I agree with your statement wholeheartedly. It’s very difficult to help people learn about other cultures without saying something offensive (inadvertently) out of ignorance. I see this all the time when nonnative people in the U.S. talk or write about or otherwise depict Native Americans. It’s so frustrating, and the Native American case is one reason why you’ll never see me advocating “trying on” the practices of another culture beyond learning languages, songs, etc. It’s too easy to cross the line–again using the Native American case as an example–from learning about the practices of another culture to embracing a fake, offensive, New Age version that claims to be authentic yet is anything but.

If you see places where this site could do a better job of avoiding stereotypes, please let me know! I don’t claim to be an expert to any culture (even my own), but I do want to help people broaden their children’s understanding of people whose experiences differ from their own. There’s no one-size-fits-all way to do that, so I’m exploring the possibilities. . .

I just found you, so I haven’t looked hard, but I don’t see a tag for books or music… do you not blog those, or do you know someone who does?