Week Seven Prompt Response

For this week I have been tasked to explore authenticity within the realm of book culture. As one can imagine, the concept of authenticity can take many forms. However, for the sake of focus, I will be discussing the controversy surrounding the fiction book, American Dirt - a book staring a Mexican woman that was written by a white woman. Throughout the narrative in the book, readers noted that there were issues in how Mexico was represented in addition to how the book reinforces hurtful stereotypes about Mexican individuals.

While this controversy is not new, interestingly, it is new to me. When this book was first published, I was working at a library, but I was simply a shelver at the time, and admittedly, I was not well-versed in modern fiction books, as that has never been a literary interest of mine. If I do read fiction books, I prefer urban fantasy or YA fiction instead of relationship fiction, which seems to be the most popular form of fiction.

In a Texas Monthly articled called The Real Problem with American Dirt, the headline reads "No, it's not that the author is white" (Santos, 2020).

Actually, and if I can be so bold, that is exactly the problem.

White authors can, in no way, fully understand the complexities of what it means to be Mexican. There are also many authors who are not white who struggle to have their story told. Why should we listen to stories about Mexican life through a white lens when we can listen to stories about Mexican life through a Mexican lens? 

This discussion brings me to the topic of cultural appropriation.

White people have a long history of appropriating culture narratives for literature and other forms of art. While this was more socially acceptable a hundred years ago, it is less socially acceptable now (although it was never appropriate). White people have more opportunities, and they often experience less hurdles in getting their voice out there or heard. 

As information professionals we must actively advocate for the inclusion of non-white voices in literature. Subsequently, we must also speak out against authors who appropriate non-white narratives. In each fiction novel we encounter, there are still grains of truth within them. With this line of thought in mind, fiction, in many ways, is still based in reality. And this is a wonderful thing - those small grains of truth are truly the elements of a novel that make it come alive, that make it memorable and immersive. When information professionals advocate for more "truthful" fiction, we are advocating for, quite simply, a better reader experience.

References

Santos, R. (2020, February 5). The real problem with 'American Dirt'. Texas Monthly.