Insider/Outsider Debate

This week we had an interesting discussion about how important it is to have Native American people writing stories and children's literature, not just people who think they know about Native Americans. When I first think about the insider/outsider debate, i immediately think that only insiders should be writing about the ethnic group that they belong to. i feel this way because then they will be giving the reader a true understanding about what it is like to be a part of that group instead of just what it seems like to be a part of that group.

It is hard to say whether a person who isn't in a specific culture should be writing about that culture. I feel like this might lead to stereotypes coming out because the person who is writing about it hasn't experienced what a person from that cutlure has experienced. I feel like the reader will get a better understanding and a truer feeling about a culture if the person who wrote it has really experienced what they are writing about.

I would never try to write a story about something that i have never experineced. I would feel fake and i would be nervous about portraying something that i have never experineced and don't know if it really is like what i am saying.

I would like to know what other people feel about this subject and i am interested to hear about this in class.

Dana