If you’re looking for some interesting, different science fiction to read, the Feminist SF group blog is going through a process of selecting the top ten obscure science fiction books here. I plan to mine the nominations for new books to read…
So today I headed over to listserve to check out the Top 10 Obscure but Superb Science Fiction Novels and as I was reading it I was struck by the fact that not only were there no female/POC/queer (or any combination of the three) authors on the list there were also no books that had a main character that was anything other than a white man. Truly the list should have been called the Top 10 Obscure but Superb Science Fiction Novels by White Men about White Men.
So in reaction to that I believe we should come up with our own list of obscure but superb science fiction novels. Ones in which we can list authors and books that are by/about groups that are generally still ignored in Sci-Fi circles.
Thanks for introducing me to a new blog! This looks fun.
I actually like it because it reflects not just the major ethnic/racial groups in America like black, Latino, African-American, Asian-American, etc., but also incorporates the idea of non-European/Euro-descendent groups the world over. But, while serving as a general umbrella term, “people of color” doesn’t imply the kind of pan-fraternal-everyone-is-united attitude that some other words do.
Of course, I’m a white member of the American intellectual class, so what works for me doesn’t necessarily work best for those who are members of the various communities implied by the term “people of color.” Just my $.02.
Sorry. I kinda went off on a rant here. Ignore if so inclined.
I couldn’t agree more.
Instead it implies “white” people in one group and everyone else in another. How exactly is that better than just calling people “colored”? That’s essentially what the term means. It creates a mental image that color is added somehow, that it’s an adulteration of “purity”, that “color” is an aberration from the norm. It’s just another variation on an “us vs. them” theme that’s separated people throughout history. Why not just call caucasians “people without color”? That at least has a certain degree of accuracy, considering the “out of Africa” migration and the reduced need for melanin as humans moved away from the equator.
there were also no books that had a main character that was anything other than a white man
This got me thinking, I don’t think I’ve read many books where it specifically says that the main character is white. Readers may leap to the conclusion that the hero is white based on his name having European origins but that’s surely the reader’s assumption only.
Because it doesn’t say in the text, “oh by the way, Arnold Smith’s family are originally from whatever country” doesn’t mean that Arnold’s automatically of European Origin.
PS I’ve never like the term “African American” “Asian Amercian” etc. Why aren’t white folks called “European Americans”?
It depends which list you’re talking about though… the Feminist SF blog community doesn’t see Butler as obscure, at all. Hence, she wouldn’t be part of a list of obscure works or authors.
But unfortunately, I think she’s more obscure than she should be in the wider SF community…
My own personal opinion tends to be more like that of Starbuccaneer…
One day, that is the goal, yes. But when we live in a world that still harbors conscious and unconscious prejudices and privileges that perpetuate the marginalization of people whose skin tone isn’t white, who aren’t men, and who aren’t heterosexual, the term also serves to identify that which has been marginalized generally.
I personally prefer a more specific term, since the experience of a black man in the US is quite different from that of a Yoruba woman in Nigeria, or that of a Spaniard (“white”) very different from that of a mestizo from South America (but they are both in the category “Hispanic”). And would anyone like to share with me why we group “Asian” literature together? Because Japan and India have very different histories and literary trajectories, even if we in the US and the rest of the “West” classify them together as “Asian” and oftentimes treat that as a homogeneous group.
But this also comes from my field… My academic field is the literature of an entire hemisphere, basically. Jobs are advertised for it. But if you think about it, it’s impossible to be a specialist in the entire field. It’s like saying that there’s no difference between English and Italian literature… which most people would not agree with. So why do we lump Guatemala and Brazil together, or South Africa and the Sudan, or Korea and Pakistan?
So… while people of color is a useful term, it isn’t perfect. But rather than going to the generic “people” term, which in my mind erases the experiences of those groups that have been marginalized throughout history, I would argue for more specific terminology.
Casilda’s got it spot-on, though I’d also toss in socioeconomic class. People can just be people, but only when we all treat everyone else like full, equal, worthy human beings. Unforuntately, many, many groups of people still are not treated that way. Also, regardless of that issue, we’d want to find ways of expressing groupings of people based on characteristics. It is true that the term “people of color” is a definition by opposition rather than actual trait (ie: not white) and that white in and of itself is an equally problematic lumping. But particularly in American society as it stands today (and in big picture terms rather than something that most individuals specifically perpetrate), there really is an issue of white being valued over pretty much all other racial backgrounds. I’m saying this as a white girl, FWIW, since that does make a difference in how I see the issue.
With advancements in travel and communication, I have a strong feeling that in a few thousand years all people will be sort of beige (if there are still people).
That being said, I can’t say I would read any book because it’s main character was of any sort of origin. I read books for the theme and story. I don’t even know who the characters are before I’ve picked up the book most of the time.
There was a very cool article in the Summer issue of Bitch magazine about females in sci-fi which covered a lot of Butler’s work. I should make a pdf of that and share it…
If you’re looking for more books, a week or so ago the final voting results were posted here.
And for ease of reading, the winners were:
God Stalk by: P.C. Hodgell
A Door Into Ocean by: Joan Slonczewski
Herland by: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Fire Logic by: Laurie J. Marks
The Fox Woman by: Kij Johnson
The Shadow Speaker by: Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Bone Dance by: Emma Bull
Zahrah The Windseeker by: Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Swordspoint by: Ellen Kushner
Midnight Robber by: Nalo Hopkinson
Solstice by: Ulises Silva
The only one of those I’ve read is Herland (9), which I really enjoyed. I also have a copy of Zahra the Windseeker (4) that I’ve been saving as “reward reading” for when I reach a work reading goal. And I’ve been trying to find a copy of Solstice (1) that isn’t exorbitantly expensive… so yeah.
I don’t get how that list is any…“better?” than the original list. If the original is the Top 10 Obscure but Superb Science Fiction Novels by White Men about White Men, than this list is Top 10 Obscure but Superb Science Fiction Novels by Women about Women. With the exception of the number one being a man writing about a woman which my cynical mind tells me is there solely to poke a hole in my argument. Oh and the androgynous main character of Bone Dance I guess.
Oh and uh since when did diversity not include white males? Are we like…non entities?
