Books on Both Ends

Today I picked up several more books from the US Social Forum:

Beyond Hereos and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development - The introduction states that multicultural education “must be transformative; that is, encourage academic excellence that embraces critical skills for progressive social change.” This book is inspired by the work of Paulo Freire, who I’m interested in right now.
Winona LaDuke’s All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, an “in-depth account of Native resistance to environmental and cultural degradation.” One of the quiz questions during the AR/AO game show at General Assembly was about the average lifespan of Native Americans in the US. It’s 20 years lower than that of the national average - and only 46 years old for Native people living on reservations (and this is an improvement over a decade ago). I have a lot to learn about why this is happening, which is why I grabbed this book.
Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption - a collection of writings (poetry, essays, etc.) by transracially adopted folks that examine the personal, cultural and economic consequences of this growing phenomenon. The DH and I are strongly considering adoption, and although we’d probably adopt a US American kid, we’ll still be a multiracial family. I want to know more about this issue from the perspective of adoptees.
The last book I picked up was Murray Bookchin’s The Ecology of Freedom: The emergence and dissolution of hierarchy. This book is dense and academic, and I’ve already read the introduction twice. It will be a while before I can finish it, but this book neither romanticizes nor dismisses the way prehistorical folks managed their resources. I’m very interested in what Bookchin has to say about how “hierarchy is dissolved and human beings develop more sane, sustainable and egalitarian social structures.” And supposedly, Bookchin was very radical - not just a reformist.

Meanwhile, the DH is at home reading two Pat Buchanan texts: The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasians Imperil Our Country and Civilization and State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America. When I get back, we’ll share what we’ve been reading. Both of us are slow readers, and as they say, two heads are better than one!

Comments

2 Responses to “Books on Both Ends”

Stephen on June 30th, 2007 8:25 pm

You’ve been tagged! Check my blog for details.
mike (du) on June 30th, 2007 10:21 pm

I feel the need to defend myself :). Pat Buchanan does not in any way reflect my political views. I find it boring not very enlightening to read people I agree with.

To compensate I am also reading a couple of books on charles pierce