"Loving my current book - My Garden (Book) by Jamaica Kincaid! It's a
fascinating and nuanced reflection by this well-known author on her garden and
many related subjects.
HOWEVER... despite bearing a Dewey number 635 on its
spine (being a gardening book, hence the title), and despite my frequent
haunting of our library's gardening section (Dewey number 635) I would never
have found this book if it hadn't been sitting on a cart. Why?
Because the author is black - so it's shelved in the Black and Caribbean
Heritage section. Not only does this totally defeat the purpose of the
Dewey classification, but seems to reflect the worst kind of paternalism (ie
"black people need their own section of the library to feel confident and
proud").
I feel betrayed by the discovery that I may not find excellent books
by black authors in the "regular" sections of the library. What if I'm
looking for a book of guidance on a medical topic, but some authors happen to be
black? Where would those books be shelved? What about
Communications, Cultural Studies, Meteorology? Are all black authors
relegated to the BCH section, regardless of their subject matter?
I understand the rationale behind the special heritage collections. Yet,
despite the Jewish Mosaic collection, for example, there are many fine books by
Jewish authors throughout the library. I'm not sure what the criteria are
for "ghetto-izing" certain books by black authors, but in some cases - as with
this particular book - that policy should probably be re-examined.
I'd be interested in understanding this policy, and the decision to shelve this book in
the BCH section, a little further. Thank you!"
Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page. As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi! If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You, here’s a
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