deborahjross: (prancing horse)
[personal profile] deborahjross
World Fantasy panel schedules are up and here's mine (I'm moderating):

The Lands of Islam

Islamic lore is one of the world’s richest stores of fantastic premises, as illustrated by Burton’s “1001 Arabian Knights” and its sequel. A look at the legends and lore from this fascinating cultural source, as well as other Middle and Near Eastern stories and myths. Are there specific dos and don'ts for writing Muslim characters with authenticity? And what are the considerations about using Muslim characters in the current political climate?

I could use some help here. First of all, there are so many things wrong with the panel description, it's hard to know where to begin! It conflaties Islam and Middle Eastern/Arab culture/folklore, "all Islamic countries are Arab and Middle Eastern," and so forth. "Near East" is an old term, once used for the Ottoman Empire, now replaced by "Middle East."

The wiki article on 1001 Nights says much of the oldest material came from India (e.g., Jataka Tales), although the Scheherezade frame story appears to be Persian; stories such as Ali Baba and Aladdin were not in the original but interpolated later by European translators. Yet we lump them all together, treat the Burton translation as definitive, and plunge into adoration of what we consider exotic.

So... if you were in the audience, what would you like to hear, what points made, what authors or books mentioned? We could start with making a distinction between religion, ethnicity and folk stories (which the 1001 Nights definitely is, complied in Arabic around 7-8th C CE); we could talk about folk tales throughout the Islamic world; or fantastical literature with Islamic themes; or books with Muslim characters; or Muslim writers; or the position of culturally diverse fantasy in the political climate of anti-Muslim prejudice. Or --?

Date: 2011-10-24 07:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] janni.livejournal.com
I wonder if you could make it a panel on misconceptions of Islamic lore. The setup is certainly there.

Their using Burton 1001 Arabian Nights as a starting point for all things Islam struck me as really problematic as well.

Date: 2011-10-24 07:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dancinghorse.livejournal.com
Wow, yes. Cultural appropriation, much?

I've done a lot of books set in the region and/or with Islamic characters, just sold ALAMUT and DAGGER&CROSS to Turkey--they like what I did there. I started my original research with a book called THE CRUSADES THROUGH ARAB EYES, which I believe is still in print or available used. That's the angle I would take on the panel--not from the West but from the other direction. Turn the thing inside out and maybe open some eyes, educate some minds.

This is probably the panel I would or should have been on. Regretting more than ever that I won't be there. Oy. Well.
Edited Date: 2011-10-24 08:00 pm (UTC)

Date: 2011-10-24 08:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deborahjross.livejournal.com
I would have loved to be on this panel with you.

Taking notes... Thank you for the research book suggestion. I'll bring copies of your books.

Date: 2011-10-24 08:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dancinghorse.livejournal.com
Thank you!

The secret of course is to look at characters through their own eyes, within their own context. And leave your cultural assumptions at the door. I see so much reflex-level judgment in fantasy--modern American cultural values good, other cultural values bad or "primitive" or "not quite how we do it, of course." Of course we can portray slavery, torture, etc. negatively, and I believe we should not excuse or condone it, but the kind of easy stereotyping that the Burton reference implies is also easy, with a little education, to avoid.

If people actually read the Koran, they find a great deal of wisdom and compassion, and a remarkably liberal view of, for example, women--more liberal than in many, many Christian works right up through our own era. It's a beautiful book. People who really and sincerely live by it are good human beings by any measure I know. It's the distortions and extremism that we have to watch out for. Just as with the Christian Bible. And every other religious or cultural guideline on the planet.

But you know all that. The problem now of course is that what Dirty Commies were prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, Muslims now are. The dehumanized, stereotyped, negatively slanted Other. It can be hard to sell a book that portrays Islam sympathetically.

Says the author whose alternate-Crusades novel was published in September 2001. (Oh yes, it tanked.) But even before that, the prejudice against sympathetic Muslim characters was strong--in the Gulf War, same problem, and it only got worse. Which only confirms my belief that we need to not stop trying, not give up. Show Muslim characters as real and complex human beings, show their beliefs for what they really are, and fight the lies and the distortions early, firmly, and often. Starting with the description of this panel.

Date: 2011-10-25 05:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] desperance.livejournal.com
Damn. I coulda brought you a copy of that book, if I'd seen this a couple of days ago...

Date: 2011-10-25 05:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deborahjross.livejournal.com
Did you use it for background of the Outremer books?

Date: 2011-10-25 05:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] desperance.livejournal.com
Yup, absolutely. I had a wealth of research materials for those books (and still do: one of the I-wish-I-could-find-a-way-to-keep-this-collection-together pauses in my book-culling).

Date: 2011-10-24 08:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deborahjross.livejournal.com
On both counts, the book and the translator!

Misconceptions, definitely! I think we could do a whole panel on why the description is wrong!

Date: 2011-10-24 08:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deborahjross.livejournal.com
Yes, indeed! I've emailed him for input and hope to snag a cover flat of Throne of the Crescent Moon to wave about.

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Deborah J. Ross

November 2020

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