Abstract
This article aims to show how selected young adult novels may be potentially powerful locations for creating an awareness and better understanding of Muslims, Islam, and veiling practices in particular. Critical literacy as a methodology will be employed to demonstrate how learners may be guided towards critically engaging with texts. This is essential as mere surface knowledge is not enough when learners are confronted with complex issues, such as race, spirituality and culture. Western TV, newspapers, and magazines are responsible for painting a very monolithic image of Muslims as a seamless homogeneous group. Many young adults are actively engaging in conversations on digital media, such as Twitter and Facebook, where issues of culture and diversity are commented on regularly. Westerners may form very negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims when inundated with a deluge of images of atrocities performed by extremist groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The consequence is that all Muslims are stereotyped as being fundamentalists, terrorists and oppressing their women. Thus knowledge construction is manipulated by Western media. An understanding of the reasons for donning a piece of cloth – the headscarf – may serve as a starting point in changing perceptions about Muslims and their diverse practices. Educators should be wary of only advocating tolerance among different cultural groups, as tolerance implies a mere managing of one’s feelings of aversion for that which is to be tolerated. Critical literacy questions on texts, such as The breadwinner trilogy by Deborah Ellis and The girl in the tangerine scarf by Mohja Kahf, are discussed as examples for use in classrooms. These texts are very different in their portrayals of Muslim girls/women and may be read comparatively. The complexity of the encounter between Western secularism and Islamic spirituality emerges either subtly or explicitly in the novels discussed.
Highlights
The young adult novels that will be discussed in this article focus on female characters, women and girls, their search for identity and their struggles to survive materially as well as psychologically
I argue that such young adult literature, which deals with aspects of Islamic culture, may be instrumental in helping readers gain a better understanding of Muslims and Islam, and the treatment of Muslim women
Teenagers worldwide are bombarded by images in the media – authentic images – which may lead to stereotyping and general feelings of derision towards and fear of Muslims and Islam and the followers of this faith
Summary
The young adult novels that will be discussed in this article focus on female characters, women and girls, their search for identity and their struggles to survive materially as well as psychologically. Teenagers worldwide are bombarded by images in the media – authentic images – which may lead to stereotyping and general feelings of derision towards and fear of Muslims and Islam and the followers of this faith. These negative perceptions need to be discussed more regularly, as aspects, such as bigotry, faith or spirituality, freedom of speech, racial hatred, and violence against minority groups or people with different ideologies concern the global community. A critical literacy approach may be useful in guiding learners to look at knowledge construction critically It is an instructional approach, in which learners are encouraged to read and critique texts and to question varying beliefs, values and attitudes prevalent in these texts. How to employ critical literacy will be discussed in more detail in the ‘Critical Pedagogy’ section below
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