A look into the controversy that followed the release of Jeanine Cummins’s novel about a Mexican immigrant family.
The idea of stealing culture is an issue we grapple with quite frequently nowadays. We are often policing ourselves in cultural appropriation from style of dress, the way we speak, and to some extent the way we present ourselves on social media. Yet, rarely do we stop to consider that even some stories, whether they come in the form of a news story, a think-piece, or a best selling novel, may be guilty of appropriation as well. After the release of her recent novel American Dirt, author Jeanine Cummins has had to cancel her book tour due to immense backlash. The backlash stems from claims that the novel is “appropriative”, as it revolves around the story of a Mexican immigrant woman and her son’s struggle to cross the border, yet the novel was written by a white woman, with no personal connection or knowledge on the subject matter. The central debate around the book is boiled down to one question: who has the right to tell what story?
Cummins’s “research” was conducted over the course of five years and included going to the border, visiting Mexico, visiting orphanages, and volunteering at soup kitchens. Yet, the premise of a mother and her son fleeing to the border, after witnessing the murder of their family at the hands of a drug cartel seems a bit like the stereotypical Mexican immigrant plight one that news stories perpetuate. This was not an authentic struggle, at least not one that anyone close to the subject matter could attest to.
Even the cover art for American Dirt, which features barbed wire and traditional Mexican painting style on ceramic tile, was marketed as a “pretty” cover by Cummins as she showcased her barbed wire manicure in a tweet. Barbed wire, associated with the Mexican border wall, can actually represent so much hardship and trauma to those immigrants that have come face to face with it. The publisher, Flatiron Books, released a statement from president Bob Miller on Jan. 29 cancelling the rest of the book tour, alluding to “specific threats made to the bookseller and author.” They also apologized for their use of barbed-wire center-pieces at a bookseller dinner, and claiming that Cummins’s husband was an undocumented immigrant, without disclosing that he was from Ireland. This apology led to an outpour of criticism from the Latinx community, who felt the publisher only made the statement on the basis of their “safety concerns” and not their actual remorse for marketing an inappropriate narrative.
The major controversy all started when Oprah Winfrey added American Dirt to her book club, and added an endorsement to her Twitter account on Jan. 21. Almost immediately, members of the Latinx community heavily criticized the endorsement, calling Cummins’s portrayal of an immigrant Mexican woman “brownface”. Five days after her Twitter endorsement, Oprah posted a second two-minute video, in response to the “passionate opinions” she faced with her original praise of the novel. The Apple TV event she originally announced for this upcoming March to join in conversation with Cummins would proceed as planned, yet she hopes to “bring people together from all sides to talk about this book, and who gets to publish what stories.”
The criticism of the novel has continued to lead a conversation in writing outside of one’s identity. Should it be allowed? To what extent is writing from a perspective that is not your own a form of appropriation? But perhaps the main concern with American Dirt is not that it is a story about a fictionalized Mexican woman written by a white woman. Perhaps the problem is the steps that Jeanine Cummins and Flatiron books have taken along the way of its release: a “ripped from the headlines” narrative, downplaying symbols of hardship in Mexican immigrant life, claiming ethnic identities that are not their own, and cancelling the book tour not to rectify their mistakes, but because of the villainization of members of the Latinx community and their supporters, buying into the exact narrative of a white woman being victimized by a community of color. The irony is unmissable.
