Can Everyone Be Authentic?

I was intrigued by our discussion on cultural authenticity in class on Tuesday as it related to "The Rough Faced Girl" by Rafe Martin and illustrated by David Shannon. There seemed to be little argument that this picture book was not authentic. But then I got to thinking...could it ever be authentic if it was not written by an Algonquin author?

I'm sure this is not going to be a popular opinion, because no one likes being told what they are and are not able to do. But I think there's a lot of truth to the argument that cultural products cannot represent a culture authentically unless they are produced within that culture. Take a simple example: In Schuler's (my local bookstore of choice), there is an African-American literature section. As a white person, I will never be published in that section, even if I wrote a novel with exclusively African-American characters, themes related to the African-American experience, etc. Now, this does not mean that I cannot incorporate African-Americans or elements of the African-American experience in anything I choose to write. However, I cannot claim to speak for them or presume that I understand what it is like to be Black in America today; I don't, and I never will.

So--what do you think? If David Shannon had just done a little more research about how to depict the Algonquin people, he would have succeeded in creating a culturally authentic work? Or is it simply impossible to successfully represent a culture that you are not a part of?