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13 Feb 2009 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salinea"Going Native" sf, anthropology and colonialism by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coffeeandink
There's a recent survey done by the Anti Defamation League about antisemitism in Europe http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3669706,00.html
A lesson in modern antisemitism and this other post bychopchica talks about it and about her own experience with antisemitism while travelling in Europe. As a French Jew, it's a little bit odd for me to see a post talking about this from the experience of an American on a trip, but actually it's a bit of an eye opener because there are many things I taught myself not to pay attention to just because I'm used to them. I'm also used to see my concerns dismissed and being treated like a pain in the ass when I insist on complaining about the lack sandwich with chicken rather than three different choices of pork or cheese at local RPG conventions.
Over at the westeros board (yes, I still read it, just lurking, shut up), Scott Bakker insists on showing his ass to the public in a thread (and its sequel) about the treatment of women in his books and people who think it's sexist (and people who think any reading about sexism and misogynism in a book is a grave insult that should never be done because it's so awful!! yeahhhhhhh right). On the same thread, several people, especially Kalbear, Maia and needle are being awesome.
There's a Celia Friedman interview at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist with some interesting discussions about sexism in fantasy as well, especially in the comments.
coffeeandinkThere's a recent survey done by the Anti Defamation League about antisemitism in Europe http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3669706,00.html
A lesson in modern antisemitism and this other post by
chopchica talks about it and about her own experience with antisemitism while travelling in Europe. As a French Jew, it's a little bit odd for me to see a post talking about this from the experience of an American on a trip, but actually it's a bit of an eye opener because there are many things I taught myself not to pay attention to just because I'm used to them. I'm also used to see my concerns dismissed and being treated like a pain in the ass when I insist on complaining about the lack sandwich with chicken rather than three different choices of pork or cheese at local RPG conventions.Over at the westeros board (yes, I still read it, just lurking, shut up), Scott Bakker insists on showing his ass to the public in a thread (and its sequel) about the treatment of women in his books and people who think it's sexist (and people who think any reading about sexism and misogynism in a book is a grave insult that should never be done because it's so awful!! yeahhhhhhh right). On the same thread, several people, especially Kalbear, Maia and needle are being awesome.
There's a Celia Friedman interview at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist with some interesting discussions about sexism in fantasy as well, especially in the comments.
no subject
Date: 13 February 2009 10:59 pm (UTC)You have witches and dragon, you can add some exceptions to the rule
I mean, yeah, brutal times. (I know of a lot people who live in the same conditions. I don't have to travel that much, actually.)
And I think their bad reputation also extends to anti-Semitism, because, hey, there was Anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages. El Quijote, el Mio Cid are... not exactly nice.
But at the same time, Jewish at least exist there. :S
But it's like people want to say: 'Middle Ages = Free buffet of Oppresion. This days = We're like so nice.'
/rambles
no subject
Date: 13 February 2009 11:04 pm (UTC)You know how many realistic fantasy stories set in pseudo Middle Ages have Jews? Cuz, I can only think of one (okay, two, if I count the one where the Jews that are all Christians and in which there are no other Jews).
/end sarcasm.
no subject
Date: 13 February 2009 11:45 pm (UTC)Because if they go on about how accurate their stories are, there should be Jews and Muslims. I mean, the first Romance-language poems were a mix Hebrew/Classic Arab and proto-Spanish, so they were there. Writing even.
no subject
Date: 13 February 2009 11:47 pm (UTC)Oh! I didn't even know that! Pretty cool!
no subject
Date: 14 February 2009 01:12 am (UTC)Let me educate you about the jarchas:
French scholars believed the first recorded literature in a Romance vernacular was, of course, from Provence. Because, you know, France.
Spanish scholars hated that. Because, you know, France.
So, in the '40s, a Hebrew scholar and an Arabist discovered these old texts in Hebrew in an Egyptian synagogue. There were moaxacas, a common poetic composition, but the refrains made no sense in Hebrew or Classic Arab. But when they tried to read it in Ibero-Romance, lo and behold, it made sense.
And then everyone rejoiced.
Except French medievalists, but who cares?
no subject
Date: 14 February 2009 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 February 2009 02:11 am (UTC)I've actually come across another one which I'm not sure qualifies, but which pinged me that way. Not in a good way, though. I'm talking about Sarah Zettel's Isavalta novels, which I was talking about a couple of years ago. They are set in a magical parallel universe pseudo-Russia, and... well, you could read the whited-out spoilery section in that post I linked to if you want to know, but it definitely pinged me oddly, kind of the same way Carey's stuff did, although the parallel to Jews is much less clear-cut.
no subject
Date: 14 February 2009 10:26 pm (UTC)Glad to learn there's another one even if it's no good. *sighs*
There are a lot of books with discriminated usually travelling folks that feel like a mix of Rom, Native Americans and perhaps Jews. But it's usually a very mixed vibes.