Did you personally find anything inaccurate in the portrayal of culture and race?

Use this forum to discuss the September 2020 Book of the month, " "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.
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Re: Did you personally find anything inaccurate in the portrayal of culture and race?

Post by Raluca_Mihaila »

I think the author try to emphasis the emotions and the change in relationships that occurs as a result of racism and discrimination. She didn't want to put the focus on racism. So I don't think this means that the books lacks research, just a different approach. A positive and optimistic one, in my opinion.
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Post by Vivian Jabeya »

I didn't find anything inaccurate in the portrayal of culture or race. The author did a good job by depicting facts as they are. She touched on arranged marriages and racism which happen during this era.
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Post by smolbird »

At Maureen's birthday party, I found it odd that she was hyperfocused on the Irish theme. She was even disappointed that the food wasn't Irish but Italian. I thought it was weird because we don't even really see anything in the book about her love for Irish things prior to that. Personally, if I were thrown a birthday party where the decorations are flags of my country and the theme revolved around my country, I would find it weird.
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Post by car-mbz »

I think the author tried to potray culture diversities and racism as best as she can, but I think she should have talked about how the society perceives Kalayla as a biracial child.
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Post by Rwill0988 »

Think there are issues when writing about a culture you haven't experienced or researched well. Lena feeling she needed to look after Kalayla could come from the same place as she wanted to help Maureen but at times it felt like the white saviour complex. Also, felt odd that Kalayla seemed to dislike, or be stand-offish with, everyone but was willing to consistently forgive or open up to the white side of her family.
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Post by 19blueofficial »

pshaw1414 wrote: 05 Oct 2020, 21:14
Nicholas Christian wrote: 03 Oct 2020, 12:46 The author didn't accurately depict the social stigma faced by children of biracial origins. Society usually treats such children like pariahs and ostracises them, and I have seen no mention of that in the narrative.
I disagree. I feel like Maureen's family disowning her for being with a black man and having nothing to do with her child is enough cruelty for one little girl. She didn't have friends, apart from Lena and Lotta and Kieran. Does she have to face racism everywhere she goes for the story to be credible?
Yeah I agree, Kalayla's a tough girl so no one would easily mess with her. She wouldn't end up like her uncle, Clarence. I think the one for Kalayla is okay, besides, I don't really know much about other aspects like Irish culture for instance.
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Post by Rizki Pradana »

I think considering the story was heartwarming, the authors already did good research about it. Even if Kalayla was a biracial child. It will be okay right now where there is not much racism against black people unlike in the past.
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Post by Chinazo Anozie »

Jlreel wrote: 26 Sep 2020, 09:06 Curious! I have often found some authors don't do enough research on the culture they are trying to present. This is question is especially pointed at if you are from said culture in the book.
I actually didn't find any inaccuracies. I'm black and I do think the author accurately portrayed that in her book really well. She obviously did her research because I was really impressed.
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Post by Manas Ranjan Mishra »

I think the image portrayed by Maureen's Irish family is partially relatable. People nowadays are more considerate about race and colour. But since we are talking about 1999-2000, then it can be the case.
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Post by jimmy02 »

The author's portrayal of racism through Maureen's parents was smack on! I could find many of race related observations to have parallels in the recent George Floyd's killing and the BLM Movement.
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Post by Samuel Mamo »

I do not belong to the mentioned culture, but I do not think the book is not written by such an author.
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Post by Meenahhhh »

No I don’t. I think the author did a pretty good job as far as the cultural representation aspect of the book goes. The book was obviously very well researched.
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Post by fire_spice »

glubglub200 wrote: 04 Oct 2020, 02:44 I think the author did what they thought was good enough but I do think that there should have been a bit more research involved to show the full portrayal of race and culture in that time. More research is always better than just enough research.
That's true. Maybe for the purpose of creating a truly authentic setting for the story and educating readers. But I don't think this was very significant. We did get a feel of the racial tension and it created a good foundation for the story. Whether the detail about the challenges faced by biracial children was added or not, I don't think it affects the story.
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Post by Shillah Andeso »

I think the portrayal of culture and race by Jeannie Nicholas in the book is accurate. The research she carried out about the book is enough. The way she compared Maureen's family and her husband's family was satisfying.
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Post by Moneybag »

I did not observe any inaccuracy as the author tried to portray the culture and race in this book. I think the author wrote from what she knows so far about the culture and race contained in this book.
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