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 11th, 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 11th
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 11th, 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 11th, 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.
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