Re:Why is my curriculum white, male and straight and how do ...
by coldtea on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @06:44AM
(#30840924)
>Even if they're only teaching literature written in English by native speakers, they would still have a wide variety of female, non-straight, and non-white people to choose from.
Not historically though. As they go back, most authors in English by native speakers were white and male (if not for anything else, by virtue of British and American society being majority white in those centuries, and especially the elites, universities, etc., where most of the production comes from). The big non-white immigration in the US came from the mid-late 19th century and on (and even this includes millions of Italians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Polish, Irish etc, originally also considered "non white").
And if they restrict to the latest 4-5 decades, while there's more diversity, quality wise they have not been exactly the best for literature (for reasons unrelated to the increased diversity - everybody, including white male production have arguably not been at any historical best).
Not historically though. As they go back, most authors in English by native speakers were white and male (if not for anything else, by virtue of British and American society being majority white in those centuries, and especially the elites, universities, etc., where most of the production comes from). The big non-white immigration in the US came from the mid-late 19th century and on (and even this includes millions of Italians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Polish, Irish etc, originally also considered "non white").
And if they restrict to the latest 4-5 decades, while there's more diversity, quality wise they have not been exactly the best for literature (for reasons unrelated to the increased diversity - everybody, including white male production have arguably not been at any historical best).