The sociology of bookshelves

Jun 08, 2005 01:43

A concept I find rather troublesome at the bookstore where I work is that of the African-American lit section ( Read more... )

work, observations, books, world

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Comments 13

enter Cynical Matt... foss4us June 8 2005, 00:55:33 UTC
Another symptom of our "label everybody" society. Everyone needs to belong to a category. It keeps people from broadening their horizons too much, by making them feel uncomfortable when they step into territory reserved for a category they don't belong to.

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Re: enter Cynical Matt... waiting4beckett June 8 2005, 01:02:38 UTC
Yeah, I guess that's what I'm getting at.

Funny how observing the points upon which society needs to improve itself tend to be called "cynicism." :-p

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*Ahem.* waiting4beckett June 8 2005, 01:19:39 UTC
And change that "tend" to a "tends," if you please.

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Re: *Ahem.* foss4us June 8 2005, 01:23:43 UTC
Never gave me a chance to make fun of you...

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Wow. tailskid June 8 2005, 05:31:47 UTC
Great post.

And this would make a FABULOUS column, if you wanted it to be.

Jason, who has, sadly, never shopped in the African-American Lit section

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Re: Wow. waiting4beckett June 8 2005, 10:56:49 UTC
Hmm...

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Re: Wow. mooinabox June 8 2005, 19:54:49 UTC
I was thinking the exact same thing.

Dooo iiit.

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whitewhalewhat June 8 2005, 06:39:09 UTC
Do I smell a Jane Eyre comment in there ;-)

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waiting4beckett June 8 2005, 10:57:08 UTC
Hehe. :-)

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optimussven June 8 2005, 06:55:55 UTC
I've never liked the whole African-American lit section, mainly because I don't like the idea of labeling anyway. It just seems to divide society more.

The sad thing is that African-American lit is underappreciated by non-African-Americans and I don't think that sticking it in it's own section helps promote for the reasons you stated above (White people feel strange going in there). But I don't really know how else to do it. Special tables during black history month are a good start, but more needs to be done throughout the year. It's way too complicated question.

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waiting4beckett June 8 2005, 11:02:46 UTC
That's a good idea.

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