Sally&#39;s Journal

How are we defining non-white?

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One of my favorites. Also very similar to my childhood experience of growing up in Belize

http://www.amazon.com/Beka-Lamb-Caribbean-Writers-Edgell/dp/0435988441

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anonymous-james.livejournal.com

Excuse me for being dense, but isn't this a little odd? (I'm avoiding the word rascist here because I don't mean to be that severe).

I mean when I read a book, I don't check to see whether the author is white or black. Now admittedly I'm leaving it up to the publishing company to also be not bothered by this, but for all I know half the writers I read books from already could be non-white.

Clearly I've missed the point somewhere...

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I'm assuming not completely Caucasion?

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Him (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Taleb), for example, or him (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Gladwell).

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Don't get me wrong, I struggle with it myself. My mother is mestizo and my dad is british but has a greek family.

I get mixed reactions from different people as to what ethnic race I'm percieved as.

I should also add, however, that people treat you differently based on how they percieve you. Like it or not, it's a fact, and that's why a POC will likely have a different experience from the white norm, and why reading about stuff that is written by people other than the usual demographic is important.

Edited Date: 2009-03-26 02:39 pm (UTC)

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badgersandjam.livejournal.com

Anything by Toni Morrison. Beloved is most people's choice, but I've heard really good things about her latest one as well (and it has the bonus of being much shorter).

Maya Angelou. Poetry and Prose (are you allowed poetry)?

Wild Swans by Jung Chang.

Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan.

collections by Sherman Alexie (I may have spelt that wrongly).

Falling Leaves by Adeline Yeh Mah.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston (this is *really* good)

various novels by Louise Erdrich.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker (non-fiction)

There is a collection of Native American stories and excerpts edited by Joy Harjo called Reinventing the Enemy's Language

If you're allowed poetry, check out Joy Harjo (especially She Had Some Horses, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker (Horses make the Landscape look more Beautiful). (IMHO Lorde and Harjo are better poets than Walker.)

Erm...that's all I can bring to mind just at the moment without my bookshelves and dedicated search time on my hands.

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badgersandjam.livejournal.com

Oh! Monica Ali and Zadie Smith, too.

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I think the point is to use ethnicity as a proxy for broader lifestyle differences. It's a reasonable arbitrary constraint to impose if you want to read about viewpoints that probably differ from your own.

Personally, if I want to read the works of someone with a different perspective to mine, I'll just read something I disagree with. Still, each to their own.

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How about people from an ostensibly white culture who would appear dark-skinned to most of middle-England, but wouldn't be thought of as ethnically divergent in their place/time of origin?

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Are you asking me whether we should read their work or whether they should be thought of as white or not?

Your question isn't very clear.

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I think the point is that it's really easy to read books by white authors. Like...really easy. You can spend your entire life reading books by white authors without even trying, or stepping out of your comfort zone. And it's a lot easier for white authors to get published. At the end of the day, books are picked by editors and publishers who respond to them, and often people respond to characters and stories which resonate with them - with lead characters which are just like them. It's why male writers have traditionally had an easier time getting published as well.

That also tends to mean that if you're white it's easier to find books with characters who are just like you - in fantasy, for example, 99% of the novels feature white european style heroes, in western european style settings. There's a real shortage of characters who are identifiably of non-white descent, and that's a shame for a lot of readers, who are always reading about people Not Like Them, whereas I get to read constantly about People Like Me.

So, the point of this challenge is to step out of that comfort zone, to stop reading all white authors, just because I've not thought about it and also to try and stretch myself a little and read books about people who are not Just Like Me - for example, I've read books about immortal Africans, and the slave trade as part of this challenge. I've read books about Bangladeshi women coming to England and I've read books about African economics by an African economist talking about her own country. And I think that has stretched my mind at lot.

It isn't as if I'm not reading any white authors any more - and god knows I've read enough of them. I'm just also trying something different and not quietly letting my world stay white-by-default.

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I am allowed poetry, but I've tried Maya Angelou before and she makes my brain bleed. Alice Walker as well, I'm afraid. 'The Colour Purple' sapped my will to live.

Jung Chang, Sherman Alexie, and Adeline Yeh Mah are all fab and I've got a fair chunk of my bookshelf already, although I always want more! Maxine Hong Kingston is in the post, apparently. I've heard good things about that novel!

Who is Linda Hogan? I've heard the name, but can't place where...

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Non-caucasian.

Fair skinned PoC are allowed. Basically, if they are not of White European descent, they count, I believe.

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Yes, both would count.

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Like who?

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This! Totally and utterly this!

You explained part of why I'm doing this challenge thing better than I could.

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I am asking whether we should think of them as white or not, for the purposes of this exercise.

I experience a certain amount of distress in trying to judge whether someone is "coloured" enough to warrant inclusion.

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Not entirely. It's also meant to be a kind of low level anti-racist activism - reading about different points of view, with an added desire to kick oneself out of one's normal existence which is often white-by-default. Plus it's a good way to get through one's comfortable bubble in which racism isn't a problem, everyone's the same really (and secretly white underneath), and support PoC authors who often have more trouble getting published at the same time.

It's not something I think everyone in the world should be obliged to do, but it is something I do, enjoy doing and get a lot out of. Plus, I've read some fantastic books doing this that I'd never have thought of otherwise.

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I think if you're questioning whether they are or not, then they probably count.

It's not meant to be some kind of strict paper bag style test. Just an attempt to look at writers from a slightly different background to my own.

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I don't feel comfortable labelling people because I am of mixed race and am sometimes perceived as white and sometimes not.

I suppose when people say "white culture" they mean the western norm, and not cultures such as Eastern European, for example.

I experience a certain amount of distress in trying to judge whether someone is "coloured" enough to warrant inclusion

Erm...why?

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I think Eastern European would count as 'white' for this challenge, although I think reading 50 books by Eastern European writers would be a cool and interesting other challenge, and one I think I might do after I finish this one.

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Well, the example that sprang to mind was Giacomo Casanova, whose abridged and English-translated memoires are available in Penguin Classics paperback. By all contemporary accounts, he was more Morgan Freeman than David Tennant.

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