Importance of Multicultural Literature for Young Thai Readers
Keywords:
Multicultural literature, Children’s and young adult literature, Cultural groups, DiversityAbstract
This article aims to introduce multicultural literature as a genre of literature that tells the stories of culturally diverse groups that are dominated by more dominant groups (like people of color in the context of the White majority in the United States of America), in terms of its definition and historical background in order to emphasize its crucial role in empowering young readers to better understand and embrace the diversity in their societies. Books that depict culturally diverse groups in Thailand can be used as critical tools to help Thai youths better understand their culturally different compatriots. At the same time, these tools allow youngsters from specific cultural groups to see themselves in the books they read. Unfortunately, there are only a small number of books that can be referred to as multicultural literature when compared to the culturally diverse groups in the country. Moreover, among this small number of books, few of them empower young people and have them critically engage in social change. This article also calls attention to all the people who are involved in publishing books for young people and have them pay more attention to the production of high-value multicultural literature so that more tools to empower our children and youths to take action for social justice are available.
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