1. Multicultural Literature in Indonesian Children’s Books
Herdiana Hakim

2. Multicultural Children’s Literature?

3. My Sources…

4. My Sources… Botelho, Maria José, and Masha Kabakow Rudman.
Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children’s Literature. New York: Routledge, 2009.
 Botelho & Rudman, 2009
Cai, Mingshui. Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults: Reflections on Critical Issues. USA: Greenwood Press, 2002.
 Cai, 2002
Yokota, Junko. Issues in Selecting Multicultural Children’s Literature Language Arts, Vol. 70.
 Yokota, 1993

5. What Is Multicultural Literature?
“Literature that represents any distinct cultural group through accurate portrayal and rich details…..
Books representing cultures other than mainstream cultures.” (Yokota, 1993)
“The rise of multicultural literature is a political, rather than a literary, movement. It is a movement to claim space in literature and in education for the historically marginalized social groups.” (Cai, 2002)
Because it depicts the underrepresented culture, multicultural literature serves a pedagogical function rather than literary one. (Cai, 2002)

6. Why is multicultural children’s literature important?
In the context of today, our society is becoming more diverse. Children will encounter diversity in schools and they need to know how to act.
“Books are one way they [children] learn about the world. Children need to see themselves reflected so as to affirm who they and their communities are.” (Botelho & Rudman, 2009)
“It offers a window into society and creates a space where children can meet people across lines of social differences, providing vantage points from which readers can view multiple lives.” (Botelho & Rudman, 2009)
“The goal of multicultural literature movement is to give voice to those who have been historically silenced, to represent those who have been underrepresented, to give true faces back to those whose images have been distorted.” (Cai, 2002)

7. What are the benefits?
“Multicultural literature provides vicarious experiences from cultures other than their own; and these experiences help them understand different backgrounds, thereby influencing their decisions about how they will live in this culturally pluralistic world.” (Yokota, 1993)
According to Botelho & Rudman (2009), multicultural literature…
… validates the lived experiences of children
… recognizes social differences
… contributes to empathy development in children
… develops respect and understanding between and among cultures.
“Multicultural literature can perform two functions: to inform and to empower. Acquiring knowledge of information about other cultures is an important step toward overcoming ignorance and prejudice.” (Cai, 2002)

8. Now, to achieve those benefits, of course the multicultural children’s literature must be of good quality.
What makes a good multicultural literature?
Two criteria:
culturally accurate + good literature

9. Culturally Accurate
It has cultural accuracy, which means that “issues are represented in ways that reflect the values and beliefs of the culture.” (Yokota, 1993)
“Without cultural accuracy, a book cannot be considered a quality piece of multicultural literature.” (Yokota, 1993)
Cultural accuracy also includes richness of cultural details: “Readers gain a sense of the culture they are reading about. Details can be a natural part of the story, giving insight into the nuance of daily life, rather than appearing as though the purpose of the book is to explain cultural details.”
(Yokota, 1993)

10. Culturally Accurate
If Yokota mentions “cultural accuracy” as main criteria for a good multicultural children’s literature, then Cai mentions similar term: “cultural correctness”.
“Authors who create multicultural literature for children and young adults... have the social responsibility to ensure their works are culturally correct.” (Cai, 2002)
“If a piece of multicultural literature has the potential of producing positive effect in readers, we may say it is culturally correct.” (Cai, 2002)
“Unfortunately, some authors and artists from the mainstream culture are doing disservice to the movement by turning out books that perpetuate stereotypes or present inaccurate cultural information.” (Cai, 2002)

11. Sim Bishop (1994) in Cai (2002) presents criteria for evaluating
multicultural literature:
The book should contribute in a positive way to an understanding & appreciation of persons of color and their cultures, or
The book should offer a positive vision of a diverse society and a multicultural world.
The key word: positive. Positive effect, not positive presentation.
“Multicultural literature should foster a positive attitude toward other cultures and toward cultural diversity, but it does not mean it always present minority characters as strong characters or role models.” (Cai, 2002)
“There are many award-winning multicultural books that do not shy away from portraying negative experiences and images but still contribute to a positive understanding and appreciation of other cultures.” (Cai, 2002)

12. Good Literature
Multicultural literature must also fulfill the criteria for a good literature.
“The literary elements of plot, characterization, setting, theme, and style should be well developed.” (Yokota, 1993)
Cai agrees: “While I argue that cultural correctness is the basic criterion, I do not endorse mediocre literature. Sometimes we may be willing to accept mediocre works simply because they are multicultural. Mediocre literature cannot give children an engaging aesthetic experience; neither can it move their hearts or enlighten their heads. A mediocre work, even if it is culturally correct, may not be very useful.” (Cai, 2002)

13. Multiculturalism in Indonesia
255 million people
33 Provinces
300 ethnic groups
700 native languages

14. Multiculturalism in Indonesia

15. Multiculturalism in Indonesia

16. Multicultural Children’s Books in Indonesia

17. Renny Yaniar Has written over 100 children’s books.
Most talk about universal Moslem values, like honesty, obedience, and love.
Renny writes about friendship between Moslem children and non-Moslem. Rare, because Moslem children’s books in Indonesia usually talk about the “teachings” of the religion, not how to interact with people of different faiths.

18. RENNY YANIAR

19. Litara Foundation
Litara is an independent publishing that publish picture books. One book specifically teaches about the beauty of multiculturalism in Indonesia: Cap Go Meh.
Lili, a Moslem girl, and Nisa, a Chinese- Indonesian girl, both love to eat ketupat or rice cake, which apparently an important meal in their cultures.

20. The story shows “similar cross-cultural experiences, portraying universality as a human condition.”

21. Recently, there are some promising children’s books about multiculturalism in Indonesia…
These two books consists of anthology of short stories about the many ethnicities in Indonesia.

22. While some stories focuses on introducing the culture of each ethnicity, some show the seeds of multiculturalism.
Belajar Tari Putri
Bekhusek (Learning
How to Dance the
Putri Bekhusek).
Ningsih, a Javanese
girl who moves to
Bangka Belitung and
falls in love with its
culture, especially
the dance, that she
wants so much to
learn it.
And she made it!

23. Wampasi & Lumba-lumba yang Terluka (Wampasi & the Wounded Dolphin)

24. Wampasi is a Papuan boy lives in Biak
Wampasi is a Papuan boy lives in Biak. He is smart (contrary to stereotype about Papuan children). One day, he meets Nemo, a wounded dolphin on a tiny island.
Since meeting Nemo, Wampasi neglects his studies and his grades get bad. His grandfather falls ill and Wampasi has to move to the city. Nemo disappears.

25. In the city, Wampasi befriends new kids and learns about computer and internet. On holiday, he goes back to his village and swims in the sea, meeting dangers like bad fishermen and sharks.
Luckily, Nemo saves him. Wampasi determines to study hard at school so that he can become a biologist who preserve the nature.

26. Wampasi & the Wounded Dolphin
This book is a good example of a multicultural children’s literature.
First, it meets the two criteria of a good multicultural
children’s literature:
cultural accuracy + good literary elements.
Moreover, as Cai (2002) mentions, it leaves readers with
positive effect. Even though Wampasi, the main character,
does not always make the right decisions, but he learns from
his mistakes.
More books like this in the future, please!

27. Thank you!
Herdiana Hakim