We are delighted to welcome Joan Haig to the
blog. Joan is the author of Tiger Skin Rug and lives in the
Scottish Borders but grew up in Zimbabwe and has lived and travelled all around
the world. Joan editing Stay at Home! a collection of poetry
and prose that provide different takes on life in lockdown and which contains
the work of 40 different contributors.
In this post Joan introduces us to Tiger
Skin Rug and the ways in which her academic researched have influenced
this.
I have just moved further into the countryside, meriting access to a mobile
library – a jolly bus filled with books. I’m looking forward to using this
service: when I lived in the city, aside from toddler read-and-sing-along
sessions and volunteering for my local school, my library usage had been utilitarian,
in support of my part-time work in academia.
A few years ago I
started writing for children. If I’m lucky, this will bring many more visits to
libraries for events and book borrowing. To be a writer, after all, you have to
read, read and read some more. While writing a novel for 8-12 year-olds, I read
stacks of kids’ books, but I also drew heavily on academic literature and my
own ethnographic research into migration and ideas of home and belonging.
Tiger Skin Rug (Cranachan Publishing) is the story of two boys who move
from India to Scotland. The values and cultural references coursing through the
book stem from many years’ worth of research in the form of archival digs, conversations,
data gathering and time spent engaging in daily lives and customs of Hindu
families in Zambia. Writing an ethnography is, by definition, ‘writing culture’
and the process demands a degree of immersion within a group, of which the
ethnographer is most likely an outsider. It also demands ‘self reflexivity’:
this is an awareness of the affect of one’s self as an outside researcher on
the situation, and a sensitivity towards all those within that situation. An
ethnographer is not objective but will seek to provide an authentic narrative.
A good ethnography will therefore never be reductive, and will embrace
complexity.
Tiger Skin Rug confronts the same big issues tackled in my research
(migration, identity, ideas of home, the intersections of privilege and
prejudice), but for a different, younger and distinctly more important,
readership. I didn’t want to shy away from tricky ideas for children, but rather
wanted to invite in lots of different ways of thinking about one thing – the meaning
of home. My interest in home, particularly relating to migration and how
children experience migration, reflects my own life experiences. It also
reflects my deep concern that people in all manner of contexts continue to
exclude others based on ideas and perceptions of place, authenticity and
belonging – ideas and perceptions that often confuse or conflate ethnicity and
nationality, race and class.
My current academic remit strongly resists attitudes that hinder cultural
exchange and understanding. I am part of a global study abroad college where I sit
on a working group for the college JEDI team. JEDI here stands for Justice,
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The ‘Empire’ we are fighting is not, however,
in a galaxy far, far away: we are plotting to decolonise the curriculum and revamp
training to ensure fairness and representation for all. My next book is a
nonfiction title coauthored with Joan Lennon. Talking History: 150 Years of
Speeches (Templar Publishing, out July 2021) offers children a range
of voices and political stories from around the world.
Writing for children, in turn, has influenced the way I think about my academic
work. It has opened up teaching possibilities and allowed me to make new
literary and theoretical connections. Supporting students’ learning and
independent research projects often involves directing them to relevant books
and articles. Increasingly, I find myself recommending fiction, too – which provides
me with the perfect excuse to visit that mobile library.
A big thank you to Joan Haig for a fascinating blog and to Cranachan Publishing for the opportunity.