scholarly journals Island Born by J. Díaz

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Robb
Keyword(s):  
Political Leader ◽  
Pulitzer Prize ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
Junot Diaz ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
The People ◽  
Bachelor Of Education ◽  
Self Discovery ◽  
American Author

Díaz, Junot. Island Born. Illustrated by Leo Espinosa, Dial Books for Young Readers, 2018. Island Born by Junot Díaz tells the story of a young girl named Lola, who learns about her heritage from her friends and family. Island Born is the first children's book by Dominican-American author and Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Díaz, with illustrations by Leo Espinosa. Díaz has said that the story was inspired by his own experience of growing up as a Dominican child in America. Díaz effectively captures both the joys and adversities of life in a diverse urban community. The book begins with a refreshing bout of diversity, “Every kid in Lola’s school was from somewhere else ... hers was the school of faraway places.” When Lola’s teacher, Miss Obi, asks her students to draw a picture of the place they are from, Lola realizes she does not have any memories of the island where she was born. Miss Obi reassures Lola that there are other ways she can remember. She suggests Lola ask her friends and family to share their memories of the island. In doing so, Lola quickly learns about her family’s past, and the joys and struggles that are familiar to immigrant families. The images in this book harmonize with the text in a playful way that fully engages the reader in the story about the island. Colombian-born illustrator Leo Espinosa’s images celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the immigrant community through the depictions of Lola’s classmates, and neighbourhood friends on her journey through self-discovery. Espinosa colourfully, and vibrantly mirrors the island Lola comes from in a lively manner. The story, however, takes a somber twist when Lola learns about the dark history of her nation. Nonetheless, the serious messages continue to be presented in a cheerful kid friendly manner due to Diaz’s choice to depict a serious political leader as a legitimate monster who terrorized the people on the island. Multicultural representation in children’s literature is vital; however, it is something that is lacking in the majority of classrooms. Classrooms are rapidly becoming more diverse, and Island Born reaches to this. Children learn powerful lessons about who is valued or devalued in society through the literature they are exposed to. When children are unable to find reflections of themselves in classroom literature, they internalize that they are not a valued member of society. However, Island Born offers a glimpse, whether it be through a mirror or a window, into the life as an immigrant student. When students are able to see something of themselves represented in classroom literature, they are able to connect back to and value their identity, culture, and experiences. Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Kristin Robb Kristin is an After-Degree student in the Bachelor of Education program at the University of Alberta. Kristin has a passion for reading, and when she is not preoccupied with her studies you can find her volunteering in elementary school classrooms.

Junot Díaz

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Quesada
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Short Story ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Pulitzer Prize ◽  
World Systems ◽  
Junot Diaz ◽  
Multiple Realities ◽  
Children's Book

The renowned Dominican American writer Junot Díaz (b. 1968) is a polymath of many talents: A winner of the Pulitzer Prize and McArthur Genius awards, a human rights activist, a journalist, an MIT Creative Writing professor, a public intellectual, and a troubadour of the African diaspora. He has risen to prominence against painstaking odds, translating his ontology into a mastery of genre and aesthetics. Díaz paints the world through a Borgesian Aleph lens: Multiple realities all at once that reach far across the globe. In other words, his writing registers both “mean streets” and academic erudition and alternates between local structures of racial inequality and world-systems theory, always infused with a healthy dose of profanity and humor. It is fair to say that the tropes of his writing extend into his activism, as Díaz has served on the steering committee for Freedom University and remains vocal against reiterations of settler colonialism. He has most famously condemned the Dominican Sentencia that strips Haitian Dominicans of their birthrights; a seething criticism that prompted the Dominican Republic to revoke his Order of Merit. As if energized by civil disobedience, Díaz channels world-systems theorists such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Aníbal Quijano, and Michel Foucault to philosophically meditate on the most urgent contemporary concerns, including climate change, the rise of white supremacy, homophobia, sexism, colonialism, neoimperialism, and even the looming specter of zombies (metaphorically or otherwise). To date, Díaz has published his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (“TBWLOW,” 2007); two highly acclaimed collections of short stories, Drown (1997) and This Is How You Lose Her (2013); and the children’s book Islandborn (2018). Top journals have published several of his short stories and essays, such as “Homecoming, with Turtle” (2004), “Wildwood” (2007), “Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal” (2011), “MFA vs POC” (2014), and “The Mongoose and the Émigré” (2017). His short-story “Monstro” (2012), a sci-fi Afrofuturist tale, is believed to constitute part of his second and developing novel. He has also been featured several times (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2013) in, and recently edited (2016), the renowned The Best American Short Stories collection as well as in a number of American literary anthologies. For instance, he has written the introduction or foreword to Beacon Best of 2001: Great Writing by Women and Men of All Colors and Cultures (2001), Latinos, Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People (2012), Dismantle: An Anthology of Writing from the VONA/ Voices Writing Workshop (2014), and Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation (2015). Most recently, Díaz added his voice to the hashtag “MeToo” Movement, publishing an essay concerning his rape as an eight-year-old boy and in the wake of the publication of his children’s book. Perplexingly, not even a month following his confessional, reports emerged accusing Díaz of sexual misconduct and bullying. The final section of this article addresses Díaz’s personal essay concerning his rape, the allegations against his personal behavior that followed, and the reports from MIT (which conducted a thorough investigation of the case) that cleared Díaz of significant wrongdoing. Although Díaz has published only three books, analysis of his corpus is quite extensive and varied. Thus, the General Overview section offers a non-exhaustive selection of some of the major scholarly contributions of his holistic work. The rest of the article also gives a non-exhaustive list of anthologies, analysis monographs, and journal articles that treat, separately, each of Díaz’s most acclaimed works. The final entries on his pedagogy, his activism, and his public persona speak to Díaz’s heterogeneous personality. This section offers insights into the many ways Díaz exists as both an author and a public figure across the globe.

scholarly journals Nala's Magical Mitsiaq by J. Noah

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
School Library ◽  
Comic Book ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
The People ◽  
Legal Term ◽  
The University

Noah, Jennifer. Nala's Magical Mitsiaq.  Iqualuit, NV:  Inhabit Media, 2013. Print.Adoption of children is common among Inuit families and "custom adoption" is a legal term for this age-old tradition which was a part of Inuit survival.  Jennifer Noah wrote this children's book so that she could read a story to which her daughter could relate.The mitsiaq is the umbilical cord.  In Nala's story, her adoptive mother dreams of Nala before she is born and dreams of "a magical mitsiaq connecting [their] hearts".  In the rest of the story, Nala's mother explains how one of her daughters grew in her belly, while the other grew in her heart and both are equally loved. The text is above the reading level of the age 5 to 8 target audience, but there is an assumption that an adult will be reading with the child.  Inuktitut words are used often in the text and appear in the glossary at the back of the book. This book presents adoption as a positive, loving traditional practice.  For a non-Inuit child trying to understand adoption, this book shows adoption as a normal part of community and family life, at least in Inuit culture.In the back of the book there are six quotations from Inuit women who have experienced custom adoption.  Some have adopted, some were adopted and some have siblings who were adopted in or adopted out.  All of their stories speak of the adoption process as an act of love both by the birth parents and the adoptive parents.The illustrations by Toronto artist, Qin Leng are comic-book like, with all objects and features outlined in black and filled with colour.  The illustrations are bright and attractive.  The people in the book appear more Asian than they do Inuit, but because of the informality of the drawings, this does not detract from the story.             This is another excellent book from Inhabit Media and should be included in public and elementary school library collectionsHighly recommended: 4 stars out of 4 Reviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

Reflecting Diversity

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
Lea Shaver
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
White People ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
The People ◽  
Upper Middle Class

This chapter describes the book Underpants Dance, which only depicts four white people out of all the thirty characters. However, the book still shows quite a significant underrepresentation of America's diversity. In this story, none of the people of color are important enough to have names. They serve only as a sprinkling of color in the background. The book's settings and events also reflect a distinctly upper-middle-class lifestyle. The chapter further explains that there is nothing wrong with any single children's book being culturally specific to a white, upper-income, American experience. The problem is that this pattern is so strong that children's literature as a whole is systematically less attractive or even alienating to children who do not fit that mold.

scholarly journals Issues of Ethnic Benefits in Ho Chi Minh

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
Assoc. Prof, Dr. Pham Ngoc Tram ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Political Leader ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Party Building ◽  
The People ◽  
State Construction ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Historical Methods

Ho Chi Minh is the eminent political leader of the nation and the Communist Party of Vietnam, one of the major politicians in the world. Ho Chi Minh's ideology on national interests is the viewpoints expressed deeply in Party building, formation and state construction of the people, by the people, for the people. From a historical point of view, the article uses historical methods and qualitative analysis to clarify the issue of national interests - Ho Chi Minh's core political ideology expressed through the work of Duong Kach Menh. The article argues that the national interest in Ho Chi Minh's thought is a creative philosophy, philosophy, thought of action, meeting the aspiration of independence and freedom of the entire nation, in accordance with the context. Specific aspects of the Vietnamese revolution and inherited and applied by the Communist Party of Vietnam in the current country development policy.

Postnational Masculinities and Globalization in Junot Díaz and Juan Francisco Ferré

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo F. Vivancos-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Narrative Strategies ◽  
Junot Diaz ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Hispanic Studies ◽  
Media Spectacle ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
American Author ◽  
Low Theory

Vivancos-Pérez’s chapter demonstrates how the postnational position is influencing discourses on gender. By comparing Dominican American author Junot Díaz’s This is How You Lose Her (2012) with Spanish writer Juan Francisco Ferré’s Providence (2009) and Karnaval (2012), he argues that both authors display a critique of masculinity as an essential component of a postnational approach to cultural exchange. While Ferré disidentifies with narrative strategies of the fiction of displacement in Hispanic literatures, Díaz’s particular “low theory” emphasizes diasporicity. At the same time, this chapter draws a useful parallel between Díaz’s and Ferré’s explorations of masculinity, which add a new dimension to the transnational turn in Latino/Hispanic studies. Both authors do not simply reject traditional hypermasculine myths but try to explore their specificity within a greater transnational/global context, either by focusing on transculturation, colonial legacies, displacement and marginalization, or by elucidating the dynamic and elusive relationships among global capitalism, identity, and media spectacle.

scholarly journals Research is a Journey of Self-Discovery

Eureka ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Madan
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Career ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Innovative Research ◽  
Self Discovery ◽  
The University

In this issue of Eureka, I am proud to share with you the exciting and innovative research projects that are being lead by undergraduate students at the University of Alberta. While I will let their work speak for themselves, I also would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the beginnings of my research career and the broad reaching effects I have found research to have.

At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré by R. Taniton & M. Willett

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Book Series ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Bear Lake ◽  
The People ◽  
The University

Taniton, Raymond and Mindy Willett.  At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré.  Markham, On:  Fifth   House, 2011.  Print. Indigenous author Raymond Taniton is a member of The Sahtugot’ine, or the “people of Great Bear Lake”.  In At the Heart of It, Taniton invites readers into his world.  We meet his family, see the Sahtu Region where he lives, meet the elders in the community, learn how to make a traditional hand drum, learn some games and read some of the stories.  The stories are particularly important. This book is the most recent in Fifth House’s “The Land is Our Story Book” series, all co-authored by writer Mindy Willett. Taniton concludes this volume by saying, “The land is our storybook. It is our school, our library, our church. It is where we learn our stories and where we discover who we are as true Dene people. The land is at the heart of it all”.  And in this book Taniton and Willett do succeed in helping us to understand “the land”. This is a picture book, an educational book and a celebration of what it means to be Satugot’ine. Tessa Macintosh’s photographs are used throughout. The top of each page has a border image of the beaded toes of twenty-one moccasins. Often a large image will form the background of a page with text and other images superimposed.  For example, for the story “The Lake is the Boss”, the background is an image which looks out through the mouth of a cave.  The story is about a giant wolf that lived in the cave. The text, along with smaller images of the island that the wolf became when he turned to stone, is superimposed on the cave photograph.  The images and text, taken together, form many lessons for young people.  The stories provide metaphorical and philosophical lessons, but the book also provides practical lessons, such as the illustrated steps to making a drum.  As a whole, the book celebrates Raymond Taniton’s family, the Sahtugot’ine people and their way of life.   Highly recommended for elementary school and public libraries. Highly Recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

Flip by M. Bedford

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Feisst
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The People ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Voice Calls ◽  
The University ◽  
Friday Night

Bedford, Martyn. Flip. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2011. Print. Martyn Bedford is a lecturer in creative writing at Leeds Trinity University College in the UK and is the award-winning author of five adult novels, including The Houdini Girl. Flip is his first foray into the genre of young adult fiction. Fourteen-year-old Alex Gray rushes home one December Friday night in an attempt to beat his curfew. Feeling a bit foggy upon waking the next morning, he realizes that not only is he in a strange bedroom but he does not recognize the clothes he is wearing. An unfamiliar voice calls for “Philip” to get ready for school, and when he descends the stairs to the breakfast table, he does not recognize the people seated, though they seem to recognize him. It’s now the middle of June. Upon looking into the mirror to wash his face, another boy stares back. Alex does not know if he has gone mad, or worse—if it is all real. Alex has no choice but to go through the day while trapped in another’s body, that of Philip Garamond. Nicknamed Flip, Philip is an athletic, sociable girl-magnet who goes to a posh school, and though he is Alex’s age, seems the complete opposite in every other way. For a while Alex even enjoys his new, fit body and the attention that comes with it. But where is Philip, and where is Alex’s body? Alex needs to figure out why his psyche has become trapped in Philip’s body and how he can get back into his own before it is too late. This is an excellent psychological thriller and not your average teen fare. The characters are realistic and the plot is action-packed, yet believable. Bedford dips into heavy topics like existentialism and concepts such as the soul and memory with adeptness. Body-swapping stories have no doubt been done before in teen fiction, but Bedford has given this tale a contemporary flair with a satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Debbie Feisst Debbie is a Public Services Librarian at the H.T. Coutts Education Library at the University of Alberta.  When not renovating, she enjoys travel, fitness and young adult fiction.

scholarly journals Tinybop. Me: A Kid’s Diary by A. Seixas

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Sivak
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
The University ◽  
Colour Hair

Seixas, Ana. Tinybop. Me: A Kid’s Diary. 2016. Apple App Store, https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1126531257?mt=8.  Ages 3-7 (depending on parent assistance)Cost: $2.99 This app allows young children to create a digital diary filled with their own writings, photos, audio recordings, and drawings. The child creates an avatar from a varied array of options for skin colour, hair colour and style, facial features, and accessories. The app then encourages the child to respond to prompts, such as, “A song about me would be titled…,” “This is an interesting fact about my family,” and, “If I were an animal, I would look like this.” Some questions require a textual response, while others ask the child to draw, record, or take a snapshot of their response to the prompt, thereby taking advantage of the affordances offered by a tablet or phone. Other activities include the option to create a family tree, to create avatars of the child’s friends, and to answer all kinds of questions about the people in the child’s life. A child can draw, record, and photograph daily activities, such as their life at school. Children can use the app to explore their own ideas, experiences, and feelings through both serious and silly questions. A Kid’s Diary takes a simple process and makes it even more accessible to quite young children. Ana Seixas’ illustrations use eye-popping colours, with good use of contrast and negative space to make clicking easy. The language of the questions is simple and displayed in a large font. Younger children should be able to use this app with the help of caregivers reading the text for the children’s answers. Caregivers should know that the company foregrounds their privacy policy on the developer site, noting that the app does not collect information about the users through the application itself. It is highly recommended as a fun way for children and their caregivers to learn more about themselves and the world they observe around them. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Allison Sivak Allison Sivak is the Public Services Librarian at the University of Alberta Libraries. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Library and Information Studies and Elementary Education, focusing on how the aesthetics of information design influence young people’s trust in the credibility of information content.

scholarly journals Ritual Adat Antar Padi: Konstruksi Teologi Kontekstual

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-87
Author(s):  
Eva Salomin Kulapupin
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Sibling Relationship ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The People ◽  
The Many ◽  
The City

From the many existing customs, one is very good and shows the sibling relationship between the immigrant community and the indigenous people of Aru. The Aru Islands have long been a place of trade because they have great natural products. Therefore, many immigrants of the Aru island to trade. It creates a sibling relationship between the two tribes. The association is framed in the Jabu-jabu bond. This Jabu relationship is established between 6 villages in the Aru Islands and one of the immigrant tribes. This bond occurs because there is a history, so they always perform traditional rituals every few years. This bond occurs when the Koba gets the Bugis and asks for rice. The Bugis people told them about the place, and during the process of taking their rice, they were helped by people from 3 villages in the Aru Islands. In the city of Dobo the immigrants (BBM and China) are more economically developed than the natives. Therefore, there is a need for a genuine understanding of how indigenous Aru people and immigrants should coexist reasonably and grow together. This research concludes that the immigrant community must respect the indigenous population and vice versa to advance the Aru Islands area. In addition to maintaining relationships with others, awareness to protect the environment is also very important. As the people of Koba and Jabu-Jabu see rice as a source of life, it must be manifested in all the universes. In this way, God can be understood as the source of universal brotherhood. And the Aru people embody it in their daily lives.

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