April 8 - Hua Mulan vs. Disney's Mulan

I cannot argue with the claim that Disney's Mulan has been westernized. I think that the Disney version of the story is definitely geared toward its audience -- the cartoon is full of song and dance, love, challenges to the traditional gender roles, and sexist stereotypes. While in comparison to Hua Mulan, the Disney version is very westernized, I would not say that it is "too" westernized. The changes made to the story do not strip it of its rich roots in Chinese culture, and the general story is the same. I think that maybe putting Disney's Mulan in more of an inferior role to the men in the army and having her fall in love with a man in charge takes away from the message of women being strong and brave, but in American culture the struggles to remain a secret and to suppress feelings for a man is something of value.

April 18 - Emerging Scholars

I would choose The Breadwinner as your book to teach in the summer program. I really enjoyed this book, and I think that it has good relevance in this day and age when Americans have a real interest/media interaction with the Middle East. I think that teaching this book would help to inform students about some Middle Eastern culture, as well as to show them a strong and determined young protagonist in Parvana. The Breadwinner would be appropriate because it generally deals with a culture and situation that is unfamiliar to American students, and so you wouldn't be singling out any particular race (as in African Americans by teaching Copper Sun, or Mexican Americans by teaching Esperanza Rising).