@theroundtable 2020 Discussion Against Racism Ep#5

Discussions Against Racism

We’ve recorded several @theroundtable episodes that discuss racism and prejudice in general, and how to address problematic elements in classics and period books. In our 2020 Noblesville Interdisciplinary Creativity Expo(NICE) project, our literary selections are:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (originally published in 1847)

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (originally published in 1936)

Dracula by Bram Stoker (originally published in 1897)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869)

Written works, especially classics and books set in historical time periods, almost always contain problematic content: intolerance, prejudice, discrimination, and racism. This year’s four selected books all possess elements of prejudice, intolerance, and racism, as well as classism, and violence and domestic abuse. We’ve recorded nine @theroundtable episodes that specifically discuss racism and prejudice in general, and how to address problematic elements in classics and period books. Some of the questions we asked ourselves are: what’s really there, in classic literature? How do we view the book today vs when it was written/the setting? What is the value of reading books with problematic elements? For more information about our annual NICE project, go to https://cearts.org/home/nice