race, characterization, honest writing, and politics

[deborah]

Two things lately have been making me think how all choices about character description in writing are political, even if they aren't intended to be. The first was teaching Flora Segunda, and wondering about character race and ethnicity in this created world. (We know that among the Califans, some, such as Flora Primera and Udo, are blonde and considered beautiful for it; we know that the Huitzils seem to be related to the Aztec Empire; we know that the Califans have Spanish words in their vocabularies and Latin American-influenced traditions in their culture.)

And I was also thinking about some concerns I know that Kristin has had regarding character description. For example, does not describing a heroine's weight make her automatically thin? Does not describing her skin color make her automatically white? Does not describing her sexuality make her automatically straight? (I am probably putting some words into Kristin's mouth, so Kristin, please forgive me and/or correct me.)

Anyway, Roger Sutton pointed towards this interesting discussion on a very closely related topic on Mitali Perkins's blog. "Should Authors Describe a Character's Race?" (Mitali Perkins is the author of First Daughter: American Makeover, a book I find fascinating, compelling, and extremely problematic, about a white presidential candidate with an adopted Pakistani daughter.)

Comments

[flourish.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that characters are normatively assumed to be white, thin and straight unless there are other cues that tell us this isn't true. (I am pretty sure that this isn't just to do with imagining characters to be like oneself - I always imagine characters as straight until I learn that they aren't, and I'm not straight. But perhaps not everyone has the same experience with this...?)

[flourish.livejournal.com]

I should add that since I am thin and white I cannot speak to either of those things, for the sake of full self-disclosure...

[deborah]

I agree with you. I assume thin, white, and straight, and out of those, I am only white.

[cavlec.livejournal.com]

Ursula K. LeGuin goes after this in several directions: describing characters with all sorts of skin tones, making darker skin tones the norm (Earthsea, Werel/Yeowe), and hiding information about a character until the reader has presumably formed a default judgment, then tossing a non-default detail in (e.g. Forest and Riel being a lesbian couple in "Dancing to Ganam").

[deborah]

Yes, she's excellent at intentionally playing against expectations. I think Gaiman's Anansi Boys does this, too, only describing race of the non-black characters.

[kristincashore.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Those are all exactly questions I have been asking, and thanks for linking to Perkins' blog. I'll be following that conversation. (And this one and Roger's and The Longstockings' (http://thelongstockings.blogspot.com/2008/10/kathys-cocoa-brown-with-hint-of-whipped.html) -- everyone's doing it!)

Also, I think I need to read more LeGuin.

[deborah]

It's funny how everyone is talking about this stuff at once.

[kristincashore.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Me again. This is your public blog, right? Can I link to you from my public blog?

[deborah]

Absoluely you can, and yes, it is!