Dr. Michelle Liu: The Country that Fiction Built
Cynthia Sheriday/Liza Ewell November 22, 2020
Over 60 participants joined our meeting on November 16th to hear Dr. Michelle Liu, our speaker from Humanities Washington, speak about “The Country that Fiction Built.” AAUW members from Alaska, California, and Michigan were also able to join our local Washington attendees for this meeting.
Professor Liu raised the question of whether or not fiction can help us imagine building more empathy and openness towards those with different experiences from our own. She chose the examples of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, to illustrate how it was possible to change societal attitudes about slavery and violence against African Americans.
Dr. Liu encouraged audience participation. At one point, she recruited several members to read parts in a short scene from Harper Lee’s novel, creating a dramatic example of how a fictional narrative can persuade readers to see a new perspective on a controversial topic.
She also used Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory to compare how the authors presented different characters in these two novels, especially in terms of who counted as human. When personal feelings and family contact are described in the lives of African Americans, readers can gain new understanding of such characters’ personalities and importance.
The audience had many questions and comments. It was clear that they were engaged with this topic and supported the thesis that we need to balance out the study of fiction versus non-fiction in education, especially given the current focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).