia, Italy, 1980
M.A.T., Webster University, St. Louis, 2005
A DISSERTATION THESIS
Submitted to the Graduate School of the

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST.LOUIS
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

in

EDUCATION

July, 2010

Advisory Committee
E. Wendy Saul, Ph.D.
Chairperson
Charles Fazzaro, Ed.D.
Nancy Robb Singer, Ph.D.
Eric Turley, Ph.D.
 Copyright 2010
by
Manika Subi Lakshmanan
All Rights Reserved
Lakshmanan, Subi, 2010, UMSL, p. iii

ABSTRACT
This study examines how children‘s and adolescent‘s literature promotes global
awareness, cross-cultural understanding and cosmopolitanism. It proposes an alternative
critical global perspective in the teaching of complex narratives dealing with socio-
economic and political transformations in the developing world, with specific reference
to South Asian societies. Reframing how transcultural literature is read, a critical global
perspective combines global perspectives distilled from theories of development, human
rights and international relations, Michel Foucault‘s notion of discourse and critical
analyses, and textual and visual analyses (Stephens, 1992; Kress and van Leeuwen,
1996). This multidimensional approach contributed 20 questions that explored the gap
between cultural traditions and modernity, child and family rights, religious worldviews
and secularism, humanitarianism and war. These questions were applied to 18 award-
winning North American books, published from 1989 to 2009, to facilitate analysis of
how texts, images, teaching guides and scholarly commentaries influence global
education. Comparative analyses of the 18 texts reveal that while authors differ in their
interpretations of societal transformation, education and educators are unanimously
regarded as enablers of development, human rights and global peace. Nevertheless, first-
person narrative devices, which are used to draw readers‘ engagement into the global
context, impede the potential of transcultural literature to equitably mediate cultural and
political differences. Paradoxically, while some authors offer more nuanced narratives,
the publisher‘s teaching guide often perpetuates notions of an idealized American way of
life. In the case of picture books, these guides neglect to integrate how visuals provide
Lakshmanan, Subi, 2010, UMSL, p. iv

more nuanced religious, cultural, and socio-economic realities. The study concludes that
these limitations are inadvertently fostered by the emphasis on text-self connections and
reader relevance in the writing and teaching of literature (Keene and Zimmerman, 1997).
These findings validate the need for a critical global perspective that strengthens text-
world connections, which engender the desired outcome of a cosmopolitan global
education.
Lakshmanan, Subi, 2010, UMSL, p. v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing this study would not have been possible without the support and
assistance of so many people, books, and experiences. But, had it not been for Dr. Wendy
Saul, I would never have had the opportunity to embark on this self-defining experience.
I remain deeply grateful to her for recognizing in me a potential I was unaware of.
Thanks to her guidance and encouragement I have been able to bring this task to fruition.
A special thank you for speaking to me in a language of metaphors and visuals that
always went to the heart of the issue.
This study could not have been written without the faculty at the University of
Missouri, St. Louis‘ College of Education and Department of English, especially Martile
Elias, Charles Fazzaro, Virginia Navarro, Joe Polman, Rebecca Rogers, Nancy Singer,
and Eric Turley. Their expertise has helped direct this study. Special thanks to my study
committee - Charles Fazzaro, Nancy Singer and Eric Turley – whose insights and patient
support have guided me throughout.
I am particularly indebted to Dr. Charles Fazzaro and his graduate students.
Without those Saturday morning seminars, I would not have been able to grapple with
Michel Foucault and raise some of the questions that concern this study. I wish to thank
Dr. Rebecca Rogers, whose seminar in Critical Discourse Analysis directed the layers of
my analysis. Her attention to method, analysis and context grounded this research.
I wish to thank the editorial review boards of The Dragon Lode and The Journal
of Children‟s Literature, and Dr. Rebecca Rogers, editor of An Introduction to Critical
Lakshmanan, Subi, 2010, UMSL, p. vi

Discourse Analysis in Education (in press). The experience of contributing to these
publications has been invaluable in the shaping of this study. From them I have learned
that writing is always accompanied by self-reflection, clarification, editing, and much
patience.
I thank Dr. Joel Glassman who gave me the opportunity to work at the Center for
International Studies‘ Resource Library. It is through the process of organizing and
adding to the library‘s collection that I gained a wider understanding of global education.
I also thank the late E. Desmond Lee, whose dedication to scholarship has touched many
lives. I could not have sustained the long journey of writing a study without his financial
support.
I owe a very special thanks to friends and peers at the University of Missouri, St.
Louis - Kelly Grigsby, Rob Good, Glenda McCarty, and Inda Schaenen. It is thanks to
their friendship and encouragement that I will look back at this experience with affection.
Sudarshan Kant‘s personal library me made me aware of important scholars I had not
considered. I remain indebted to Diane Goodwin at the Graduate Office, whose efficiency
made the administrative process of completing this dissertation so effortless.
This experience would not have been so peaceful and fulfilling without my
husband and son. To my husband Mohan I am exceptionally thankful for his
unquestioning, silent support. As a role model of discipline, depth, and tenacity, I have to
thank my son, Ikshu. For unbiased intellectual honesty, Mohan and Ikshu remain my
mentors.
Lakshmanan, Subi, 2010, UMSL, p. vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... III
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. V
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. VII
FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... XIII
CHAPTER 1: READING THE WORLD IN THE CLASSROOM ................................... 1
Problematizing the Uses of Literature .................................................................... 4
A Critical Global Perspective: Connecting the Text to the World ......................... 7
Why Award-winning and Bestselling Transcultural Literature? .......................... 10
Post 1989 South Asia ............................................................................................ 15
Overcoming Limitations and Lacunae .................................................................. 16
CHAPTER 2: LOCATING TRANSCULTURAL LITERATURE IN
MULTICULTURAL AND GLOBAL EDUCATION ..................................................... 26
Defining Transcultural and Multicultural Literature ............................................ 28
Multiculturalism .................................................................................................... 30
Lakshmanan, Subi, 2010, UMSL, p. viii

Transcultural Literature ........................................................................................ 43
Global Education .................................................................................................. 52
Towards a Cosmopolitan Global Citizen .............................................................. 59
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 66
CHAPTER 3: A LAYERED MULTIDIMENSIONAL METHOD ................................. 69
A Foucaldian Critical Analysis ............................................................................. 71
Text, Teaching Guides, and Images as Discourse ................................................ 74
Ideological Discourses in Texts and Visuals ........................................................ 81
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 88
CHAPTER 4: NARRATING DEVELOPMENT AND MODERNITY .......................... 90
Culture and the ‗Selective Tradition‘ in Representations ..................................... 92
Developing the Third World ................................................................................. 95
Questioning the Narration of Third World Development ................................... 102
Homeless Bird (2000): ―a young woman with a life ahead of you.‖ .................. 103
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (1989), Haveli (1993), and The House of Djinn
(2008) .................................................................................................................. 113
Lakshmanan, Subi, 2010, UMSL, p. ix

The ―Selective Tradition‖ of Book Covers. ........................................................ 114
Shabanu (1989): ―soon enough he‘ll turn off the water‖ .................................... 119
Haveli (1993): ―You always have a choice.‖ ...................................................... 127
The House of Djinn (2008): ―Things must change if Pakistan is to survive.‖ .... 133
Rickshaw Girl (2008): ―Times are certainly changing.‖ ..................................... 140
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 147
CHAPTER 5: HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE CHILD ................................................... 151
Human Rights: An Overview.............................................................................. 153
Human Rights Education and Literature............................................................. 158
Reading about Human Rights with a Critical Lens ............................................ 160
Sold (2006): ―Simply to endure . . . is to triumph.‖ ............................................ 161
Beneath my Mother's Feet (2008): ―Now I must make a choice for myself.‖ .... 173
Iqbal (2003): ―Join us! Fight with us!‖ ............................................................... 181
The Carpet Boy‟s Gift (2003): ―If we go together, the school will protect us.‖ . 190
The Roses in my Carpets (1998): ―I‘d rather be weaving carpets.‖ .................... 197
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 205