Literature and Ethnic Discrimination

Even though universities and colleges make a concerted effort to foster unity and worldwide acceptance of different ethnicities by including politically correct literature in their curriculums, their attempts to protect students from being exposed to texts that portray discrimination and exhibit racial insensitivity are futile and ill-advised. Texts that contain biases based on otherness continue to be written and those produced in the past remain relevant and still demand the attention of an audience of reader. In order to see the full picture of the world in which they live, students must face even that which is uncomfortable and disturbing. To think otherwise is to create and academic environment that is totally idealistic and distorts the fact that ethnic discrimination has been a potent reality in every society in history and remains so today. These studies in this volume allow readers to meet writers from the traditional American and European canon while also being exposed to third world writers whose work may be unfamiliar. They include memoirs of Holocaust survivors and even record the silencing of Italian women, Apartheid in South Africa and tribal conflict in Nigeria as well as transplanted Asian culture in Canada and the idolization of the black body in Japan. The collection permits a viewing of the ethnic 'other' not merely in a politically correct way in which one samples the differences and nods approvingly. Rather its intent is to offer opportunities for contemplative assessment of authorial motives and goals, thereby engendering a wealth of understanding based on active engagement rather than passive acceptance of the status quo.