Comments on: The 4th People of Color Scifi & Fantasy Carnival

By: Xanphia

Xanphia — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:11:39 +0000

Common knowledge is different from subculture to subculture, thus what may be “common knowledge” in a subculture is not nessisarily the “common knowledge” of another. There may be some cross overs that are universal, but through the lens of that culture looks at it differently from the different groups.

By: Doug S.

Doug S. — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:05:33 +0000

On another note, I'm very aware that my own personal perspective is pretty insular; I routinely encounter people who know a lot about things I know very little about, and also routinely encounter people who know very little about things that I know a lot about. I often have to start many inferential steps back when carrying on a conversation.

By: Doug S.

Doug S. — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 03:47:59 +0000

By the way: The story by Karen Joy Fowler is titled “What I Didn’t See” and can be read at http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/fowler/fowler1.html
if you want to read it.

By: Deoridhe

Deoridhe — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 00:58:15 +0000

Do white people live in insular hives of whiteness, or something? I know I don’t.

Urm… how exactly do you determine you don’t?

I mean, I’ve studied religions, anthropology, psychology, sought out blogs of people explicitly different than me and gone down their linklists for years, now, and it has stopped surprising me how insular my hive is, even with the multiple expansions I’ve put in.

Hel, going through that excellent Carnival today, I was introduced to the entirely new (to me) idea that integration was not sought by all black people. I knew that NOW some were saying the costs were steep, but I had no idea that opinions were divided then.

Personally, I take opportunities to broaden my horizons, and people pointing out there are things I don’t know as a challenge, not an opportunity to reject feelings of guilt.

By: Mold

Mold — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:09:44 +0000

Hi,

Let me say that we all carry what is common knowledge for our in-group and that is enough of a burden. Here in Ruraland, all know bullet weights. This might be less than useful to an urban dweller.
We also reinforce what is common for our group. How often have we heard the right-wing banner of “acting white”. Not being of that group, I can attest to the strong harassment of those that excell in academics among poor whites.

By: Silenced is foo

Silenced is foo — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 05:30:26 +0000

So basically: don’t take “common culture” for granted.

Wow, what a revelation. Do white people live in insular hives of whiteness, or something? I know I don’t. I don’t quite get what the point of this post is. Am I supposed to feel guilty for not knowing the names of black authors besides those from the Oprah Book Club? I don’t flip to the back jacket of my novels to look for the author’s picture so I can assess their race and gender. I read what is recommended to me.

By: Mandolin

Mandolin — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:12:48 +0000

This is really, really true. We encounter it frequently when white authors are asked to name black authors and they repeat a few key names, while omitting everyone else.

It’s also true for feminist dialogue in science fiction, as L. Timmel Duchamp observed about Karen Joy Fowler’s “What Women Don’t See”– many readers didn’t know how to interpret it, let alone understand that it was reverberating off of James Tiptree’s “The Women Men Don’t See.”