RaceFail 09
I have been following this for some time but rarely commenting. However I do not want my silence to be taken for apathy or assent, particularly not assent with this piece of condescending fuckwittery (a more elegant response to that here, also here, here, here and hereIf you don't know what I'm talking about (srsly?), various timelines & summaries
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This entire debate is interesting to me, in a "I want to stay away from this" thing. Don't get me wrong, being genetically biracial and considering myself culturally Japanese-American while generally being taken as white by society means I have a few opinions. But dear god, what a mess.
The thing is, I think the greatest damage is done by the parties who insist that there is no problem and people should lighten up on either side of the argument. If you want to piss someone off, tell them their opinion and own life experiences don't matter, or even flat-out wrong. A non-racial parallel would be to have someone tell you that clearly you can't be very smart if you didn't attend or finish college, HS, what have you. (As a cum laude graduate I feel I have some standing when I say assumption is complete BS.) And whites aren't the only ones guilty of this kind of behavior -- all those who rant about straight/white/male privalege to an abusive degree should bear in mind the stress that this sort of reactionary stuff can create for that group as well. White liberal guilt as a phrase exists for a reason. While the term "oppression" doesn't fit when applied to the group nominally in power, it's not as if they're getting away totally free and clear either.
(Yes, I sympathized with whitey. What can I say, my father is a White.)
The best advice was given by I think Elizabeth Bear. First, do not be lazy and just slap a different name on an obviously existing culture. Second, if you're going to do that, do your research. And third, and most importantly, stop thinking of The Other as "The Other". That has to be the single biggest perpetuation of stereotypes in media. By thinking so hard about what a character is, the writers all too often forget to consider the who -- a lot like some people on either side of the argument.
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it actually did *not* explode out of the white-washing of the live action Avatar movie. That actually is a completely separate issue that fandom communities have also been dealing with. While our awareness of both issues happening at once has certainly contributed to the discussion, I do not know of any instance where those discussions have overlapped.
The issue actually began because of the advice you mention by matociquala, who unfortunately throughout this debate has not proved as willing to extend her advice about accepting the "other" to the role of accepting critique about how well she had practiced multiculturalism and non-appropriative techniques in her own writing. This began a debate that spawned outward from her journal and Seeking Avalon's (whose timeline that Poi linked to is essential reading if you want to get a good overview of the debate and subsequent upheavals/flounces/violations of privacy).
A larger debate about cultural appropriation has been ongoing and at intervals very heated (though never like this) throughout the sci-fi community, as evidenced by the WisCon panels on the subject for 2 of the last 3 years, and Bear's wry reference to the continuing WisCon debates during the post in which she asked everyone to just "let it drop." The most succinct response to that coming from bossymarmelade - "I would never dream of telling anybody to "let it drop" when what "it" is ... is themselves."
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I wasn't aware of the SF/F debate, not being hugely involved in a focused fandom, but yeah -- thinking about many of the books I've read, I can't say I'm surprised to learn it's an issue (though oddly, no one seems to mind the cultural appropriation in Avatar -- perhaps because the Asian elements were not only generally well-researched, but essentially made Asian/Inuit groups the protagonists rather than the Exotically Foreign Adversary).
I did skim the list a bit, though it was tough to puzzle out without foundation -- I've never read Bear's work, so I haven't an opinion on her failure or success, but in general terms I have to say that if a member of the group you're purporting to be representing points out errors in your approach you should probably suck it up and listen. Criticism about something you're proud of is a bit hard to take, but you know, if it's actually going to benefit what you're going for . . . ah well.
I'm pretty sure that at least one poster pointed out that you're never going to be 100% right in a depiction of another culture (although frankly the odds of you being 100% right about your own isn't exactly assured either), which is true. One of the things that makes racial politics so volatile is the fact that even among various minorities there are different flavors of oppression, so one groups' experience isn't necessarily going to convey to another's. If you want to tackle the issue, your only hope is probably to be sensitive and willing to take criticism. And, possibly, invest in a flak suit.
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Not that Bear is even the point anymore, despite what she seems to think, but no-one needed a flak jacket for making a *mistake*, is what I'm saying. No-one attacked Bear or anyone else for trying but not quite getting it 100% right. It took a lot of people working very, very hard to cling to their racism to get this thing where it is now.
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Well, the debate proved a kind of equality . . . If nothing else, we've got a good demonstration that anyone, regardless of race, sex, religion, finances and fandom, is capable of sticking their foot so far up their mouth they can kick themselves in the tonsils.
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This I'm interested in seeing. Which link above goes to this part?
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