ConMunity Engagement: Representation Matters

I love GeekGirlCon, it does amazing things by creating space specifically for women in the Geek conMunity. These past two years have demonstrated that and each year they are heading towards their goal of being completely inclusive. But (yes the dreaded but) this year I examined GeekGirlCon for how they demonstrate, with real humans, that people of color are part of the Geek community. Which means that the Convention left some things to be desired, though some of those things are out of their control.

I want to and feel the need to address this specifically because:
1. I sat through at least one all white (presenting) panel
2. After my panel someone approached me with concerns about another panel that spoke about their heritage but the person talking was not of that heritage
3. I had a question during my panel about the participation of PoC in Cosplay
4. The room my panel was in ended up being too small, so people were turned away

Everything I love is problematic. I definitely think that GeekGirlCon is moving towards fulfilling their mission of being, essentially, a third-wave feminist convention, but there are holes, which I assume they are aware of, but in case they are not I think should be addressed.

All White Panels (AWPs)

What is this? Panels with only white panelists. This is in no way, shape, or form a problem unique to GeekGirlCon, you could say it’s a Paneldemic at mainstream conventions. Mainstream conventions have an all-white and all-male panel problem regardless of the topic under discussion. As GeekGirlCon has very much progressed past the all-male panel, the next step is to avoid AWPs. In the same way, that in academia there is always a woman expert that could speak, at cons (and in academia TBH) there is a woman of color who should be on that panel.

Why does this matter? Well, it, fuck it just does. Ok you want reasons well here are some. It makes the default relationship to the topic the white relationship to the topic. The panels put together by all PoC groups were labeled as such (Asian, Black, or Mixed-Race experience). In contrast, all-white panels were not labeled even though the presentation would be limited to the experience of a single group. This becomes even more awkward when having an all-white panel talking about a non-American cultural property because race-is-always-a-thing and influences how and why you associate yourself with a product. For example, looking back, Sailor Moon and the rise of Japanese-cartoons were super important for me because at the time they were the only association I had to Asian-heritage in the mainstream. It wasn’t Filipino but it was Asian, the half of my identity that was not being validated or explored through any other medium. Obviously, things not from America are important for lots of people but we cannot accept, especially at GeekGirlCon, the white experience as the only/default experience. It’s also a problem because it reinforces the stereotype that nerd-culture is white culture and reinforces the idea that PoC interested in nerd culture are not allowed or are outsiders.

How can we fix this? There’s no good way to screen for all-white panels but consider putting it into the form to have panel submissions self-select. Something along the lines of “Do your panelists represent diverse experiences with the topic under discussion in regards to race/class/ability/experience?” Then you have to explicitly talk about it, and if you do find out a panel is all white, considering labeling it as such in the same way you would identify an all-Asian panel.

Panel Authority

What is this? I generalized this to the idea of “panel authority” but it’s the idea “do the people on the panel have the right to talk about the topic”. An attendee at my panel mentioned wanting to have more of their heritage represented on panels because they felt that someone on another panel had spoken on behalf of that community without being from that community. This is definitely not unique to GeekGirlCon, but it’s also not uncommon for people “in the know,” particularly progressive people, to assume they are informed when they may not be.

Why does this matter To paraphrase a previous paragraph, it just fucking does. On the one hand, it's great that people create panels with their friends, but on the other hand you need to consider who your friends are. This is particularly important because as much as we can empathize with people of different backgrounds and may be informed enough to speak for them it never makes up for actively having those people speak for themselves, particularly in regards to culture and beliefs. We all speak from experience and a love for the topic under discussion but sometimes it's better to stop and say, maybe I don’t have the authority to say that, and ask the audience for someone who might be able to speak for that group or on the topic. This also relates to the issue in the previous section in that diverse panelists in terms of race will make that more likely. For example, if you’re going to discuss Mulan, having someone of Chinese (or at least Asian) descent may be good to have on your panel. Obviously, you can’t cover everything and you don’t want to tokenize people, but considering the authority your panelists have should be an important reason why you select them.

How can we fix this? I think the same question I suggested in the previous section could go a long way. Additionally, asking moderators and panelists to be aware of their audience and acknowledge if they are not the authority on the topic would help as well.

PoC in Cosplay

What is this? So one of the questions I had during my panel was about the Cosplay competition asking about how to get more mixed/diverse people not just cosplaying but competing. She also mentioned that of the PoC represented, most were children. We suggested directly asking friends to compete, helping those friends finish their cosplay, and supporting each other to do that. GeekGirlCon actually had the panels such as “Black Cosplay Magic: Cosplayers of Color Talk” and “Here come the “Bla-takus”: Being Black/ POC in the Anime Fandom” explicitly talked about PoC as cosplayers. However, few adult people of color were in the competition.

Why does this matter? A lot of the imagery and room names at the con advertises women of color but public participation is just as important. It matters because it demonstrates we are real and active members of the community. It matters not only that you see yourself represented in media, as characters, but that you can be seen as a valuable creator of that media. There are lots of well-known PoC in cosplay but bridging the gap to competition is important as cosplay contests get heavily featured in the program, which influences who might participate in following years and who the con is projecting is the audience and community they are serving. This comes down to putting your money where your mouth is regarding inclusivity and considering the ways that unintentionally the con might be discouraging adult PoC to participate in contests.

How can we fix this I think this comes back to what we as a panel suggested to our attendee. It may be up to the con to search out and actively encourage adult PoC to participate in cosplay competitions. It may not currently feel like a space where PoC feel that they can participate, as cosplay is expensive and, honestly, intimidating, so maybe hosting cosplay intros in communities of color (geography matters, do not ever forget that) and workshopping them towards competition may be a type of outreach that GeekGirlCon expands into in coming years.

Packed audiences for PoC Panels

What is this? Again it was another packed house for my panel. This sounds extremely self-serving, but my panels fill rooms. This meant that there were people who were turned away from the panel. Can I say that we would have filled the room if we had been scheduled in a larger room? I have no idea, but I do know that last year my panel on cultural appropriation filled a bigger room.

Why does this matter? This matters because people who wanted to attend programming for and by PoC were unable to attend that programming. This is just shitty. It means that people want more programming and want the space to be able to participate. Personally, I’d like to get passed panels that are just about the experience of PoC in nerdom but until we are regularly integrated into the narrative of nerd culture, we will require our own spaces to talk about our experiences as our own because those experiences are considered “unique” rather than the norm. This matters because if we continue to assume the default nerd is white (and in other contexts male) panels and cons need to work against that narrative actively to build an inclusive community.

How can we fix this? Try to get more panels by and for PoC into your programming, as participants on panels and by having more panels with them. GeekGirlCon does have quite a bit of that programming specifically for different PoC groups (“Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Examining the Representation of Asians in Film, TV, and Gaming,” “¿Cómo Se Dice ‘Nerd’?”, and “#BlackWomenDreaming” to name a few) but it’s clear that people want even more. These groups should also have expanding presences and be actively recruited to explore the unique experience of nerds of from different cultures/races/backgrounds. This will also be helped by having PoC on all panels at the con (cycling back to the first point) but also having panels about non-specific topics also staffed entirely by PoC. It circles back to reminding us that white-nerd culture is not the default.

My panels are not perfect. I haven’t reached my goals regarding them yet but I’m trying to create the programming I want to see at conventions. I also want to be a role model for others interested in bringing similar programming to conventions. There is a long way to go and lots of shit that needs doing but the success of panels like mine and #BlackWomenDreaming give me hope for how great the future of conventions could be. It requires work and in some cases taking the space we need at the table. It requires reaching out and hoping someone will reach back (and sometimes reaching out more than once to people who may not notice for a while). But those contacts will help GeekGirlCon and the nerd-dom grow into an amazing and new community. In general, this matters because representation matters and that should never be forgotten.

There's more, I promise

Hey! So this still exists and I'm working on a lot of blogs right now that will hopefully make for some entertaining reading over the next few weeks/months. Summer got the best of me so I didn't get to develop some of the ideas I had at the start of summer into real blogs.

A quick preview of what's to come though:

• Something on whitewashing and stereotypes in movies/TV (I'll let you guess who'll be the subject of that :D)
• Me discussing Marvel's 1,000,000 BC line which explodes my brain
• A set of posts on community engagement and conventions
• An examination of Feminism in Fandoms
• Some comics recommendations

Also, not 100% in that order as some of those topics require a bit more work than others to fully articulate into meaningful things that I want people, or bots or whatever stumbles upon this, to read.

In other news, I will be moderating two panels in the coming months! One at Rose City Comic Con in Portland and another at GeekGirlCon in Seattle. They are part of the community engagement at conventions I am/was/will be talking about because what's all this PhD learning for if it just stays in the Ivory Tower? I'm a Scientist not Rapunzel!

The panel at Rose City Comic Con is entitled "Adaptation versus Appropriation: How to borrow respectfully from other cultures in fiction" and will be on Sunday, September 10th at 1:30pm, in Room 8. I got some awesome people to participate including Tristan J. Tarwater, Yoshi Yoshitani, Jemma Salume, Marissa Louise, and possibly one more person who is not sure if they are coming yet. It's a simialr topic to the panel I ran at GeekGirlCon last year but with a new crop of people and at a larger convention. Join us if you're in the Portland area.

Panel 2 is at GeekGirlCon and is entitled "Scion or shafted: Being mixed-race in science fiction and fantasy cultures". This one is also on Sunday but this time October 1st from 3:00-4:00pm. I also found some great speakers for this one including Kiku Hughes, Tristan J. Tarwater, Symantha Reagor, and Sarah Gulde. If you are in Seattle around that time please come to GeekGirlCon and hear us talk about this awesome stuff.

I'm hoping to be a panelist at Emerald City Comic Con in the next year as well with Miles Greb and a few others. We're hoping for it to be a sort of Science Fiction/Science Fact thing with creators and associated scientists both being part of the discussion. That's still in progress and I hope it goes through.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope next time I've got something a bit more meaty for you to think about.

Blog update: No specific topic

My apologies for not having a blog post since April, a lot of things have been happening. Planned things, but things that took up my time and focus that were not this.

Moving: Back in the PNW for the next few months. Hoping to have a cooler summer.

Geek Girl Con Panel: I got accepted. Which is crazy, awesome, I am so scared and excited. It is such an important topic to talk about (Adaptation, Appropriation, and Influence) and has such power to impact the understanding of our world and art. Now I'm waiting to hear back about who may also be on the panel. I can talk about it of course, as a consumer and an academic, but I really want to have creators talk about their processes. I also want this to be a meaningful and positive discussion, not just a rag fest on how people don't do it well. Worst case scenario: I am there and talk about what I know and understand. Best case: I lead an awesome only semi-awkward discussion of the topic. Either way this will be great and scary.

Draft proposal: Submitted and waiting to hear

Wisdom teeth: My teeth are no longer wise but are healing well. Very strange experience.

Getting back to work: There are so many things I need to do that are all, like the Geek Girl Con panel, awesome and scary. Lots of writing, some solo work and some collaborative, some for publication and some for my proposal. They all require reading, so I have some trips to the library planned. Regardless, I hope to have a couple more blogs in the next few weeks. One discussing my response to Captain America: Civil War and another in my "series" of IAA. I hope to work furiously on these soon.

Thanks for reading and I hope to have more for you to read soon

IAA – P2: Pan-Asian Culture in American Visual Media – Dr. Strange v. Firefly v. Kung-Fu Panda 3

I mentioned this in my inspiration post that there were two roads towards this section of the blog. The general one being in reaction to JK Rowling’s mishap with Native American and Caucasian American History and the second was watching Kung-Fu Panda 3. The two are related via the trinity of influence, adaptation, and appropriation because although I enjoyed Kung-Fu Panda 3, I also wondered why I felt more comfortable with their use of East-Asian culture than I did with Firefly. And then the Dr. Strange trailer had to drop. And I was like well…this just stirs up a bunch of mixed feelings. So I’m going to write about how each of these different visual media fairs against the IAA scale. 1 being not too X, 10 being way too X.

Firefly/Serenity (2002, 2005)

What: One of the most beloved, and slighted, science fiction shows known within western culture and Science fiction fandom. Essentially a space-western, except everyone swears in Chinese.

How is it related to Asian culture: Everyone swears in Chinese and there are some signs at one point apparently in Chinese. There is also clearly Asian influence in some costume designs

What initially made me concerned: Everyone swears in Chinese, and in the movie there is some clear influence East-Asian pop cultural references. However, there are no main characters that are Asian in the crew nor can I remember ever seeing an Asian person actually in the show.

Influence: 4

Appropriation: 7

Adaptation:2

Why: There are clearly Asian influences in Firefly, the name of the ship and the clothing styles for Inara, they also even use Chinese as a language to swear in. The problem with all of this is the lack of actual Asian representation in the show. As much as I enjoy the diversity of Firefly, especially the number of highly capable women and the representation of Afro-Caribbean/-American actors, there are no people I can remember in the entirety of the show who are actually Asian. There are like a billion characters that draw from American “wild west” tropes but none that are actually Asian, even for use in stereotyped forms (ninjas etc.). You get an English gangster but not one Asian one. As much as I love Firefly, and the idea that these COULD have been developed had the show continued, that’s still no excuse for the lack of Asian representation in the first season. Even the movie doesn’t do much to further rectify the problem, the villains of the namely Empire still don’t represent the culture that they are supposed to be from. The problem with this, having the aesthetics and the language without the physical representation, is, as I addressed in the first blog, that those cultural behaviors are rarely expressed without people. Goods can travel, but language requires regular speaking contact and we can see even in America’s own history that when Asian cultures are present in the Wild West, which they were, they bring their language and a whole host of other cultural traits. To create a future based on this blend without the actual people makes it rate high on the appropriation scale.

Kung-Fu Panda 3 (2015)

What: The third installment in a series about a Panda who does Kung-Fu. It is set in a mythical China where there are no humans and all animals are anthropomorphized. Everyone eats vegetables and there is no cannibalism of other species.

How is it related to Asian culture: The story is about Kung-Fu and set in China.

What initially made me concerned: Why are none of the major voice actors of Asian descent? Is it accurately portraying Chinese cultural traits?

Influence: 10

Appropriation: 3

Adaptation:10

Why: Kung-Fu Panda has a lot of things going for it that make it more on the influence and adaptation side than appropriation. The biggest probably being the fact that Chinese studios are actually involved in the making of at least number three. However, as much as this helped to maintain the authenticity of the foods and aesthetics, and even a Chinese version of Kung-Fu Fighting at the end, there are aspects of the movie that rate along appropriation. For me the biggest problem is that the major speaking roles, except Oogway, are all voiced by Caucasian actors. While this is a kids’ movie, and when it is dubbed anyone could speak the role, it’s frustrating to see an almost stereotypical representation of Chinese culture voiced by a Caucasian man. While Jack Black is admittedly hilarious, and the movie is fun, it’s bothered me that as the franchise has continued Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan, who voice Viper and Monkey, are continually sidelined for additional quips by the male comedians who are often, in this context, not that funny. So even though it’s definitely adapted, animals for people, heavily influenced, it still gets a rating of 3 for appropriation.

Dr. Strange (2016)

What: The most recent Marvel solo movie about a brain surgeon who gets in a car accident and is unable to perform surgery who goes to Tibet/Nepal to find himself after his accident/surgery. Finding himself included finding magic

How is it related to Asian culture: The entire premise for his “magic” centers on Eastern Asian philosophy and in the original comics he learns from a 500 Tibetan Man how to harness powers based on these East Asian philosophies and magic.

What initially made me concerned: A many Doctors and Surgeons in the United States are now of Asian descent and it would have been the perfect chance to ethnicity swap a major but not super critical Marvel character. While the did not do this to the good Doctor himself, they did gender swap (which is positive) but also ethnicity swapped the teacher of Dr. Strange to being white.

Influence: 7

Appropriation: 7

Adaptation:1

Why: Dr. Strange is a strange Marvel character and like Thor represents an aspect of Superheroism that is sometimes hard to reconcile with ultra-modern technology and people with genetic mutations. However, it also made a lot of sense at the time it was written. The problem is that the movie did not do anything to rectify this very historically contingent use of Asian culture. And to a degree they made it worse. The basic premise for Dr. Strange is that a highly successful Neurosurgeon, who is basically a giant jerk, gets into a car accident and the surgeon who reconstructs his hands is unable to make them steady enough for Dr. Strange to go back to surgery. So goes on a quest to figure out who he is and where does he go? Tibet of course. Which is where he eventually learns the arts of astral projection and mysticism. Yay! In the 1960s having that be a white guy made sense, in 2016, personally, I think it would have been better to cast an Asian actor (who goes back to examine his heritage during a time of crises and builds upon the fact that many in the medical field are not white). Anyways, in the comics, he learns from a 500 Tibetan man how to do this. Well, who gets to be that? Tilda Swinton…Well that’s ok, I’m happy that it’s a woman. I’m not so happy that the implication that Tibetans 500 years ago were white, or that an Ancient spirit decided to live in Tibet and choose to be white, or the implication essentially that Caucasians are better at being Asian, or the idea that Marvel couldn’t write a good movie-worthy Asian character. None of those things are good and so as much as Dr. Strange is influenced by Asian culture, it didn’t do much adapting, and instead decided to appropriate.

Influence, Adaptation, and Appropriation: Part 1 – The inspiration

At the beginning of March in response to a pop-culture piece, the specific one I can’t recall it may have been J.K. Rowling, I posted the tweet:

“Pan-culturalism and appropriation in the "future": Dealing with using cultural designs and culture in Sci-Fi worldbuilding”

And one of my friends, suggested I submit it as a panel for Geek Girl Con. So, at the end of March I did with a slight modification to the idea. I retitled it to be the same as the above post and made it more general about using cultures that are not your own to build fantastical worlds. I posted on Facebook about this and people were supportive, both interested in examining this concept and posting ideas for which Science Fiction and Fantasy works should be part of the discussion. Since that time, I’ve been thinking about this topic (Today’s inspiration being Kung-Fu Panda 3). My primary thoughts being, “Am I qualified to lead a discussion about this?” and the following, “I should really put some of my thoughts about this down.”

I am not a writer of science fiction or fantasy, unless you count archaeological interpretation (zing!). I am primarily a consumer with a little bit more education and a compulsion to write my ideas down. I am also a woman of mixed-race so I have a tendency to complicate issues and investigate them within my more complex experience as a human, adding academic insight where possible and if possible.

So let me unpack my tweet a bit. (Anthropologists love unpacking, maybe because we travel alot) It came in response to the use of another culture by someone who was not of that culture to create a fictional story and world. Not necessarily a bad thing but that person was most likely white and was using another culture for personal gain. This got me thinking about how in science fictional futures there is an assumed blending of cultures where as humans progress through time our distinctions between cultures become more blurred and essentially this only one “human” culture. And following the current world trajectory that future is often heavily influenced by Asian cultures and most often East-Asian cultures. We see this in Blade Runner, Firefly, and the re-make of Total Recall, to name a few examples.

This hypotheses, of a blending of cultures, isn’t too far off. We’ve seen in the last 100 years the loss of much of our language diversity and many issues in anthropology boil down to globalization. There are very few, if any, cultures on our planet that have not heard of or interacted with technology in some way and most “traditional” cultures are still influenced at least indirectly by general improvements in medicine and other sciences. So, it is not far-fetched to assume that in the future, assuming we follow our current path, humans across the globe will be more similar to each other in the future than they are today.

However, how you portray this blending is important. Specifically, all of the above listed examples, and there are many more, do not display the biological blending that is also predicted for our globe. They instead preserve modern racial distinctions and grab the symbols of another culture. And there, my friends, is the rub. There is no example in the history of humanity where you have heavy, and dominating, cultural influence without biological mixing and the problem with not portraying that is it allows modernly powerful ethnicities to take on the cultures of others without giving those people their due.

It is, unfortunately, appropriation rather than adaptation or influence and the relationship between the three is what I will explore in more detail in following posts.