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kd-22 · 2 years

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Discussion Board #1

"What is Black music?"

Through any period of time and even though the changes in conditions (social, cultural, economic, geographical) music in Black culture and tradition meant a sense of identity and unity. Meaning in early Black traditions it was used as a sense of expression and pride, when these translated to America, it was frowned upon and then became one of the only forms of expression. Songs were songs during slavery for the enslaved peoples to connect with one another, give each other hope, inform one another, and attempt to preserve any culture that forcefully got wiped away. In more recent conditions (the 1900s-current) music was used as a response to discrimination/racism, it was a comfort for Black communities as they suffered through hate crimes, disadvantaged socioeconomic statuses, and oppression in itself. It is a sense of pride and music is what they used as a tool. This leads me to speak about a topic mentioned in the article, "Contemporary Sorrow Songs: Traces of Mourning, Lament, and Vulnerability in Hip Hop" and it mentions, “no longer connected to the real desires and emotions of black people, but rather are performed…primarily for the pleasure and entertainment of predominately white audiences.” In the separation of traditional Black music, rather than the music made in reaction and comfort of Black communities in America, showcases how white supremacy still plays a role and abuses its power within something intimate within the Black community. This made me think of common themes in today’s day and age where Black music, and Black artists, are abused to the expense of white profit and white benefit. A small example is white people listening to Black artists to make themselves seem like a more well-rounded person with intersectionality all for the branding rather than actually understanding and respecting. And that is just a tiny example of something very evident in my generation, in other time periods/conditions, it is pushed to an even higher extent where white people can use it to be microaggressive/racist. I believe in order to fully understand and appreciate Black music (especially from a non-black perspective, at least personally speaking) is to fully understand the root and cultural aspects. This was evidently reiterated in Chapter 7, “A full appreciation and understanding of Black music is possible only after first looking at the African cultural and aesthetic root,” (Banfield). This showcases that in every room, Black people’s voices are always lowered and silenced, showcasing the importance of sharing music and creating music. I theme I notice is always the pursuit of preserving culture through samples, beats, and paying homage to past Black musicians/current African traditions. Music allows them to support one another and connect the community by name-dropping Black basketball players, Black actors/actresses, and more. With more historical context, this same theme was used throughout the early stages of the development of Black music, for example, West African culture, Congo Square, story-telling for the enslaved African Americans, the creation of the New Orleans Black community, etc. It is to preserve culture, share emotions, communicate, build a community, and reclaim their voice and power. These developed genres such as jazz, ragtime, blues, and more modern-day hip-hop/rap, R&B, neo-soul/soul, and reggae; which could be utilized for social movements and symbolism. Which could define what Black music is, however, there is so much depth that Black music embodies.

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duckprintspress · 3 years

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Our Favorite Queer Books for Children

Many members of Duck Prints Press have young children, so we got to talking about what our favorite queer children’s stories are. These are all picture books - aimed at children under 8. This list doesn’t include any middle grade or young adult books.

Note that, regarding any individual book, we’re not saying, “this is flawless,” “this is perfect rep,” or “this is the right book for everyone/every situation/every family.” I’ve included a few notes about each book, to give a general idea of the representation it incorporates, but we always recommend that you read the full descriptions at the links provided (which are to Bookshop.org whenever possible), assess the book, borrow it from the library - basically, give it a read, and assess for yourself, and always pick with your own situation and sensibilities in mind when buying books for the young children in your life!

The list is in alphabetical order by book title.

A is for Activist

Author and Illustrator: Innosanto Nagara

An alphabet book, with intersectionality, disability, race, queerness, and more.

The Adventures of Honey and Leon

Author: Alan Cumming

Illustrator: Grant Shaffer

mlm, semi-autobiographical.

Book 1 | Book 2

And Tango Makes Three

Authors: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Illustrator: Henry Cole

mlm, queer parents, adoption, based on a true story.

Be Who You Are

Author: Jennifer Carr

Illustrator: Ben Rumback

Trans girl, supportive family.

Charlotte, Wander On

Author: Matt Cubberly

Illustrator: Irina Kovalova

(you’ll have to read and find out!)

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo

Author: Jill Twiss

Illustrator: E. G. Keller

mlm, politics.

Everywhere Babies

Author: Susan Meyers

Illustrator: Marla Frazee

wlw, mlm. Queer parents. Stealth.

The Frog and Toad Collection

Author and Illustrator: Arnold Lobel

mlm. Stealth.

Heather Has Two Mommies

Author: Lesléa Newman

Illustrator: Laura Cornell

wlw, queer parents

I Am Jazz

Authors: Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings

Illustrator: Shelagh McNicholas

Trans girl, supportive parents. Auto-biographical.

Intersectional Allies

Authors: Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, Carolyn Choi

Illustrator: Ashley Seil Smith

Intersectionality, focused on disability, race, and religion.

Jaime is Jaime

Author: Afsaneh Moradian

Illustrator: Maria Bogade

Gender non-conformity.

Julian is a Mermaid

Author and Illustrator: Jessica Love

Gender non-conformity.

Llama Glamarama

Author: Simon James Green

Illustrator: Garry Parsons

Gender non-conformity

My Friends and Me

Author: Stephanie Stansbie

Illustrator: Katy Halford

mlm, wlw. Queer parents.

Neither

Author and Illustrator: Arlie Anderson

Gender non-conformity; can also be seen as an allegory for non-binary and/or intersex and/or other forms of gender queerness. Stealth.

One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dad

Author: Johnny Valentine

Illustrator: Melody Sarecky

mlm. Queer parents.

Quackers

Author and Illustrator: Liz Wong

Gender non-conformity; can also be seen as an allegory for non-binary and/or trans and/or other forms of gender queerness. Stealth.

Rainbow

Author: Michael Genhart

Illustrator: Anne Passchier

“A First Book of Pride” - the cover says it best.

Red: A Crayon Story

Author and Illustrator: Michael Hall

Trans children and/or children with trans parents.

She’s My Dad

Author: Sarah Savage

Illustrator: Joules Garcia

Transgender adult/parent.

The Story of Ferdinand

Author: Munro Leaf

Illustrator: Robert Lawson

Gender non-conformity. Stealth.

Unicorn Day

Author: Diana Murray

Illustrator: Luke Flowers

Gender non-conformity and/or trans and/or genderqueer, depending how you look at it.

We’re All Wonders

Author and Illustrator: R. J. Palacio

Self-acceptance, with an emphasis on neurodivergence, disability, and queerness.

What Are Your Words? A Book About Pronouns

Author: Katherine Locke

Illustrator: Anne Passchier

About pronouns. Non-binary representation and neo-pronouns included.

What Colour is Love?

Author: Linda Strachan

Illustrator: David Wojtowycz

Diversity.

Worm Loves Worm

Author: J. J. Austrian

Illustrator: Mike Curato

wlw/mlm. Gender non-conformity.

The Pea that Was Me Series

Author and Illustrator: Kimberly Kluger-Bell

Different kinds of pregnancies, including mlm and wlw parents.

Contributions by: unforth, Willa, nottesilhouette, foxymoley, FallingIntoBlue, Owlish, Annabeth, nickelkeep, fpwoper

So, what are your favorite queer picture books?

#duck prints press #queer fiction #queer nonfiction #children's books #original content

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onlyfangz · 3 years

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i know i’ve made text posts up to my ears on this, but trans men aren’t allowed to have external identities, and we aren’t allowed any type of gender presentation without it being criticized and forced out of us. we just aren’t.

the softboys had the safety of their identities ripped away by cis people taking it too far and applying softboy culture onto all trans men, and in turn caused a bunch of backlash from non-softboy trans men (specifically but not limited to tr*sc*m), and now softboys are seen as infantile, even when they’re not. at the same time all of this was happening, cis people started taking that culture and applying it to their fav cis characters, and then everybody decided because it was cis women applying the label to their soft fem cis male favs that it was cringey, and the cis girls cried sexism for shaming them of their interests, and trans softboys were pushed out of the conversation all together.

the fems have had their identities as trans men erased by cis people and other trans people alike, and spend their whole lives being reminded that if they’re not even going to try, they can’t expect any stranger to gender them correctly as if trying would even help. the same people who praise GNC cis men condemn GNC trans men because they don’t see us as men, they see us as women, and there’s nothing subversive about a woman dressing in womanly clothes. it’s so blatantly obvious, and yet everybody pretends like its’ not, especially when it’s pre-t trans men. there’s a difference between choosing to perform gender in a certain way, and being forced into a gender presentation by society. learn that difference, and listen to fem trans men when they speak.

the chaotic trans men, which probably isn’t the term for them but idk what is. the trans men who associate themselves with mess, and dirt, and cryptids, and “gross” animals, and androgyny, and well, chaos, are accused of stereotyping the rest of the transmasc community as being into that as well, when in fact it was cis people who can’t confront that no two trans men are the same and just because you see one subsection being really similar, everybody else isn’t automatically the same. they’re seen as cringey, or freaks. (much like the reaction to softboys, but i feel like the reception was different.)

the passing trans men, who don’t really tie themselves to extra identities listed but are still and always will be trans are told that their experiences don’t matter and that they’ve got access to some super extra special privilege that they use in the name of Evil, as if transphobia starts and ends with a stranger’s ability to tell that you’re trans. they’re held to impossibly high standards, higher than any cis person, woman or man, and if they slip, well isn’t that proof enough that they’re dangerous gender-traitors who were fated to be evil the moment they “decided” to be men? not to even start talking about the erasure of intersectionality some passing trans men still face, as if being a man lessens those struggles.

the hypermasc trans men, - and no, i did not say the toxically masculine trans men, they’re two different things, and the fact that i need to pre-emptively point that out is just a great way to start, - are seen as predators in their own community. are seen as traitors who uphold a gender binary. people get tunnel vision around hypermasc trans men and forget the goal of dismantling the patriarchy and the gender binary and all that jazz is giving people the option to present however they want, not forcing mascs (and fems, although not what im talking about here) into androgyny (which we’ve already discovered isn’t acceptable either) lest they be accused of sexism. the way bigots think of hypermasc trans men are that they’re actually women who have done the unforgiveable, they’ve actually became men, and therefore, should be forever scrutinized, because if we turn our backs for a second, they’re going to be raping and murdering our innocent little cis girls and forcing them to become men too.

i’m sure there’s so many other transmasc subsections and subcultures and presentations out there, but one by one, they’ve all been ripped away from us regardless of where you sit. if you’re closer to the fem side of trans masculinity, you’re a cringey straight girl in disguise, if you’re on the andro side of trans masculinity, you’re (again) cringey, a freak, who needs to stay away from polite queer society, and if you’re on the masc side of trans masculinity, you’re a dangerous predator that needs to be kept in line, bc otherwise you won’t be able to help yourself and become an evil dirty man for real.

this isn’t my original thought, but to echo a reblogger from another text post of mine, these aren’t isolated incidents, or freak happenings, it’s a system at work, and that system believes that the only correct way to be a trans man is to not be one.

#charlie.txt #it's late #this might not all make sense #but god am i tired of trans men being denied community bc they're not being trans men correctly #when regardless of how you're a trans man you're told you're doing it wrong anyway #trans posts #tw transandrophobia #tw rape mention #tw murder mention

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the-13th-rose · 2 years

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I’m gonna say it

Aros complaining about amatonormativity every single time someone mentions the concept of love in a positive context is the new aces complaining about sex every time someone mentions sex in a positive context

I’m under the ace umbrella myself, and I had a sex-negative phase, I know how it is. And because I grew out of that phase and am much happier for it, I also know that other people simply enjoying love and romance as concepts are absolutely not the enemy. Amatonormativity is the societal belief that a life without romance isn’t complete. It’s not people literally just being in relationships or enjoying romance as a genre. Similar to how allonormativity is societal pressure to have sex, not simply people enjoying the act.

You folks absolutely need to learn that other people’s relationships are not your business, and that other people enjoying love and romance are not personally oppressing you. And when it comes to romance repulsion, it works the same way as sex repulsion to me. In that it’s fine to be repulsed by the concept, and to be uncomfortable with PDA, but you absolutely have no right to tell people to suppress their feelings or to shut up about something that is important to them. ESPECIALLY when you’re talking to other folks in the LGBT community. That was the rhetoric that made acephobia so palatable for so long, frustrated sex-repulsed people making poorly-thought-out comments that were then twisted by acephobes to claim that asexuals were “homophobic” among other similar claims. And I need you to think really well about why telling people who have been the targets of hatred and violence for who they love that they’re “being amatonormative” by simply talking openly about their love is a bad thing to do.

This is a common thing in many communities. People who live a certain way seeing others live a different way and getting angry about it. Please remember that individual people in romantic relationships are not your enemy. You’re fighting the societal pressure to get married and all that jazz. People who are in love or who enjoy the concept are not part of that.

TL;DR - When are people in this community going to realize that other LGBT people existing and living their lives are not your fucking enemies.

Also while I’m at it, no, actually, people are not obligated to include aromantics in every single post about love, just like how people are not obligated to include asexuals in every single post about sex. There’s a reason trans women are allowed to have spaces that don’t mention trans men, and vice versa. There’s a reason lesbians don’t always have to talk about bi or pan women too. It’s called “different people have different needs”. There are so many different groups of people that to include and address literally everyone (especially in a personal post!) is unreasonable. You cannot assume that a person doesn’t care about something (or outright hates it!) just because they aren’t constantly talking about it. Intersectionality is very important, but different identities have different needs. You can’t expect people to include you in every single discussion, especially in discussions about things that are important to them specifically. You are capable of making your own discussions. We all are.

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t4tbruharvey · 4 years

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1, 2, 3

!!!! thanks mimi :D

1 - tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

i will run you through a brief summary of each:

magic salem: fuck the crucible and also trans rights. adventure fantasy with found/refound family and the theme of letting go. this one is my favourite at the moment because it has SUCH a fun world to discover and also the historical context behind it (post-civil war england) is actually really fun to work with in a fantasy setting. also the different folklore that’s gonna end up in it will be a cool combo (i hope)

gay ‘20s: exactly what it says on the tin but also a more exploratory thing about gender (and assimilation) and how toxic ideals can manifest. again, it’s a period of history i like researching, especially the minority (best word i can think of) subcultures and how it sort of parallels a more modern intracommunity issue

venice fairytale: AGAIN it’s what you think but it’s about 15th century art and wholeness. this has the best visuals of any of them i think because i love venice and marcine and giselle contrast really nicely

the sleep story: it’s like the road and the rain but neither of the main characters are allowed to sleep and it gets less coherent as it progresses. best bit about this is the protagonist, who is a seventeen year old who HATES the deuteragonist, a literal toddler. also i get to look at google maps and think about the apocalypse in an aesthetic (and most importantly OUTDOORS) way

shrimp eyes: modern (70s) frankenstein but it’s gay and instead of reanimating a corpse it’s putting shrimp genes in your girlfriend’s eyes and killing a politician.

the originals: NO STORY YET RIP i might make it a superhero thing? who knows. there would be metaphors. but these are the ocs i’ve had (and kept) the longest and i love them like houseplants: i forget about them sometimes but they’re a source of a lot of joy. also the level of research that would go into this would be a lot, which is always a treat.

2 - tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

i think the thing i’m most looking forward to of all of them is absolutely background research (ESPECIALLY for jacob because clothes and how he uses them is a Thing To Consider and also because i want him to parallel the religious jacob somehow (which means i have to look up that particular bit because we skipped him in primary school and it should be more nuanced anyway))

3 - what is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

OHH it’s definitely martha coming out to james. i have no idea how or why she does it but SOMEHOW she realises he’s trans and goes ‘oh me too but in the opposite direction’ and james is like uhh i don’t... um!! and calls cecelia as soon as he can. the cecelia/martha/james dynamic will be very fun once it comes into play. just three trans kids vibing in totally different ways and james learning not to be a dick and so on. being out vs being stealth vs being closeted and intersectionality and all that jazz

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incarnateirony · 4 years

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Hey! What's your take on the opinion that Romance isn't a part of the core SPN themes (family, brotherhood etc etc)? Or would the fact the SPN is a soap opera negate this opinion entirely? (I mean one of its listed genre is Drama after all). Thanks (preemptively) foe the answer!

First answer: Complicated.

Most of the time this is a smoke screen being run by an anti choosing to skip context like this show didn’t start with lovers burning on the ceiling or haunting them on the street and like they didn’t have multiple relationships over the show and like the original endgame wasn’t domestic with Lisa (and don’t get me started on shipping culture moving the LGBT goalpost where Lisa’s original ending would have counted even without S6 but the literal DeanCas mirror of it right down to Never Too Late doesn’t, Because Reasons.)

Romance has always been part of the show. The problem is it isn’t a *focus* of the show. Even when it comes down to straight sexytimes, for example, we haven’t seen a real Dean sexytime since season *eight*, or seven years ago, unless you count Deanmon which was literally used to highlight the problems going on with Dean. And even that was 5 years ago now. Dean’s implied hookups since? “Just subtext! Maybe they went and played Paper Football! We Just Don’t Know!!!!!!!”

So is it fair to say it isn’t a *focal* point of the show, especially modernly, wherein for the last, IDK, half the fucking 15 year run of the show Subtext has been enough Canon Common Sense But Only When Straight?

One of the biggest complaints that is counterintuitive in fandom is the whole statement “’That isn’t what the show is about’ is a bad cop out”, which looks REALLY fuckin’ great on paper until you realize even the straight romances or even straight physical hookups have all been communicated in subtext and body language for the last two fucking showrunners.

SPN is a genre piece. That genre is not romance. That does not mean a genre piece can not sub-genre in romance for certain arcs, and it’s like kindergarten logic when people break that out. And SPN has been doing so for *years*.

The real struggle, however, is the premise of putting two leads together in a romantic relationship; let’s pretend, for a second, that we didn’t pretty well know there’s a giant corporate issue attached to this which I’ve covered the origins of before, and that there was no stonewall.

Even if they were opposite gender leads, to put them together in a relationship before the end *does* legitimately risk fucking up A LOT. And I don’t just mean people’s take on who’s ace or bi or repulsed or aromantic or How Fandom Has Headcanoned Things Need To Be, but I mean just on general story.

Generally the method to do this would be to just write a loudly suggestive scene like any other het moments the show has had in years, and then write it as an established relationship quietly thereafter, if you don’t want to completely genre-toss us. And an established relationship of two male warriors that are incredibly masculine in presentation is not necessarily going to be the performative thing a fandom wants, especially when unfortunately the loudest voice box available for them is from LGBT+ women. And it’s LGBT issues, yes, but relationships and cultures and experiences and manners vary and that’s why intersectionality exists.

I’ve seen suggestions like “Well you could divide them and then make them have to pursue each other to extend the tension!” Okay but the second you LOUDLY frame that as exclusively romantic you are tilting the genre already, and once you make that your central mytharc, you’re done. And *fuck* if Dabb isn’t *already* pushing that line *right now* with Cas’ deal and everything else floating around in the Divorce Season.

Now, if you wanted to, say, not move the goalposts – and recognize S10 was about their inevitable union via Cain (and was even louder pre-cut), and S11 was pining/connected hearts, and somewhere in there something got established before arguing about being unthoughtful or unappreciative, or before trading famous courting gifts like mixtapes, or “he came in my room and he played me” to get the item that was secretly under his pillow that he knew for rEAsOnS was there even when Sam didn’t, or that S13 was the grieving widower arc/reunion/never too late/lisa mirror//kinda honeymoon, and S14 was the domestic season where they’re just a family, until the divorce kicks off, that even TVG and soap reporters are calling a breakup like? That’s where we are. And if people recognize the threshold of romance in this show and apply the het bar the same as they apply the LGBT bar, and shipping culture stops fucking us up by manufacturing goalposts to argue with irrelevant antis the GA doesn’t give a FUCK about, suddenly… *jazz hands* Hey look the show isn’t about romance but we still have romance, and working adult brains.

Hell the only main cast kiss in the last umpteen years was John and Mary. MOST ROMANTIC PAIRINGS ARE CODED BY HAND HOLDING IN THIS SHOW.

Like can you imagine for a second if, instead of doubling down on old opinions, bitter takes and personal demands, everyone went and reviewed everything from Dabb era 11+ and just didn’t talk each and every individual instance down, be it loud mixtapes, lingering touches, major mytharcing, bold set design and directing, textual affirmations of love being talked down, just brushing under the rug that even hell gossips about it, just like heaven did too, and to stop reading everything that’s gay as a laugh track? Can you imagine, IMAGINE if this bitter ass fandom actually reviewed the content instead of competing with a collection of losers online that managed to, with the full force of the fucking internet and a bazillion fans online, make a little mob of 40 asshats that for some INEXPLICABLE reason the fandom feels they need to argue with even when TPTB ignore/openly mock them?

So yeah. The show isn’t about romance, but it can, and does, and even currently includes romance, and it is what it is.

Are visibility issues important, yes, I’m not taking away from that, but this is a multifaceted and heavily nuanced issue even in a world where we were talking about overt canonization, and we can’t just disregard the business ramifications on the product either. But “Good LGBT rep” is not synonymous with “The line that is our canon story”. Hell there’s a lot of shitty LGBT rep that’s loudly canon and proliferates bad stereotypes, that doesn’t mean it isn’t in their respective shows. Stop merging these things.All you’re doing is building new goalposts for yourself and yourself only that isn’t, and won’t, and hasn’t, and never will impact the actual canon content the GA is consuming.

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bbclesmis · 5 years

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TV Is Unwhitewashing History One Character, Period, and Genre at a Time

From “Les Miserables” and “Harlots” to “The Spanish Princess” and “The Terror,” TV producers are restoring the historical narratives of people of color.

Black characters on a show set in Tudor England would be a “stark anachronism” one consultant told “The Spanish Princess” co-showrunner Emma Frost in no uncertain terms. “Even I knew just from basic research that that wasn’t true,” she said in an interview with IndieWire during a set visit last year.

As TV shows seek out more inclusive storytelling, many producers are looking to the past to find new ways to freshen old stories. And while historical records and artwork have shown plenty of black, brown, and Asian faces through centuries of Western history, that same diversity has been largely absent in history class and on the screen unless it takes place after the 1950s. This dearth has affected the types of roles offered and even considered by actors of color.

Mandip Gill, who plays a British police officer of South Asian descent on “Doctor Who,” has only performed in contemporary projects. “I have always said I won’t be in a period drama. I just don’t see it happening,” she said. “I can’t even imagine it. When I’ve written down what types I like to play or where I would like to push the boundaries, it’s not with period dramas. I don’t watch them because I can’t relate to them.”

Danny Sapiani has had a better track record for landing period roles — such as Will North in “Harlots” and Sambene in “Penny Dreadful” — but that wasn’t always the case. “Period drama on screen was not a consideration when I began my professional career. Most film and tv roles were confined to the modern era, post-1950s, ghetto-ized in nature or victims of oppression,” he said.

David Oyelowo, who stars as Inspector Javert in the upcoming PBS-BBC adaptation of “Les Miserables,” agrees. “That was the case for me. And having grown up in the UK, and more specifically, on period drama, I had just resigned myself to the fact that, ‘Okay, those amazing shows are going to be shows I love, but they’re never going to have folks like me in it.’”

Sites like The Public Medievalist and historians like Onyeka have worked to challenge the narrative of the pure-white Western history that’s been widely accepted, even by people of color. Now actors and producers are following their example to restore the place of marginalized people on screen and into the public consciousness.

“The excuse has been used that it’s not historically accurate, and that’s just not true,” said Oyelowo. “If you are an actual genuine student of history — and not just coming from an ignorant kind of purely white lens in relation to European history — you’d know that people of color have been in France, in the UK, all over Europe, for centuries, and not just as slaves.”

Sapiani points to the discoveries and documentation available for anyone to research about the existence of people of color in Europe for centuries.

“As evidenced by the discovery of Cheddar Man, the first complete skeleton found in a gorge in Somerset, the first modern Britons who arrived on the island 10,000 years ago had black to brown skin, blue eyes and dark wavy hair. It is from these earliest arrivals that the inhabitants of Britain derive their origins,” he said.

“In fact, there are very few periods in history where people of color do not feature, not only in Britain — the setting of most costume dramas — but across the entire European continent. The census notes 20,000 blacks living in Britain in 1780, the century we focus on in ‘Harlots,’ more than half that number living in London, which is where ‘Harlots’ is set. Even though this was during the height of the slave trade, not all those people were slaves or victims of white racism. Fascinating characters like Will North, spanned social and class boundaries, often, though not always, against incredible odds.”

Hulu’s “Harlots,” about the war between two brothels in Georgian London, not only features the free man Will North, but also several black harlots, one of whom ran her own brothel.

“There were tens of thousands of people of color living in London in the 1760s. We have found stories of musicians, estate managers, fencing masters, actresses, grocers, prize fighters, haberdashers, soldiers, poets, activists, librarians and clerks,” said “Harlots” co-creator Moira Buffini.

“Some were clearly people of means, like the ‘black lady covered in finery,’ spotted by Hester Thrale at the opera. ‘Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies’ has entries for several women of color who were making their living in the sex trade and The Nocturnal Revels tells us of ‘Black Harriot,’ a very successful courtesan who ran a popular ‘house of exotics.’ All our stories are about people trying to find agency when society gives them none — and this seems in especially sharp relief for our characters of color. Violet is a street whore and pickpocket but from her perspective, society is the thief. Her mother was stolen. Violet, in her own eyes, is neither victim nor criminal. She has a raw integrity and a personal truth that others find both intimidating and irresistible.”

For “The Spanish Princess,” an adaptation of two Philippa Gregory historical novels set in Tudor England about Catherine of Aragon, Frost and co-showrunner Matthew Graham turned to books by Onyeka to develop characters of color who would have fit in during that time. In particular, they discovered the story of the real-life Lina de Cardonnes (played by Stephanie Levi-John in the series), a high-ranking noble woman who acted as Catherine’s lady-in-waiting and companion.

“There was a character that was referenced in Phillipa’s books who was what they call a dueñas or a lady-in-waiting to Catherine. Her name was Catalina de Cardonnes and she was just this larger than life character who was depicted as white Spanish,” said Graham. “Then we just did a bit of cursory research and discovered that it was based on Lina de Cardonnes and that she was African Iberian. She was a black lady. So, we were certainly like, ‘Wow, this is a bigger story and a more interesting story than we can possibly imagine.’”

This discovery of the larger part that people of color have played throughout history has been increasing the more people look into telling marginalized stories. The author of “The Miniaturist” Jessie Burton and Netflix’s “Anne With an E” creator Moira Walley-Beckett had similar epiphanies and added black characters in significant roles to their stories set in the Dutch Golden Age and Edwardian Canada, respectively.

In many of these cases, ignorance or acceptance of the dominant narrative could explain the lack of representation in these TV shows. The absence of photographic or film evidence made it easier to whitewash the presence of people of color.

But there’s really no excuse with period dramas set in the 20th century and beyond, when plenty of visual records show the diversity present. As with the #OscarsSoWhite campaign started by activist April Reign, the biggest problems facing more inclusive TV lay in challenging the mindset at the studio level and changing who’s behind the camera.

As seen with many of the shows that are including people of color in historical narratives, the show’s creators are often women, people of color themselves, or part of the LGBTQ community. When marginalized groups help each other, this can address intersectionality.

For example, Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci co-created the Jazz Age mystery adventure show “Frankie Drake Mysteries” coming to Ovation on June 15. Not only did they make a show about Toronto’s first female private detective, but they also cast Chantel Riley as Trudy, Frankie’s partner who happens to also be a black woman.

“When Shaftesbury [Films] came up with this idea and decided to have a black female lead, it was mind-blowing to me because you never really hear about black folk or Asian folk, in that time,” Riley said. “We touch on the Asian community, the black community, even the Indian community as well. That’s why I was really attracted to this particular show, because no one’s really doing that in this particular era.”

In some cases, actors have had to step behind the cameras themselves to increase the opportunities for people of color. Daniel Dae Kim left “Hawaii Five-0,” and the first series that he produced afterward is ABC’s “The Good Doctor,” which has provided numerous on-screen opportunities for actors from marginalized groups.

Similarly, Oyelowo became an executive producer on “Les Miserables” to take control of how his role of Javert and the other people of color were portrayed. Oyelowo also co-produced and starred in the period film “A United Kingdom.”

“I wanted to make sure that me being in [‘Les Miserables’] wasn’t going to be a token thing. I wanted to make sure that people of color were integrated through the story in an organic way that didn’t feel imposed,” he said.

“But also, something very important to me was the American distribution. I wanted it to be on a channel that was worthy of the work that everyone was putting into it. And so, I had a hand in it going to PBS Masterpiece. Anything that takes me away from my kids for any period of time better be worth it. And so, some of the times I produce in order to develop. Some of the times I produce in order to be able to have a say in how things are cast, how they are marketed, how they are distributed. And that’s basically been the case with this.”

Currently, there aren’t many period shows by people of color about people of color on TV. John Singleton’s “Snowfall” on FX is set in Los Angeles during the 1980s crack epidemic and was renewed for a third season.

Over on broadcast, the late 1990s-set comedy “Fresh Off the Boat,” based on the memoir of Eddie Huang and created by Nahnatchka Khan, a queer woman of Iranian descent, is currently in its fifth season. It’s the first TV show with an Asian cast in over 20 years — since Margaret Cho’s short-lived “All American Girl” — and stars Randall Park and Constance Wu as the Huangs, who had relocated to the Florida suburbs with their family. Khan had to make a case for why the show had to remain in the ‘90s to replicate the real-life Huangs’ feelings of alienation.

“I remember having a creative discussion with 20th [Century Fox] at the very beginning about them asking me, ‘Why does it have to be set in the ‘90s?’” she said. “For me it was creating a sense of isolation with the family. They moved to Orlando in the middle of the white suburbs and they don’t know anybody. But in the present day, you can get online and talk to your friends and you can text people. You have a connection outside of your everyday life, even if it’s virtual.”

Other than those, “Underground” was the last period show about people of color by a creator of color, Misha Green. WGN’s critically acclaimed slavery-era period drama lasted two seasons and was canceled shortly after Sinclair Media Group announced it would purchase Tribune Media, which owns WGN.

Fortunately, this scarcity won’t last for long. Many period shows that feature significant narratives for people of color are on the horizon. Green has teamed up with Jordan Peele for the HBO drama horror “Lovecraft Country,” which takes place on a road trip during 1950s Jim Crow America. Barry Jenkins executive produces and directs the upcoming Amazon series “The Underground Railroad,” an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s book. Justin Lin and Jonathan Tropper’s “Warrior” premieres April 5 on Cinemax and is based on Bruce Lee’s original concept about a Chinese immigrant who becomes a hatchet man for the most powerful tong in late 1800s Chinatown in San Francisco.

One other upcoming series explores a new genre for the period TV show that adds a provocative take on a historical event. In its second season, AMC’s anthology series “The Terror” explores the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II through the lens of Japanese horror. Actor George Takei, who experienced internment, acts as a consultant and series regular.

“We’re telling the story of a very underserved piece of American history using the vocabulary of Japanese-style horror as an analog for the terror of the actual historical event,” said co-creator and showrunner Alexander Woo.

“I don’t want the audience to feel removed from the events that are happening on screen. What a horror movie or horror series does is it makes you feel viscerally in the shoes of the person who’s trapped in the house or the person who’s running away from the monster or whatever it is. So we’re using that style, that language, to make you really feel how terrifying the experience of the Japanese Americans who lived through this terrible experience.”

While the Japanese ghost story trappings fits the tone of the narrative in “The Terror: Infamy,” Woo acknowledges that the genre twist might have helped pitching the show.

“We’re in an era of so much content and a period of such creative power, we have more sophisticated viewers that will hopefully appreciate a period drama told in a specific style,” he said. “Those two things used to not mix. That was not something that you would want to try because it might seem complicated or it might seem challenging, which I think now, in this time, that sounds very appealing… It’s also a terrific lens for us to understand things that are happening in the present. The story of internment is obviously relevant in a host of ways to the present day, so I think it’s a valuable story and has to be told now.”

While these more inclusive narratives continue to be discovered and told, inevitably people used to the status quo will resist and deny those stories. It’s the very reason that these stories haven’t been told in the first place.

“The more recent phenomenon of whitewashing, a political tool of the imperialists, dates back only a few hundred years,” said Sapiani. “I am so proud to see, and be a part of this change towards a more accurate and frankly more interesting dramatized interpretation of our world history. Needless to say, there is so much further to go.”

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/03/tv-unwhitewashing-history-period-dramas-hbo-hulu-pbs-abc-1202049639/

#les mis bbc #bbc les mis #david oyelowo #javert #Interviews #articles #indiewire

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puddingcatbeans · 5 years

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23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

hmmm i’m not sure what counts as obscure, but at some point, i started to look in the mirror and look around me and realized that people don’t view me the same way i viewed myself. because at some point i started to internalize a sense of self-hatred and xenophobia and all that terrible jazz---but at some point i decided to teach myself to unlearn that.

i’m lucky enough that my family is able to afford trips back to tw every couple of years and that i grew up in a bilingual home and that the communities i live in have been relatively welcome and including. in university, i’ve been taking courses on exploring and decolonising and talking about all these different parts that make up who i am, even if i’m still in the process of figuring out who i am.

i’m really happy that in recent years, popular media has also begun to take steps towards celebrating diversity instead of embracing colourblindness - and not just about race, either, but intersectionality - and i’ve been trying to write from that understanding. i’m still learning, and i’m happy for it.

#bean replies #i have not done my reading for my qu/eer of colo/ur theo/ry class tmr #and i'm panicking slightly #they just use so many big words #and i get very emotional #mathclasswarfare

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theruffledskirt · 5 years

Photo

Theorizing Labor

Unit 7

GWS350

Caitlyn Jenner's experience is far from the reality of most transgender people, who can only dream of experiencing the same support from their families and society.

Relevant today: Bills have been introduced across the country to criminalize transgender people for using the bathroom. There is a tremendous amount of violence against the community and challenges simply to living and thriving as our authentic selves. Our communities, and particularly transgender and gender nonconforming people of color, face alarming rates of homelessness, unemployment, and incarceration, all of which contribute to other barriers like lack of access to health care. Thanks to her wealth and celebrity status, Jenner is isolated from those forms of discrimination and harassment.

******************

We discussed Chapter Two:

Just Having Fun Being One of the Girls”: Jazz Jennings, Trans Girl Citizenship, and Clean & Clear’s ‘See the Real Me.’ by Rachel Reinke. Reinke analyzes Clean & Clear’s campaign “See the Real Me,” and their video with Jazz Jennings, a trans woman. We found quite a few issues with this video and how it represents people who identify as trans. While Jennings experience as a trans woman is still valid, she still sets a transnormative standard for all other trans people watching the video. Jennings in their video, makes it seem like there is a hierarchy within the trans community and the right or wrong way to be trans. The product was never shown in the video, nor did Jazz have any acne in the video to match the product she was selling. They show Jennings as being very feminine: straight hair, putting on makeup, the way she is dressed and being girly. Jennings is a woman that can blend in with most cis-women or girls easily and most would not even notice. Reinke article talks about how Jennings says in the commercial, “I am a girl trapped in a boy’s body” and how this is harmful to other members of the trans-community. Clean & Clear is working to make their company seem like they are more progressive than they really are. They chose Jennings for the statement of using a trans person for their ad to come across and being more progressive and inclusive of others

******************

Reproductive Work to Regenerative Labor by Melinda Cooper and Catherine Waldby, both discuss moving from reproductive labor to regenerative labor. They analyzed how certain bodies are used to regenerate others. We discussed in class the question of why are Waldby and Cooper looking at labor? We talked about what we thought of as labor to be typical, coming up with answers like physical/manual labor, childbirth, and an occupation. How it is important to bring light to the economic role of women. Invisible labor leads into the idea of using stem cells as a form of labor. It rethinks the idea of what labor is for women, one that most people do not think about, and it adds an additional layer of intersectionality

#GWS350

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jakekavfineart · 5 years

Text

Art in the City : New York Edition

Marcel Duchamp ‘Nude Descending a staircase’ 1913

Duchamp is the enigma of art and changed the way art is made, he gave art an intellectual meaning. Although this painting is categorised as cubism, this painting was not well received by the French and did not accept it to be a cubism work of art, in fact made people laugh and snigger. Within the painting there is an androgynist figure moving down the stairs, with geometric shapes Duchamp captures a movement sequence.

‘Fountain’ 1917

New York wanted to take on Paris, however Duchamp’s was asked to withdraw his work due to it being called “a ready-made piece of art”. Duchamp’s response to that was “I the artist declare it as art, therefor it is”.

Harlem Renaissance

Lois Mailou Jones ‘The Ascent of Ethiopia” 1932 Oil on canvas

‘The Ascent of Ethiopia’ is now one of Jones’s most famous painting after being revaluated, and she was one of the first women to receive an American exhibition. Influenced by African Americans this painting depicts the journey that was once took, from slaves to freedom. This painting celebrates freedom with art, drama and music, working from the bottom up the body language of the people goes from pleading, to the top where they have a growing confidence. The colours Jones’s chose are significant to telling the story, the black and blue represent the bruises and beating the slaves endured. The gold represents Jazz music, and the star can be seen lighting the way for the slaves on the path to freedom. Lois Mailou Jones was a forerunner for intersectionality, at first it was women who were black that came up with the concept, then black lesbians also joined because the odds were stacked three times against them, being not only a black women, but also gay in them times was not ok.

American Realism

Edward Hopper ‘Nighthawks’ 1942 Oil on canvas

Inspired by a diner in new York city, the title comes from the gentleman dining with the lady, it is named after his nose. The other gentleman in this picture is mysterious, we cannot see his face, Hopper leaves it for the viewer to decide what happens next, while is he alone and so on. The painting is purposefully evocative, and stirs the viewers imagination, more so because people can associate with the situation.

George Bellows ‘Dempsey and Firpo,’ 1924 Oil on canvas

Bellows was the first to paint violence in that environment, life on the streets and the reality of it. This painting is a social document, a screenshot in time, it is easy to forget what life was like at that time, easy to idealise. Bellows has painted a memory.

Abstract Expressionism

Jackson Pollock ‘Convergence’ 1952 Oil on canvas

Expressionism for Pollock meant the colours he used and the technique were subjected to how he felt in that moment, he would pour, splat, spread oil paint onto the canvas and use colours such as blue for clam, red for anger and so on. ‘Convergence’ in person would be extremply tacktile and thick, because Pollock used oil paints he would have to wait a long time for layers to dry, that’s why he would have multiple painting on the go at the same time. It is to be said that without Clement Greenburg there would be no Jackson Pollock, Greenburg was a writer with magazines of his own calling Pollock “the greatest artist of our generation”. Greenburg has a huge influence within the art community.

Kenneth Noland ‘Drought’ 1962 Acrylic on canvas

Colour field painting developed in New York, it has no representation it is all about feelings and emotion and consist off large areas of flat single colour.

Mark Rothko Untitled 1968 Synthetic polymer paint on paper

Rothko’s untitled piece is all about spiritual value, being absorbed into the colour of the canvas. This piece is intended for the viewer to spend a long time in front of it, its scale is huge and although it looks simple the craft is in the application of the paint. Rothko was part of the Russian Jewish embassy and in 1993 he fled Russia, he suffered severely from depression and eventually took his own life. People believe if you look at his painting you see the deterioration off his mental health by his colour choices, however, this is not in fact true as Rothko painting with bright colour then dark, before returning by the bright shortly before his passing.

Lee Krasner ‘Noon’ 1947 Oil on linen

Krasner being not only a women but Jackson Pollocks wife did her work a major disserves, her work was on a small scale until the death of her husband. It was then that she started to play around with larger scales, it is to be believed that it was potentially Krasner that began the concept of drip painting but Pollock got the recognition for this because he was a man.

Roy Lichtenstein ‘Drowning Girl’ 1963 Oil and synthetic polymer on canvas

This painting is about consumerism, Lichtenstein has painted what appears to be a comic book which were a big deal at that time. He discribes his work to have “no hidden meaning, what you see is what you get”.

Faith Ringgold ‘American people series #20 Die’ 1967 Oil on canvas

Ringgold was a survival rights activist; this painting is very political and was painted at the time of an ongoing protest.

‘Tar Beach 1 & 2’ Acrylic on canvas, bordered with printed & painted quilt

Ringgold grew up in Harlem, what can be seen is her and family on a rooftop with the city in the background. She felt very safe and protected as a child, hence the flying children in the painting to signify that.

#roy lichtenstein #faith ringgold #lee krasner #mark rothko #kenneth noland #jackson pollock #george bellows #edward hopper #marchel duchamps #lois mailou jones #fineart

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evilelitest2 · 6 years

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What do you think are some of the pitfalls of modern day feminism and how can we improve feminism? I don't think the current feminist movement does enough to help lower class women who are more likely to deal with things like sexual assult, domestic violence and restricted access to abortions. I think the transition from an academic setting to the blogosphere has lead to a lot of feminist terms being misused or overused. What do you think?

Fun fact, I tried to answer this question three times and every time something happened and I lost all my writing. But yes, great question, but sort of difficult because there isn’t one form of feminism, my critiques of Second Wave Feminism are totally different from my critiques from 4th Wave, or my critiques of Marxist feminism, its like having a single critique of every form of goverment, technically possible but the specifics matter a great deal. Some forms of feminism focus exclusively on lower class women, others do in fact ignore them. That being said, there are a few broad critiques I can make of the movement, but a few caveots i want to make clear first.

Firstly, every movement, regardless of its ideals, are going to have stupid people, simplistic people, and bullies within its ranks, and there is no real fix for “some feminists online are dumb”. The question when it comes to a movement is “are these just idiots attached to the wrong cause” or “is the cause itself rotten” which isn’t true of feminism the way that White Natioanlism is fundementally broken

Secondly, every movement interested in human rights struggles with intersectionality, it is not a uniquely feminist thing, intersectionality is hard both practically and psychologically, and that is something I think all of the movements are struggling with, feminism has done better than some with its active efforts to incorporate queer efforts into its larger movement.

Ok so actual critiques

1) Branding. Feminism has major major problems with its image, one thing I notice constantly is that various feminist ideas and terminology might be easily accepted by people because they are objectively useful, but when people hear that they are feminist, suddenly people are like “eww no” . Feminism really needs to rebrand itself to try to be more approachable, especially in regards to the usefulness of the ideas, because many of these concepts are just make life objectively easier to understand, but also there need to be active attempts to countermand the way feminists are depicted in the media, especially that sort of man hating militant

2) Clarify terms: THis is actually for the larger left wing movement, but the reason why the right can so easily strawman/co-op our rhetoric is that we aren’t specific about it . I mean take privilege for example, the fact of the matter is every person on the planet has some privilege in some context, a trans lesbian lower class black women in the Us still has privilege of being able bodied, or American citizenship. A wealthy white man might still have down syndrome, privilege isn’t like a bioware morality system with most privilege vs. least, its a complicated interconnected system of power relationships.

Or the Bechdel test, it isn’t just a scoring system for sexism, its a way of measuring an observable reality of the film industry, its a measurement of a larger trend rather than a condemnation of any specific movie. The more vague these terms are, the more they can be strawmanned and approprated by reactionaries.

3) Tell Terfs to fuck off: Terfs suck, end of story

4) Drop the moon goddess shit: This is more of a 2nd wave feminism issue, but i notice a lot of people perception of feminism comes from things like feminist fantasy or the sort of 2nd wave rements online, and its just utterly absurd. All of the sacred femininity, primordial matriarchy, feminine nature magic stuff is extremely dated and makes the whole movement come off as a neo pagan nonsense movement. Facts are on the side of feminism, embrace those

5) Embrace complexity. Again this doesn’t really apply to academic feminism, but more the way it is understood by tumblr folks, but we need to be more comfortable with larger complexity. Bad people can make good art, somebody can be problematic in one regard and useful in another, simplicity remains as always a tool of the right, so that needs to just be abandoned.

6) Explain utility: How is Feminism useful to me? Yeah this one kinda sucks, because when it comes to basic human rights, there is something kinda upsetting about having to be like “oh yeah, these people are being fundamentally oppressed but here is how caring about their plight can help men” like that fucking sucks. Problem is though, a lot of people are selfish, and if we can’t get them to support this cause, they will drift towards reactionary causes. Fact is, for men, it is beneficial to them to support sexism on the surface, they benefit from it, and feminism is never going to win out if you don’t draw more men away from opposition. So as much as it sucks, feminism needs to explain how patriarchy hurts men, how toxic masculinity is actually really destructive for men, how many of the issues that MRAs pretend to care about are issues caused by patriarchy rather than by feminists, how embracing gender equality is actually better for everybody involved.

7) Finally and maybe most importantly, embrace humor, I think the “humorless angry feminist” sterotype is one of the greatest weapons of the reactionary right, so we need to drop it. I admire what Anita Sarkeesian is trying to do but beyond the fact I think her videos are simplistic, she is really really boring and utterly without humor. Which i think weakens the movement as a whole, if feminism is funny and approachable, it can win adherents, cause again, the facts are on itself, it doesn’t need to hide its core identity the way that reactionary movements do.

Bonus Round: Feminism should not be equated with other causes, feminism isn’t necessarily communist or pacifistic,

Edit:

Ok one thing I think I should add here, and this isn’t really the task of feminism but I think this needs to happen for Feminism to figure out where it go next. There needs to be a clearer way for men to relate to the world feminists hope to build. Now I don’t mean that in the sense of “oh no feminism hopes to oppress me and leave men obsolete” and all that conservative nonsense, I mean that when patriarchal gender norms are challenged and broken down (as they should be) it isn’t necessarily clear where men should go. And many times they return back to reactionary hyper conservative gender norms, because those are simply and easy ad all that jazz. Like, this isn’t the fault of feminism, its more of an unintended consequence that happens when change comes a calling, like how ebay has been putting malls out of work. But while men should be able to come up with their own purpose once masculine identities are torn down, creating new identities based upon themselves rather than vague socialist expectations...that clearly isn’t happening, so feminism would do well if they could offer suggestions and try to address those anxeities. Which....isn’t fair. I mean its totally not fair at all that feminists have to both care for the needs and interests of a systemically oppressed under class....AND spend time trying to address the emotional needs of the oppressive class but you know...life isn’t fair. And its just easier, if men, episodically young boys, can’t find a new purpose and identity, they are going to drift back to conservatism, this is how MRAs recruit.

Honestly, a Men’s movement focusing on how to address men’s issues within the context of feminism and addressing the legitimate issues facing men (suicide, toxic masculinity, sexual insecurities etc) would be a really great thing, but that has largely been co-opted by MRAs as a way to recruit troubled young men into a reactionary hate group. It shouldn't’t be feminist job, but finding answers for the anxieties of these young men will help them greatly in the future, its just more practical to address that from the outset rather than let them be corrupted by simplistic conspiracy theory narratives about the castration addicted matriarchy bent on white genocide.

#ask evilelitest2 #feminism #social justice

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stele3 · 6 years

Text

Black Sails rec list

Some fic that I’ve enjoyed...by no means comprehensive, there are some amazing talents out there.

Post Stall - STEAMPUNK AU. Or, well, sorta steampunk. There are airships. This feels like the beginning of a story but there’s only the one bit; if anyone can bribe ballantine for more, you’d have my thanks. As a standalone it’s still great: Max, Billy, and Silver track down Flint for a job, in an alternate timeline kinda situation. Silver/Flint.

leave the lights on - The tags for this story are as follows: “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Compliant, both of those tags are true.” The less I tell you going in, the better. :D Silver/Flint

Here We Stand - An interesting character study framed as a conversation between Max and Silver, post-season 2. I love the snake siblings and always wish we could have had more of their interactions. Gen, Max & Silver.

the past and pending series - All of beanarie’s Black Sails stuff is A+ but I especially like this one. Post-series, in which Silver has malaria and shows up to achieve some kind of (he thinks) deathbed resolution with Flint, who is living quite peacefully with Thomas. Silver/Flint, Flint/Thomas, Silver/Madi.

unfinished business series - Another author whose whole selection of BS fic should be perused. Post-series, not so much a fix-it as a means of processing what might have happened on the way to Savannah. youatemytailor specializes in post-series not-fix-it fics, it’s the worst (/best). Silver/Flint

the orange series - vowelinthug is also hella prolific, block off an afternoon and just go through their shit, it’s all great. I’m sure you’ve read the St. Augustin series, but in case you haven’t, here it is. Post-series, Silver/Flint domesticity.

The Unquiet Grave - hard to describe...pre-series/post-series time travel AU? Thomas gets a strange visitor who forever alters his fate. Thomas & Silver.

feel it coasting - Unfinished, and I’m pretty sure it’s abandoned, BUT. Modern AU set during Pride, in London! *jazz hands* A must for any queer BS fans, there’s some really good shit here about the different conflicting emotions Pride can bring. Come for the Flint/Silver, stay for the discussion of intersectionality in the modern LGBT+ world.

deeper than any ocean floor - So lovely. John Silver doesn’t recognize love, until he suddenly does. Post-4x09, Silver/Flint.

I Am No Bird - Jane Eyre AU (no doubt inspired by the time that Toby Stephens played Rochester). WIP, and it could use a beta for some typos; but don’t let that put you off, there is some primo romance novel shit in here. Silver/Flint, Max/Anne.

Febrile affairs - Part of a much longer series that I have yet to read. I had a bad fever recently and appropriately passed my bedrest with this story in which everyone takes turns getting sick. You have to read the section where Flint is feverish and ranting. Silver/Flint, Silver/Thomas, Flint/Thomas.

we must unlearn the constellations to see the stars - The Groundhog Day AU from hell. Silver keeps waking up in different days from his past and doesn’t know why. He comes to some realizations. Flint/Silver

inhale, exhale, reset - The OT4 of excellency. Post-series, Madi finds Flint first.

we pull apart the dark, compete against the stars - post-season 3, Silver gets obsessed with Flint’s confession and then gets insecure about comparing himself to Thomas Hamilton. Silver/Flint

Do you have any recs to add? Please do! Especially if they’re Madi-centric fics, we need more of those.

#black sails #fic rec

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anthropolos · 6 years

Text

Hi anon. Hope you don’t mind me doing it like this:

“ I can't access the Abu-loghod piece from my institution so I'm basing this reply pretty much entirely off of the Stacey article, and parts of Lewin’s edited reader. Also, I'm an archaeology student so some of this is outside of what I'm used to (which I also get is LOADED with its own history). (1/8)

I am completely on-board with the notion that ethnography is inherently exploitative of the disenfranchised, and that, especially without its applied component(and when considering the history of neglect and abuse), is useless. At it’s core, you’re right. Kinda fucked. I’d be curious to see what you end up proposing by the end of this project, and how you feel about the field (whether you continue with it in some form or abandon it entirely). (2/8)

I don’t like Stacey’s final “suggestion”, if you can call it that. My least favorite thing about theory is the post-modern cop-out, and how the response to any ethical dilemma is to plow forwards with more awareness. This is exactly what Stacey invokes… But she argues that it’s eventually “worth” the attempt (although at best it can only get halfway). I want to agree that it’s worth the effort. (3/8)

Social science occupies a unique space in its ability to hopefully inform social policies (although that’s unlikely under the current administration). It would be an enormous shame for the field to completely abandon any attempt at a feminist approach. Fortunately, some like Zavella (1993, in Lewin’s volume) seems even more optimistic. Again, it might be fair to assume that these positive views are motivated by a self-preservation, (4/8)

... just a desire to keep their job and not to invalidate all the work they’ve done. I don’t know what’s driving this intense fatalism about disentanglement. Maybe the Abu-Loghod piece deals with that, but she still continued work and publication in social science after this. Behar, though, interprets her message as being more positive than Stacey’s, so I don’t know where to go with that. (5/8)

I also agree that just because the ethnographer may be a woman, and as such better in a place to understand disenfranchisement, it doesn’t change the reality of a power imbalance, (hell, even attempting a true emic perspective, when done by a fully educated and informed “insider other”, is questionable at best). Authorship gives considerable privilege, no matter the researcher or ‘informant’. Does remaining within the field, even, undermine their arguments about these complications? (6/8)

A critical perspective on methodology is a must, but, your position seems extreme and “unsettling” (just to use the language I’ve been reading). Maybe I’m just resorting to the same postmodern fallback here, but isn’t this description of power relations a core tenant of domains of (Marxian) anthropology? (7/8)

This stuff’s important to think about, but I don’t think it dooms any feminist ethnographer from being trapped solely within “White Feminism ^(tm)” so long as other elements of their practice, such as the eventual application of their work can, in essence, supersede any negative impacts of their research. Sorry if any of this is a lot I'm just curious what you have to say about any of it. Tonight's been an interesting couple of hours of reading on the topic. (8/8)

Ok actually one last thing. Stacey’s entire postmodern prosaic style overlooks intersectionality with class and the accessibility of research (though it is clearly for an academic audience), which as a point I think works well for her critique, yet undermines the declaration of it as “inevitable”. (9/8)”

My response:

Thank you for writing this, it’s so great to actually communicate with someone who has done the reading, is well informed on the topic, and has taken the time to start a dialog. I will say that I really recommend you read the Abu-Lughod piece. She is more positive than Stacey who writes that she is not convinced, actually, by postmodernists’ attempts. While you seem to have gotten a more positive impression of Stacey, I actually incorporate her reading into my syllabus as an example of how ethnography will never be feminist. But I’m sure I’ll re-read her again, since my final paper is on her and Abu-Lughod’s similarities and differences.

Abu-Lughod does address how women in anthropology have been less inclined to push a feminist agenda for the sake of their jobs. It’s no secret in anthropology that, while it’s mostly women, men receive more notoriety and tenure as professors than women do. She believes that, as you say, self-preservation is a strong motivator for a lack of feminism in anthropology.

While I understand that you think anthropology is worth saving because of how it can impact policy, I’m afraid I haven’t seen that impact since Mead. Anthropologists are typically co-opted by the CIA if they are recruited for govt. purposes, which isn’t a good thing by any means. Anthropologists being used for policy is even further an exploitative step for the studied, who go from being published about to having in-depth cultural knowledge being used for state-sanctioned violence and control.

Besides all that jazz, I’m afraid that none of what was said in these asks addresses the root problem, which Abu-Lughod emphasizes: A Western, colonizer, researcher self; and a non-Western, colonized, researched Other. This is similar to what Stacey is saying, with maybe less focus on race and colonization than Abu-Lughod. I will tell you, Abu-Lughod does say that anthropology can work to disrupt this self/Other binary by seeing the Other in the self, and the self in the Other. By that, she advocates for indigenous, native, or halfie anthropology. However, in her own words, the power imbalance between women, especially Western female anthropologists studying women from other cultures, is the “unequal structure of the world and the structure of anthropology” (25). Abu-Lughod is admitting that anthropology is designed to perpetuate, instill, and recreate the power imbalance between the Western self and studied non-Western Other.

Maybe what was ignored in this discussion are things like Lewin’s lesbian ethnography. What if I only study myself? What’s the role of autoethnography? I personally relate to this since I am a bisexual woman and I’ve spent the last two years studying other bisexual women. What I can say with that is I am brought back to Stacey’s arguments. I still have authority over my ethnography. I am still imposing myself onto a complex web of relationships and social systems, which I am more free to remove myself from than the researched. I am still using their data, while most of them are my friends, for my own academic gain. I’m afraid the ethnographic process ensures this. We need to develop another method which allows us to communicate with each other and produce knowledge without exploited third parties. I recommend Collins’ reading for that. Black feminist epistemology has struggled with this question, and she actually has an answer for it. It’s just that the answer is not ethnography, and definitely not anthropology.

#ask #anon #anonymous #feminist anthropology #anthropology #ethnography

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