Racism and the sff scene

[alias_sqbr]

So, it's International blog about racism week.

I've never gotten around to joining in before (though I have posted about
racism at odd intervals) but as it happens have been heading towards
posting about this sort of stuff for a while.

So, two small and hopefully uncontroversial questions to start with:

Question 1: There's a lot of interesting science fictiony ideas involving
race, as well as questions about the racial subtexts to fandom itself. I
personally find these interesting, and have recently noticed there isn¡¦t
a lot of that sort of thing discussed at Swancon.

Am I just missing it and it is actually there? Are other people interested
or is it just me? I'd think of running some myself but I'm an ignorant
white science major who hasn't run many panels so I'd probably mess it
up horribly :)

Question 2: Something I've noticed recently and Do Not Like are racist
undertones in fandom, especially amongst the younger unisfans. What are
other people's experiences? Is it getting worse or am I just being an "In
my day.." old guard, or possibly only now losing some of the blindness of
white privilege? What's it like being a not-white fan in such a
blindingly pasty demographic? Any different to the regular grind of
Australian society?

I'm mostly interested in local west Australian fandom (since I've mostly
heard about online fandom) but stuff about the internet or international
fandom is cool too. And those less pasty than myself are under no
obligation to talk about such a loaded topic if they'd rather not!

May post about my own experiences when I'm not ill (wrote this yesterday, naively thinking I'd be able to proofread before posting tonight) Will suck at responding for a while but didn't want to miss the week since I was so close!

Since it seems unfortunately necessary to say: if someone says they have a
different experience to you that doesn't mean they assume you're stupid
or a liar, and nor should you assume that about them. Also:

IMPORTANT NOTE: off topic, ranty or flamey replies go here.

Comments

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

I hesitate to put myself forward, since I am slightly white than white, bu what about a panel next Swancon on race in SF&F?

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

especially amongst the younger unisfans

Do you think this is a youth culture-y thing? Despite supposedly growing up in more 'tolerant' times than us, I've noticed it's suddenly 'in' to be as bigoted as possible if you're a teenager/just out of teenage-hood. (or maybe it's just my school and area I live in)

[stephiepenguin.livejournal.com]

purrdence and i did a panel this year about languages other than english in english language texts, and how that concept is used as an other (sometimes in lieu of, and sometimes to supplement, race). i would ask, where were you?! but i seem to recall you being scheduled opposite us.

[http://users.livejournal.com/doctor_k_/]

Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow featured a whole heap of panels examining racism, post-colonialism, refugees, and 'the other' in SF. Some really great panel ideas, sadly often brought crashing down by the overwhelmingly white middle-aged and middle-class (and often male) voices in the audience.

Swancon 2008 is blessed by having two guests who examine similar themes in very thoughtful ways in their writing - Ken McLeod and Glenda Larke. I'm gonna be leaning on Dave to get some thought-provoking panels in the program.

[nico-wolfwood.livejournal.com]

A few books that I think would be interesting to discuss in relation to the topic are

1. Elantris by Brian Sanderson - Fantasy. Contains racial (as in 'distinguished by physical traits') as well as cultural and religious cast divisions.
2. Lt. Leary series by David Drake - Science Fiction. Not really my cup of tea but contains definite racial and class tension as well as overt racism on the part of the protagonist(s).
3. The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson - Science Fiction. Slightly off the beaten path and more about nationality and culture than race as traditionally defined, it raises the question of what happens when race and culture can be self selected.
4. Crown of Slaves by David Weber - Science Fiction. About genetic slavery, contains characters who have been genetically altered to perform specific tasks and the social and political problems that creates.

[dabear.livejournal.com]

My thesis was originally titled 'race in SF and fantasy' (although it's wandered a bit since then), so you're definitely not the only one interested :P