Children in the Age of Multiculturalism: The Case of Brick Lane and White Teeth

Year 2023, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 1 - 25, 20.12.2023

Ahmet Kayıntu

Abstract

This article examines the question of how children reflect national and multinational identity in multicultural societies through Monica Ali's novels Brick Lane and Zadie Smith's White Teeth. In these works, the course of changes in the attitudes of children and young heroes towards themselves, their nation and others is discussed in the axis of a multicultural society. Multiculturalism, which is largely shaped by immigration, includes children in its scope, especially through encounters in educational settings. In this process, in which the school plays an extremely important role, children try to adapt to a multicultural society and overcome the problems they encounter with the choices of their parents and the opportunities offered by the educational environment. There are two main views on the education of children in multicultural societies. The first of these is that special education does not help the development of students in minority communities and their integration into the society they live in. Secondly, each of the groups is encouraged to explore the cultures of other groups individually and to gain common values based on respect and harmony. Although children seem to be free from the responsibilities of adults, they are faced with many obligations regarding both their own cultural peers and the cultural patterns of others, assuming that they are at an age and period where they can best adapt to their own cultural codes. Among them, they are expected to acknowledge differences and respect each cultural group, interact and empathize with them, work together and overcome problems on the basis of living together.

Keywords

English Literature, Multiculturalism, Brick Lane, White Teeth

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