Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion
Why is this group so black-centered?
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Do you recommend and vote for the books to be discussed? Members choose the book by voting in polls and authors who are not Black are represented as a choice. I don’t know the racial or ethnic make up of the majority of this group, but it seems that books by Black authors are the ones that get the top votes. There are more than likely other book discussion boards tailored to Chinese authors specifically. If not, start one.
Personally I have an interest in Afro-American literature, so I'm going to take up every chance to read more of it and it is likely what I'm going to swing for in polls. If there's interest, we might think of having theme months, apart from AAPI Heritage Month. Over the years there have been a number of books by Asian and heritage Asian writers. But as far as I know the books of the month are always fiction, not poetry. If classical Chinese poetry is your focus, I'm afraid it's a bit off the mark in this group.
Most users of Goodreads come from USA so I think they will have the loudest voice. Chinese literature is probably a minority interest.
I personally read as broadly as I can, but some things just aren't as much interest to me, especially right now in my life where I'm not interested in reading that feels like course work. That said, I am in the US, we just had Black History month here, I'm a trained jazz musician who minored in African American Studies at uni, and I've long been a reader of Black writers, because I find that literature particularly rewarding. So yes, I do read a lot of Black writers, especially around this time of year because of Black History month here in the US. But that doesn't mean I don't think other writers of different backgrounds aren't worthy of being read and discussed and I'm always looking for other works that I might enjoy that broaden my perspective. As Wanda said, you are free to to nominate and open discussions on other authors and works that interest you.
The book selected for March is a Korean author, Han Kang. It will be good to hear your perspective of her book!
I am a white woman with biracial daughters and grandchildren. As a white woman I acknowledge I have white privilege. I have experienced fear of my black husband being murdered and/or imprisoned. I have personally been assaulted by a white supremacist. I read black authors so that I can grow and be a better mother, grandmother and make a change in the USA. I have reading goals to read diversely also. I have other clubs that I frequent. I don't depend on one club to meet all of my reading goals and I expect this club to be black-centered.
Mod
Yes, last check, South Korea is in East Asia so this months selection may just appeal to you. Five of the most recent books selected for discussion were by non-Black, POC authors (Sept, Oct, Dec, Jan & March). So, I’m not exactly sure where you got that from. There’s surely more niche groups on GR you can join that will cater to what you need.
Just remember, that this group is for POC content and POC content ONLY! Not the German and Russian content you have posted in the past -and that I have repeatedly & kindly asked you not to. If there’s any misunderstanding, here’s the group info that’s been at the top of the page for 18+ years:
Literary Fiction by People of Color
This can include genre fiction that is literary (e.g. speculative fiction, historical fiction, etc.), as long as it's written by a person of color (African-American, Asian-American, Latino/a, Native American, Middle Eastern).
For me “authors of color” implies that authors are writing as minorities from within a culture/country dominated by whiteness. So a Chinese author writing for a Chinese audience isn’t to my way of thinking an “author of color,” because this author isn’t writing from the perspective of being a racial minority within a dominant white culture. This is a narrower definition of “author of color” than this group adopts since it would exclude Han kang, for instance. When I read the bookshelf in this group it seems deeply diverse. Han Kang, Kaveh Akbar, Ayoub Imilouane, Kelvin Ray Oxendine, James Baldwin, R.F. Kuang, to list the last several group reads.
Mod
Hey Lark!
Yes, we went down the rabbit hole with this several years ago in this group -particularly as it has to do with Syrian, Iranian, Pakistani & similar groups. The consensus at the time was to include them for group discussions. There clearly was some differing of opinions on that. I will say it’s much easier determining who not to include then otherwise.
Hi ColumbusReads...sorry to have been just lurking of late.Yeah, I can also see Han Kang as an oppressed minority author of color as well, if I embrace the understanding that we're still living in a not-so-post-colonial world where so many authors are writing to an international audience even if in their own countries they don't belong to a racial minority.
I really love the breadth of reading and the cultural curiosity of this group. One of a kind in the Goodreads-sphere, imo.
Thank you all for explaining and clarification. ^^ Yes, I can see many Asian literature discussed on this group, but most of Asian literature discussed on this group is only modern Asian literature, while more older and classical black authors(ex. James Baldwin) are frequently discussed in this group.
Personally, I want literatis like Li Po, Du Fu and Bai Juyi discussed more in here.
I am in a couple of groups intended to discuss Asian literature, but they are not very active, unfortunately.
Sorry if I jump in, but Lark's latter point isn't clear to me. Why does a writer need to be from "an oppressed minority" to qualify? That seems a very U.S.-centered point of view. I've always taken the focus of the group to be what it says on the cover: authors of colour, i.e. not white.
We can discuss who qualifies based on ethnicity (many Latin American writers are, for all purposes, white), but being part of a minority doesn't seem to be part of the package.
Am I mistaken? Please explain.
a.g.e. montagner wrote: "Sorry if I jump in, but Lark's latter point isn't clear to me. Why does a writer need to be from "an oppressed minority" to qualify? That seems a very U.S.-centered point of view. I've always tak..."
The group doesn’t follow that rule. It’s just my own feeling that the label ‘author of color’ implies that the author is defining themself in contrast with whiteness. I don’t agree that it’s a deeply US centric pool of writers,, because racial minorities exist everywhere. It’s a really interesting question, though, whether any contemporary writer from a non white culture can fully disengage from the impact of whiteness/colonialism so I have no argument with this group not making the same distinction I make in my own head. I’d have a harder time calling the person who wrote, say, ‘The Tale of Genji’ an author of color, though, because the author wouldn’t have thought of themselves as an ‘author of color.’
Thank you for explaining. I think I have a better idea now of our difference interpretations, and to put it in the simplest terms that I can, it's a matter of perpective: you include the writer in their (self) definition as 'of colour', while I thought of it as merely an organizing principle for the members of the group.
Lark wrote: " don’t agree that it’s a deeply US centric pool of writers,, because racial minorities exist everywhere. "But it is. Is hard for someone from Europe or USA to see it, but is by definition a eurocentric topic. Europe and USA defined what whiteness is, not people from other places. People in Enlightenment Era Europe created racism as a category, it didn't exist previosuly. Race as defined by color is very eurocentric. Ethnic categories indeed exist elsewhere, but not based on how white the skin is.
Honestly, I haven’t engaged in this discussion with you before, but after reading your conversation, I have some remarks.Your claim that racism, as a classification, did not exist in the same way before the Enlightenment or outside of America and Europe is not entirely accurate. Racism existed even in Africa itself.
In the Arabian Peninsula, especially in the Hejaz, people used to enslave those with black skin, even if they were kings and princes in their own lands. The greatest proof of this is Antarah ibn Shaddad, the famous black slave poet. Many of his poems express how he was oppressed by his people because of his skin color and because his mother was a slave, despite his father being the leader of an Arab tribe. Yet, his father disowned him and refused to acknowledge him as his son. (To read more about his story, look into the romance and love story of Antarah and Abla.)
So, if racism existed among Arabs and Africans—despite their high moral values—Islam came and completely forbade racism, making the only measure of superiority between people piety, not any other factor.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
"There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a white person over a black person, except through piety.
I don't disagree with what anyone has said. Let's move on.
i'd like to add that there is also a question of material accessibility and general interest. this is a group for novels and these poets aren't very common in the western world. plus, it is rare (to not say have-never-been-seen) that a nominated novel is dated before the 20th century. it's simply natural that you won't see much of that.
Literary Fiction by People of Color
Authors mentioned in this topic
Han Kang (other topics)Kaveh Akbar (other topics)
Ayoub Imilouane (other topics)
Kelvin Ray Oxendine (other topics)
James Baldwin (other topics)
More...
From my experience, most posts on this group seems to be about black literature. I've never seen classical Chinese or East Asian literature discussed in this group.
China has a rich history of poetry(Li Po, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, etc.) and classical chinese poetry was necessary knowledge of pre-modern East Asian ruling class. I think that this group should be focused on more diverse range of poc literature, not only blacks.