Thread by @MsAbeja

While diversifying our #FVR #CI readers let’s remember-white people writing “diverse” characters isn’t the answer.

In “Tears We Cannot Stop” Dr. Dyson details how white writers appropriate the culture and stories of POC.

I think his comments apply to us.
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White writers often “fail to see how other cultures—their people, their ideas, their identities—have always been treated as only fiction, have always been looted of their inherent value and forced to fit in to the schemes, worldviews, or novels of folk”
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“...especially white folk... invested in denying their own privilege and power to treat these other cultures just as they pleased.”

Like when #FVR novels drip w/White Gaze. When #CI readers mine other cultures for their most violent, sensational stories.
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Dr. Dyson points out that the “white writer is quite free to roam across the globe in search of whatever experiences or insights will light her way to a nuanced, engaged piece of fiction. But that freedom is not merely artistic...”

“The art of white writers rests on power relations that have left black [and Latin American] culture at a disadvantage, vulnerable to literary cherry-picking.”

Here is that Danger of the Single Story. What themes do we see in our #fvr #CI libraries?

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But let us not forget the history of white appropriation of “a body of ideas and identities that have been abused, and appropriated, against the will of other cultures, and used at the discretion of writers who pay no mind to the people whose experiences they seek to borrow...”

The intention may be good, “such as telling a story that hasn’t been told. But if the folk whose story is told don’t have the opportunity to tell their OWN story, what is on the surface a good thing becomes a matter of who has the power & privilege to spin narratives.”
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“We must also not overlook how the use of such experiences can reinforce beliefs about communities of color that have harmful political consequences”
Particularly when those appropriated experiences are used in #fvr readers to teach white kids about Latin America.
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“Nor should we ignore how the appropriation of “minority” cultures by white writers w/advantage leaves people of color little room to speak their truths in their own ways.”
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“And we certainly can’t ignore how the more famous [authors] get angry when they’re called on their appropriation.”

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This is why I’m shifting to focus on increasing the number of #OwnVoices #CI readers in my #fvr library.

This doesn’t mean that there’s no place for white CI authors. But I hope white authors think about these points when deciding what to write.
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#WLbookaudit

(Should say “white folk” at the end of that quote)

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