Refugees are Heroes.
So, I've been thinking about how literature might be used to help refugee children heal from the wounds of their exile. At the Center, there are many many children for whom violence has always been the norm (one child actually tried to hang another with whom he had had a disagreement because "at the Camp, that's what happened to you if you said the wrong thing."). Children who haven't had a place their whole lives that they could call safe, let alone a place they could call 'home' and who are now being thrust into American life and expected to acclimate without ever once addressing the issues and horrors of their past. They're just supposed to forget they're African (a vast majority), and learn to be American. Many of them have a lot of issues with behaviour, and some have trouble sleeping and paying attention in class because they don't feel safe, even yet.
So anyway, this is a terrible thing, and I was thinking that perhaps literature could be used to help them. Stories of people who have been in similar situations, and who have found ways to triumph in the face of that adversity. Stories of people who were hurt and scared, and now are safe and loved.
I popped "refugee literature" into the search engine, to do a precursory search for anything that may have been written about the topic. I didn't get many relevant searches (I'll probably try again when I'm not so tired), but...
I did find this link, which some of you may enjoy. It's a list of sorts-- Science Fiction Pop-Culture that stars refugees. A sort list, but a good one:
http://io9.com/391068/science-fiction-is-the-literature-of-refugees
And now, I continue to think about reading and the development of literacy...
So anyway, this is a terrible thing, and I was thinking that perhaps literature could be used to help them. Stories of people who have been in similar situations, and who have found ways to triumph in the face of that adversity. Stories of people who were hurt and scared, and now are safe and loved.
I popped "refugee literature" into the search engine, to do a precursory search for anything that may have been written about the topic. I didn't get many relevant searches (I'll probably try again when I'm not so tired), but...
I did find this link, which some of you may enjoy. It's a list of sorts-- Science Fiction Pop-Culture that stars refugees. A sort list, but a good one:
http://io9.com/391068/science-fiction-is-the-literature-of-refugees
And now, I continue to think about reading and the development of literacy...