BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s L
 iterature\, and the Need for Diverse Books - Philip Nel\, Kansas State Uni
 versity
DTSTART:20170509T160000Z
DTEND:20170509T173000Z
UID:TALK71475@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lucian Stephenson
DESCRIPTION:Racism is resilient\, duplicitous\, and endlessly adaptable. S
 o\, it is no surprise that America is again in a period of civil rights ac
 tivism. A significant reason racism endures is because it is structural: i
 t's embedded in culture and in institutions. One of the places that racism
  hides—and thus perhaps the best place to oppose it—is books for young
  people. What we learn in childhood imparts both subtle and explicit lesso
 ns about whose lives matter.\n\n_Was the Cat in the Hat Black?_ presents f
 ive serious critiques of the history and current state of children's liter
 ature's tempestuous relationship with both implicit and explicit forms of 
 racism. The book fearlessly examines topics both vivid—such as _The Cat 
 in the Hat's_ roots in blackface minstrelsy—and more opaque\, like how t
 he children's book industry perpetuates structural racism via whitewashed 
 covers\, even while making modest efforts to increase diversity. Rooted in
  research yet written with a lively\, crackling touch\, Nel delves into ye
 ars of literary criticism and recent sociological data in order to show a 
 better way forward. The text concludes with a short and stark proposal of 
 actions everyone—reader\, author\, publisher\, scholar\, citizen— can 
 take to fight the racism that infects our children's books and our lives. 
 While _Was the Cat in the Hat Black?_ does not assume it has all the answe
 rs to such a deeply systemic problem\, its audacity should stimulate discu
 ssion and activism.\n\n*Philip Nel* is an American scholar of children's l
 iterature and University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas Stat
 e University. He is best known for his work on Dr Seuss and Harry Potter. 
   Nel's biography of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss was published in 201
 2 by the University Press of Mississippi. He is also the co-editor of _Key
 words for Children's Literature_. \n
LOCATION:Boulind Room 6/7\, Homerton College\, Hills Road\, Cambridge\, CB
 2 8PH
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR