Whiteness and the Selective Tradition in The Velveteen Rabbit
Title and/or Affiliation
Professor, Old Dominion University
Presenter Bio
KaaVonia Hinton is a professor in the Teaching & Learning Department at Old Dominion University and the author of articles and books, including Angela Johnson: Poetic Prose (2006), Sharon M. Draper: Embracing Literacy (2009), and Young Adult Literature: Exploration, Evaluation and Appreciation, 3rd ed. (with Katherine T. Bucher, 2013). She is also the co-editor, with Lucy E. Bailey, of the book series, Research in Life Writing and Education (Information Age Publishing).
Session
Panel: Reading Classics through Other Eyes
Location
Zoom
Start Date
8-7-2022 2:45 PM
End Date
8-7-2022 4:00 PM
Abstract
Over 100 years ago, The Brownies’ Book, the first magazine for Black children, was created to oppose the selective tradition of children’s literature, a tradition designed to portray the images, values, and beliefs of Whites, including “racial intolerance, institutionalized discrimination, and social inequity” (Harris 192). In The Velveteen Rabbit, Williams appears to write a largely colorblind or neutral story in which she avoids explicitly attaching racial identity to characters. Yet, colorblindness is rooted in whiteness, particularly White ideas of what is natural, normal, and acceptable. Although whiteness is situated as an implied, subtle norm, White racial identity, and how it intersects with gender and class, is actually prominent throughout the storybook, especially in the representation of the pretty, powerful fairy. Hinton reveals articulations of whiteness in The Velveteen Rabbit that maintain the selective tradition The Brownies’ Book sought to challenge.
Whiteness and the Selective Tradition in The Velveteen Rabbit
Zoom
Over 100 years ago, The Brownies’ Book, the first magazine for Black children, was created to oppose the selective tradition of children’s literature, a tradition designed to portray the images, values, and beliefs of Whites, including “racial intolerance, institutionalized discrimination, and social inequity” (Harris 192). In The Velveteen Rabbit, Williams appears to write a largely colorblind or neutral story in which she avoids explicitly attaching racial identity to characters. Yet, colorblindness is rooted in whiteness, particularly White ideas of what is natural, normal, and acceptable. Although whiteness is situated as an implied, subtle norm, White racial identity, and how it intersects with gender and class, is actually prominent throughout the storybook, especially in the representation of the pretty, powerful fairy. Hinton reveals articulations of whiteness in The Velveteen Rabbit that maintain the selective tradition The Brownies’ Book sought to challenge.
Comments
Moderated by Lisa Rowe Fraustino