#babybirdnight

[writingwithcolor]

Hello, I am a Black girl writing a story with a predominantly Black group that revolves around magic and royalty. The story is dual perspective, and while one of the narrators is Black, the other is South Asian, specifically of Indian descent.

As I make up this new system of magic and mythology, I'm worried that I'm erasing the culture of the character. I wanted to ask if me creating this new culture and history will make my brown characters seem more like decoration instead of people with their own backgrounds, or if I'm just overthinking it and I should continue writing with this system.

Note: In the mythology, the land and the people on it were created from clay which is why a majority of them are brown (complexion wise). The group later discovers things that put their religion question, but overall these beliefs play a big role in the story.

Black and Indian characters, people compared to clay and and newly created magical history & mythology

I really don’t think it’s a good idea for these people to be brown because they’re made of clay, or any type of dirt. In South Asian cultures, shadeism and the implication that someone is brown, or dark skinned, because they’re dirty, or of dirt, has deep ties to classism, casteism, and the oppression of Adivasi people.

- SK

Agreed with Mod SK about the clay thing. From my personal experience, this is a comparison which is extremely prevalent within South Asian communities due to deeply entrenched beauty norms, dating back to imperialist-typical racism in the British legislation and even pre-colonial decades. Refer to: my school dance teacher worrying aloud about putting me in the front line during a recital because my "rong" (complexion) was not "porishkar" ("clean"; as in, fair or light). Refer to even supposedly “progressive” movies and shows like Udta Punjab and The Family Man which used brownface on pale-skinned actresses for consciously perpetuating class stereotypes. In certain Indian linguistic systems at least, like my mother tongue Bengali, pale skin has often been linked to connotations of cleanliness and purity, carrying within itself an unmistakably casteist tone. I would strongly recommend researching the Varna (Varna literally translates to colour in Sanskrit) system of India, with emphasis on the way its implications have been codified into modern practices of Hinduism in India.

Finally, India as a country does not consist of a homogenous population of “brown people '', even though social media and fandom culture often tends to lump us into one mass, without taking into account that Indians can hail from a multitude of ethnicities. 

Also, and I’m not being facetious here and am genuinely curious:

How do you intend to go about assigning our origin to clay when India itself has a varied topographic profile? 

Would this indicate that the people hailing from the Deccan Plateau region would have a darker skin tone, owing to the black soil of that region (equating skin tone to the clay of origin)?

Suggested articles for reading:

Colourism and its connoations of class privilege in India

Colourism and Casteism in Bollywood and Indian media

Dark skin and prejudices in Indian marriages

Finally here is my ko-fi, because I always appreciate a tip.

- Mimi

As Black people aren't all assigned some magic / mythology culture by default, this is not erasure. That's definitely individual. 

The clay thing is a bit... Interesting, not the worst thing (in my opinion) but not the best. There's definitely this direct comparison to dark skin and dirt when you have people made of earth, quite literally. Sometimes it's really how you put the spin on it if it becomes passable. I’ve addressed this in a couple questions comparing a Black person’s skin to dirt / soil / earth. There’s one way of doing it that is better than the other. Still - Black and Brown folks may not like it regardless so there is that risk due to the strong connotations to dirt and dark people being dirty, which in your case  makes it literal (see the responses from my fellow mods).

I’d also like to know how non-Black and  / or  Brown people go about being created. If they’re singled out as being clay-made while white people are made out of moon dust and rivers and stars (which are basically free of ulterior connotations), then I’d absolutely take notice and would be adverse to BiPoc then, being made of clay.

It would feel dehumanizing and I'd rather you find an equally positive associated manner of origins. The sun is a start! In any case, just avoid food origins for the many reasons outlined in the skin color “POC and Food Comparisons” guide. 

More reading:

Dark skin / dirt comparisons 

Skin comparisons to soil

~Mod Colette

I’d agree with what the other mods are saying and maybe review why clay. It’s not unheard of for African writers to use this motif; Lesley Nneka Arimah uses it in her short story “What We Bring At Home” when the protagonist wants a child and fashions one. The rub is that it’s a horror tale, so maybe consider your reason for paying homage to this, how you want the worldbuilding to affect the tone. Clay can come in different colors naturally from red in river clay and so forth. If you want to use the motif, it may be worth going beyond black, brown and white tones. 

- Mod Jaya

Ask published Oct 2021

#babybirdnight #skin color #black and white #eurocentric beauty standards #Black #Indian #Desi #skin tone #description #colorism #shadeism #caste #asks