Challenging Religious Intolerance in YA Literature

Introduction

            The annotated bibliography critically looks at religious stereotypes and attempts to break them down.  The ultimate goal of the text set is to challenge religious intolerance in the school setting.  This is done by identifying what stereotypes may exist in a school environment, and then challenging them with evidence to the contrary.  The majority of the texts look at Muslim-American relations and how intolerance and discrimination affects the community.  Other religions – Buddhism and Judaism – are also included so that the text set can be modified to best fit the community of students reading it.  This text set is targeting adolescent students living in a community with a variety of religions.  With the level of immigrants in the united states and the increasing globalized state of American society, this text set will be applicable to all students.

            This text set is increasingly important as students are moving into a globalized society.  Students need to understand how to work with a variety of religions and cultures.  In order to work in such an environment, they should not have any stereotypes based around religion.  This text set works to identify and challenge those stereotypes so that students will be able to better collaborate.  Furthermore, following the terrorist attacks on September 11^th, there has been increasing tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims, whether internationally or domestically.  This text set is important so that students can foster a strong local community and understand the international consequences of religious intolerance.

            The following texts can help teachers and educators by providing resources to prompt discussions.  The texts can be used in an ELA classroom, social studies classroom, or outside of school.  The texts provide a springboard to discuss what stereotypes exist, why they are misguided, and how to foster better relationships amongst religions in a community.  They also provide greater depth when learning about world religions.  Rather than learn about religious texts, events, gods, and demographics, students learn about the values of religions.  Students will not just learn about surface culture, but gain insight into religions that will help create a more unified world in the future.

            The following resources come in a variety of forms.  Four of them are fictional stories based on the authors’ experiences.  One of these is also a picture book.  One text is based on an event that transpired in Canada.  The story is fictional, but the structure is based on true events.  Another text is a memoir of a woman who lived through the Seven Years War in Palestine.  The last resource is a podcast by This American Life by Chicago Public Radio.

Resources

Abdel-Fattah, R. (2005). Does my head look big in this?. New York, NY: Orchard Books.

            Does My Head Look Big In This? follows the escapades of a Muslim high school girl as she navigates the life of a teenager in Australia.  The book starts Amal deciding to wear her hijab in public.  She is called into the principals office for questioning, and the popular girl bullies her.  During this trying time, the relationship between her and her love-interest blossoms to the point that he tries to kiss her.  She refuses on religious grounds, which puts their relationship into question.  Fanatical Muslims bomb a nightclub and the school suddenly looks to her as a representative of the entire Muslim population.  However, the author provides insight into the different cultures within Islam by portraying the home-life of Amal and two of her friends – both Muslim and living different cultures within Islam.

            This text is relevant to adolescent readers because of the pervasive themes.  Firstly, the novel follows the life of a teenager and the issues that all teenagers toil over.  Amal worries about her complexion, clothes, and boys.  The popular girls ostracize her because she is different.  Students can identify with the character of Amal because of similar teenage woes.  This text is significant for the target audience – teenagers in a multi-cultural society – because it helps break down societal stereotypes of Muslims.  For students that work with Muslim-Americans, it sheds light onto what stereotypes they may hold against them.  The text provides a foil for students to critically think about their actions in regard to Muslim-Americans.

            The text can be used in a variety of ways in the secondary classroom.  The most versatile way would be as a springboard for a discussion into religious stereotypes and how such stereotypes affect certain students’ lives.  After reading the book, students could share other religious stereotypes and then critically look at their actions and how they reinforce or break down the stereotypes.  A beneficial characteristic of the book is that it is not accusatory of students that hold stereotypes.  As a result, the students may be more open to sharing what stereotypes they hold or reinforce unknowingly.  The text can also be used in a world religions class or social studies class as a source for learning about Muslim culture.  One argument the author makes is that Islam is not a unified culture throughout the world.  The text can be used as a source to learn about the cultural differences between Muslim populations.

Ellis, D., & Walters, E. (2007). Bifocal. Brighton, MA: Fitzhenry & Whiteside.

            Bifocal follows the path of two protagonists, Jay, the white Christian, and Haroon, the Muslim.  The school is represented as most high schools with the student body divided into social cliques – the jocks, goths, black students, and emo students.  The text begins with a Azeem, a Muslim classmate, is arrested for being involved in a bomb plot.  As the trial progresses, the high school becomes even more divided and racially charged.  In the middle are the two narrators, Jay and Haroon, who struggle to maintain friendships and survive in the toxic environment.  During this, Haroon’s sister decides to stand up for her religion and begins wearing her hijab.  Her family insists that she keeps it off, but she finds strength and a cause in wearing it.

            This text is less relevant to an adolescent reader than others, but can still be easily identified with.  The setting is developed as a common high school.  It takes place in Canada, but American students would be able to identify with the social cliques.  Furthermore, the protagonists act as normal high school students would.  The only aspect that might alienate an adolescent reader is the trial of Azeem.  This text is ideal for the targeted audience – a mixed-religious student population – because it acts as a representation of greater society.  The student body in the book becomes divided after they find one of their peers is involved in a bomb plot.  The reactions of the fellow students would be similar to that of a community after a similar experience.  The text shows how traumatic events can polarize people and bring out religious stereotypes.  Furthermore, it shows how such stereotypes divide friend, even if the friends are the same religion.

            This text has many applications in a secondary classroom.  Being representational of greater society, it can be used to help students think about how certain media events can divide a community.  Students will be able to better understand and identify the reasoning behind the divisions in the school environment, and then apply the same understanding to the community they live in.  The text would also be a great impetus to a discussion about how religious tensions exist in society, even if we do not think they do.  It can help students identify stereotypes that create these tensions and make them critically think about how they do and would react to members of different religions.  The text can also be used in a secondary classroom to break down certain perceptions of Islam, such as women are forced against their will to wear the hijab.  It provides an alternate perspective in which women are not subservient to men, but follow Islamic customs because of their own religious fervor.

Mobin-Uddin, A. (2005). My name is bilal. Homesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, Inc.

            My Name is Bilal is a story of a male Muslim coming to terms with his religion in a non-Muslim community.  Bilal and his sister, Ayesha, moved from Chicago to a predominantly white neighborhood.  On the first day of school, Ayesha’s hijab is almost pulled off by two bullies.  Bilal, who was behind a tree at the time, is afraid and does not come to help his sister.  This begins a period of fear for Bilal, who does not want to be marginalized because of his religion.  His teacher, Mr. Ali, helps him find comfort in his religious culture.  However, the event that ends the religious tensions is when Bilal finally stands up to the bully when he returns to torment Ayesha and gains respect.

            A wide variety of students can identify with the characters in the book.  My Name is Bilal is different than the other books in that it more overtly discusses bullying.  The idea of bullying based on religion is very accessible to students through the basic themes and the narration by Bilal.  As a result, students who are bullied will connect with the characters easily whether their bullying experiences are religious based or not.  For those students who are bullies but do not self-identify themselves as such, the characters of Scott (the bully) may reflect many of the readers’ actions.  Students will be engaged because they suddenly realize their own negative actions.  This text is idea for the target audience because it deals with students roughly their age.  Furthermore, it takes place in a school setting, an environment in which the majority of bullying takes place.  Readers will find characters like themselves in a setting like their own school, and therefore find the theme of the story more accessible.

            This book can be easily placed into a high school setting for two reasons.  Firstly, the book is at a significantly easier reading level than the others.  For students with reading disabilities, or ESL students, the book will teach the same lessons as the other texts, but at an easier level.  The pictures also provide further support for struggling readers so that they can receive the same information about the effects of bullying without as many words.  The text is also great in a secondary classroom because it provides students with a different genre than they are accustomed to.  Rather than the traditional high school text, students must develop their visual literacy to best comprehend the book.

Spiegel, A. (Contributor), & Auslander, S. (Contributor) (2006). Shouting across the divide [Radio series episode]. In Spiegel, A. (Executive Producer), This American Life. Chicago: Chicago Public Media. 

            Shouting Across the Divide tells two stories of post September 11^th Muslim-American relations.  Act one of the podcast looks at the life of Muslim-Americans and the way their relationships to their neighbors and community changed.  Prior to September 11^th, Serry and her husband, Asso (unsure of spelling) lived in a suburb with their daughter Chloe and four other children.  On the first anniversary of September 11^th, the school district had teachers discuss a pamphlet that demonized Muslims.  From then on, Chloe began losing friends and being questioned about her motives and religion.  From this, Chloe decided to renounce her religion.  The December after this began, Chloe’s teacher taught the class that if a student were not Christian, they would go to hell.  Chloe became transfixed on her going to hell.  Serry, the teacher, and the principle had a meeting to discuss this.  The following day, the teacher told Chloe that she had to transfer out of the class. The students chimed in a called the girl a “loser Muslim”.  Asso became depressed and began fighting with Serry.  Chloe dropped out of school.  Finally, the Justice Department became involved and forced the school to take remedial action.  It was too late and Serry wanted to move.  Asso wanted to move to his native country of the West Bank in Palestine; Serry wanted to stay in the United States.  The disagreement leads Asso to leave the family.  Act two of the podcast follows Shalom, a freelance marketer, and his quest to make a commercial to show in the Middle East that will change America’s negative image in the Muslim world.  The marketing executives decide that they know nothing about Muslims – do they “like humor”, or “trust commercials”?  From extensive research, they find that the violence in the Middle East is because of three holy cities that the Muslims must control – one being Jerusalem.  As a result, there will never be peace.  Shalom decides that a commercial may not be the solution to century old problems.  The act ends with Shalom dropping the project because he has no idea how to talk to Muslims.

            Adolescents would be engaged in the podcast because of the applicability to their personal lives.  The medium, a podcast, is something that students would not have a lot of experience with, and therefore would be more interested in it.  The podcast also portrays a community that would not appear to be subject to racism.  Students would be engrossed in the fact that a seemingly non-issue like racism is still prevalent.  This podcast is significant to the targeted audience because it clearly shows the effects of religious intolerance.   It provides a true account of how religious stereotypes affect the lives of students.  Students will be able to see themselves reflected in the story.  Furthermore, it is significant for the target audience because it shows how religious intolerance does not just affect the students they are bullying, but also the entire family.

            This podcast can be used in so many different ways in the classroom.  The podcast can be used as an introduction or supplementary materials to a lesson on critical literacy.  Student claim that the mis-information about Muslims is “in a book, [and] must be true”.  Furthermore, a teacher dispenses all the information.  This would be a great springboard for a discussion about critical literacy and questioning the motives and arguments presented by seemingly credible sources.  The podcast can be used as a source while discussing bullying.  Chloe was called “Osama” and “loser Muslim”.  Students can use this as an impetus to discuss how name-calling is detrimental to the victim.  The podcast can be used as supplementary information in an ethical discussion of the role of religion in the classroom.  It provides a clear argument for how religion in the classroom marginalizes students.  Finally, it also provides an alternate solution to religious intolerance.  In the other books, the students find inner peace and consequently rise above the intolerance.  However, this is rather impractical for many students.  This shows that religious intolerance is illegal and shows that legal action can be taken.  The podcast can also be used in conjunction with the other texts.  For students who struggle with reading, the podcast medium provides another access point for them so that they can learn the same lessons as the rest of the students.

Barakat, I. (2007). Tasting the sky: A palestinian childhood. Harrisonburg, VA: RR Donnelley & Sons Company.

            Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood follows the true story of Ibtisam through the Seven Years War between Palestine and Israel.  The story opens with Ibtisam playing as a three and a half year old and suddenly being thrown into a conflict.  She and her family are displaced from their home and fleeing to Jordan.  During this period, she and her family are separated.  The following day they are reunited.  The family lives in Jordan with little food, work, or distraction.  During this period, Ibtisam finds a piece of chalk and becomes enchanted with letters and words, particularly Alef, the letter A.  Once the war ends, the family is allowed to move back into their home.  However, they find the house riveted with bullets and the army uses the hill the house is perched upon as a practice arena.  The family lives in constant danger.  Ibtisam’s mother decides to place her children into an orphanage.  She and her brothers beg to come home and are allowed another chance.  When a solder threatens to rape her mother in their house, the family decides to move away permanently.

            The text is engaging for young adults because it deals with a current political issue.  Students learn about the conflicts between Muslims and Israelis in the Middle East in school, yet are given a political history of the event.  People are interested in people; therefore, students would be interested in learning about the issue from the perspective of a child and how the political events affect the lives of people.  Furthermore, it deals with themes of family and coming of age, both of which directly apply to young adult readers.  This text is ideal for the targeted audience because it provides a different perspective of religious tensions.  All the texts in this text set deal with how religious tensions affect individuals, families, or at most, a local community.  This text broadens the view and shows how religious intolerance can lead to warfare and hardships for entire populations.  This text shows a possible scenario if the students do not heed the advice and messages from the other texts.

            Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood can be applied to the social studies secondary classroom or ELA classroom.  The text would be a great primary source to give to students so that they learn about an alternate perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.  Being allies with Israel, most students in the United States do not learn of the Palestinian perspective.  This text provides great visualizations of warfare during the Seven Years War, hardships with living as a refugee, and living in a militarized zone.   It can be used to critically look at the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.  The text can also be used in an ELA classroom with the other texts in this bibliography to critically look at religious intolerance and how it can affect populations.  It is also a great example of a memoir.  Paired with A Long Way Gone, students could look at similarities between memoirs, how violence affects children, or how people cope with traumatic events.

Elkeles, S. (2006). How to ruin a summer vacation. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications.

            How To Ruin a Summer Vacation is a fictional story of a teenage girl who goes to Israel.  Her father, who got her mother pregnant in college and played a small role in raising her, invited Amy to come to Israel to meet his side of the family that she did now know existed and her sick grandmother.  Amy flies over and is forced to share a room with her unwelcoming cousin in a small house.  She immediately befriends a few locals.  She also develops a relationship with a boy Avi by accidentally falling on top of him and later unknowingly undresses in front of him.  Their relationship starts of rocky and develops into a romantic adventure.  Throughout this, Amy builds a relationship with her grandmother and learns what it means to be Jewish.  She breaks down her stereotypes of Judaism and comes to love the religion.

            Adolescent readers enjoy this text because of the plot development and characterization.  While Amy is self-absorbed, the author ensures that the reader knows she is good-natured.  A wide variety of readers would be able to connect with her because she is both caddy and modest.  While I found her to be a little annoying, a variety of teenage girls would be able to find themselves reflected in the character.  The text also plays into the fantasies of teenagers because love is found in an exotic place.  There is a strong over-tone of romance.  This text is applicable for the targeted audience because Amy identifies the stereotypes that people have against the Jewish religion and then breaks them down through experiences.  The purpose of the text set is to have the targeted audience identify stereotypes and then critically think about whether they are valid or not.  This text helps students identify the stereotypes they have, and then challenges them through Amy’s experiences.  Amy is doing exactly what the readers should be doing.

            This text is less applicable to the classroom than some of the others.  Sexuality is a stronger theme in this text than in previous.  As a result, if it is to be used in the classroom, parent permission should be collected.  It can also be given to students outside of the classroom.  The reason it is included, however, is that it discusses many of the stereotypes that students may hold of Israelis, and in turn Jews, and critically looks as whether those stereotypes are valid.  While the majority of the texts look at Muslim-American relations, I felt including other religions is important.  In a discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it provides an insight into Israeli lifestyles and motivations.  The text would also be good for reluctant readers.  For those students who have trouble reading, this text is both accessible and non-academic enough that they may be motivated to read it.  This text is a slightly more education-related version of Twilight – it will engage teenage girls with school-appropriate exotic romances.

Koja, K. (2003). Buddha boy. United States of America: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.

            Buddha Boy is a story of a boy that does not fit in with the social norm and befriends a student who is striving to be invisible socially.   Jinsen is new to the school and goes around begging at lunch.  This, in combination with his oversized shirts and shaved head, make him a social outcast immediately.  Justin tries in vain to not become his friend and remain invisible to the social elite.  Justin and Jinsen are paired together for an economics project.  Justin finds that Jinsen is an amazing artist and convinces him to join his art class.  Jinsen excels in the class and does well on his project.  This opens him up for bullying; his project is destroyed and his sketch book thrown in snow.  Justin is forced to take sides and becomes friends with Jinsen.  As their friendship develops, you find that Jinsen used to be a troublemaker and fight all the time.  In a remediation school, Jinsen learns to calm down through Buddhism and art.  Jinsen makes a new banner for the school, which is ultimately destroyed by the bullies.  The novel closes with the bullies being punished and Jinsen becoming accepted.

            Adolescent readers would enjoy this text because it deals with many issues that adolescents experience.  Students who are bullied will find their experiences in the text and be more engaged to read it.  Furthermore, students who try to be the social moderates – students who try to remain invisible to the criticizing social elites – will find that the text captures their feelings and experiences.  This text is ideal for the targeted audience because it provides a different perspective of religious intolerance.  In the previous books, the experiences of bullies and the bullied are depicted.   This text deals with the on-lookers and their responsibility of non-complacency.  It provides an important moral for students.

            This text can be used in a variety of ways.  The text is not as religious-heavy as the other texts.  As a result, more discussion is necessary to extract the meaning of religious tolerance.  However, when used with the other books in the text set, it provides an important message for the majority of the student population.  Students will learn not to stand by as religious intolerance proliferates the schools; students need to stand up to bullies and show that their actions will not be tolerated.  The text would also be a good addition to a text set on bullying.  The text also challenges many conceptions of religion.  Jinsen says that all religions are the same, just with different stories and books.  This would be a great springboard for a critical discussion of the similarities and differences between religions.  Finally, it could be incorporated into a social studies classroom.  Following a lesson on characteristics of Buddhism, excerpts could be taken from the text to exemplify such characteristics.