#African Diaspora Characters

[itsthequeercryptid]

⚠️TW // NUDITY⚠️

Oof forgot to post this here last night but finally another mermay post yippee!!! For my next pieces, I decided to draw my take on Mami Wata, a water spirit from African folkore!! 🐍🧜‍♀️

Some quick design notes:

Her outfit and human form were heavily taken from this particular artwork by Senegalese artist Zoumana Sane

I should note that I am not a part of any of the cultures that Mami Wata is worshipped in, so if there’s anything in my mermaid design that I got wrong or is possibly offensive, plz lemme know!!

Again, so sorry for how long the other post took, I know I said last time there would be more posts soon but other stuff came up and I ended up working on this longer than I planned. New mermay content will be here very soon, I promise!

[midautumngame]

Meet Qamar!

A magical protector in his own right, Qamar belonged to a magic order of monster hunters known as the Shikari, which formed around a Lunar Stone that crashed into a lake in Western India centuries ago. After a tragic death in his later years, he now inhabits the Spirit World, offering guidance to young hunters of his order. He's currently stretching the definition of "hunter" a little in order to help Robin with cleaning up the Spirit World.

[janicatart]

[plumandhibiscus]

Ginger Conundrum, introductory post:

Ginger Conundrum follows the lives of two sets of childhood friends and all the major people in their lives. These are the character designs of some main characters.

Dulce Chen, 25, she/her, an Afro-Dominican and Chinese-Dominican, transgender woman. She loves to draw and express herself through image-based story-telling.

Reyes Lin, 25, he/him, an Afro-Dominican and Chinese-Dominican, agender masc, he's extremely neurotic and extremely sweet, but also very good at playing bass.

Adelie Sun, 25, they/them, an African American and Chinese, agender femme, they're extremely good at kung-fu, love classic RPGs, and have a secret passion for making music.

Damond Kurosawa, 25, he/they, he's Hatian, Afro-Dominican, and Japanese-Dominican, they're extremely rich, but very nice. He plays drums and eats candy and sweets often.

[chaunaleatricia]

What is Afrofuturism?

Afrofuturism is an emerging cultural movement that celebrates and explores the intersection of African-American culture and technology. It combines African diasporic culture, music, art, and technology to create an exciting and innovative way to explore individual and collective identity. Afrofuturism explores the past, present and future of African-American culture and intersects many art forms…

[writingwithcolor]

Non-offensive Historical terms for Black people in historical fiction

@pleasespellchimerical asked:

So writing historical fiction, with a white POV character. I'm not sure how to address race in the narration. I do have a Black main character, and I feel like it'd feel out of place to have the narrator refer to her as 'Black', that being a more modern term. Not sure how to do this without dipping into common historical terms that are considered racist today. Thoughts on how to handle this delicately, not pull readers out of the narrative? (fwiw, the POV character has a lot of respect for the Black character. The narration should show this)

There are non-offensive terms you can use, even in historical fiction. We can absolutely refer to Black people without slurs, and if slurs is all one can come up with, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. I cannot say which terms are best for your piece without knowing the time period, but hopefully the list below helps.

Historical terms to use for Black people (non-offensive)

African American documented as early as 1782 (documented in an ad in the Pennsylvania Journal). Note the identity isn’t accurate for non-American Black people.

African could refer to African people or “from 1722 as ‘of or pertaining to black Americans.’”

The place of origin could also be used. For example, “a Nigerian woman”

Africo-American documented as early as 1788.

People of Color documented as early as 1796 (with specific contexts, usually mixed people)

Afro American documented as early as 1817, 1831 (depending on source)

Black American documented as early as 1831 

Black was used in Old English to refer to dark-skinned people. Black was not capitalized until recent years, so “She was a young black woman.” would make sense to say, though “She was a young Black woman.” is the better standard today, although not universally adopted. I personally prefer it capitalized. 

Moor was used as early as the late 1400s for North African people, but had a somewhat flexible use where anyone visibly Black / Of African descent or the Afro Diaspora might be referred to or assumed as a Moor. Note, it has other meanings too, such as referring to Muslim people, but that doesn’t mean the person using it is going by the dictionary definition. Not really the way to go today, but okay in a historical setting (in my opinion).

Biracial (1860s), mixed race (1872), multiracial (1903) and multicultural (1940s) are also terms to refer to people of two or more races.

Occupation + description. Throughout history, many people have been referred to as their occupation. For example, the Carpenter, The Baker, the Blacksmith. Here’s an example of how you might go about using occupation and traits to identify a Black character in history. Here’s an example I came up with on the fly.

“You should go by Jerry’s. He’s the best blacksmith this town’s ever seen. Ya know, the real tall, dark-skinned, curly haired fellow. Family’s come here from Liberia.”

Offensive and less-sensitive terms for Black people 

Blacks was used in plural more, but this is generally offensive today (Even writing it gives me **Thee ick*)

Colored was mostly used post-civil war until the mid 20th century, when it became unacceptable. This is not to be conflated with the South African Coloured ethnic group.

Negro/Negroes were also used as early as the 1550s. Capitalization became common in the early 20th century. I'm sure you know it is offensive today, though, admittedly, was not generally seen as such until around the 1960s, when Black replaced it. It does have its contexts, such as the trope “The Magical Negro” but going around using the term or calling someone that today is a lot different. 

Mulatto referred to mixed people, generally Black and white, and is offensive today. 

The N-word, in all its forms, is explicitly a slur, and there is absolutely no need to use it, especially in a casual manner, in your story. We’ve written about handling the N-word and alluding to it “if need be” but there are other ways to show racism and tension without dropping the word willy-nilly.

Deciding what to use, a modern perspective

I’m in favor of authors relying on the less offensive, more acceptable terms. Particularly, authors outside of the race. Seldom use the offensive terms except from actual direct quotes.

You do not have to use those offensive terms or could at least avoid using them in excess. I know quite famous stories do, but that doesn’t mean we have to so eagerly go that route today. Honestly, from teachers to school, and fellow non-Black students, it’s the modern day glee that people seem to get when they “get a chance to say it” that makes it worse and also makes me not want to give people the chance. 

It goes back to historical accuracy only counting the most for an “authentic experience” when it means being able to use offensive terms or exclude BIPOC from stories. We’ve got to ask ourselves why we want to plaster certain words everywhere for the sake of accuracy when there are other just as accurate, acceptable words to use that hurt less people. 

Disclaimer: Opinions may vary on these matters. But just because someone from the group cosigns something by stating they’re not offended by it, doesn’t mean a whole lot of others are okay with it and their perspectives are now invalid! Also, of course, how one handles the use of these words as a Black person has a different connotation and freedom on how they use them.

~Mod Colette

The colonial context

Since no country was mentioned, I’m going to add a bit about the vocabulary surrounding Black people during slavery, especially in the Caribbean. Although, Colette adds, if your Black characters are slaves, this begs the question why we always gotta be slaves.

At the time, there were words used to describe people based on the percentage of Black blood they had. Those are words you may find during your searches but I advise you not to use them. As you will realize if you dive a bit into this system, it looks like a classifying table. At the time, people were trying to lighten their descent and those words were used for some as a sort of rank. Louisiana being French for a time, those expressions were also seen there until the end of the 19th century.

The fractions I use were the number of Black ancestors someone had to have to be called accordingly.

Short-list here :

½ : mûlatre or mulatto

¼ or ⅛ : quarteron or métis (depending on the island, I’m thinking about Saint-Domingue, Martinique and Guadeloupe)

1/16 : mamelouk

¾ : griffe or capre

⅞ : sacatra

In Saint-Domingue, it could go down to 1/64, where people were considered sang-mêlé (mixed blood for literal translation, but “HP and the Half-Blood Prince” is translated “HP et le Prince de Sang-Mêlé” in French, so I guess this is another translation possibility).

-Lydie

Use the 3rd person narrative to your advantage

If you are intent on illustrating historical changes in terminology consider something as simple as showing the contrast between using “black” for first person character narration, but “Black” for 3rd person narrator omniscient.

-Marika

Add a disclaimer

I liked how this was addressed in the new American Girl books it’s set in Harlem in the 1920’s and there’s a paragraph at the beginning that says “this book uses the common language of the time period and it’s not appropriate to use now”

-SK

More reading:

NYT: Use of ‘African-American’ Dates to Nation’s Early Days

The Etymology dictionary - great resource for historical fiction

Wikipedia: Person of Color

[magicaguajiro]

Caribbean Folk Saints and Mighty Dead: A Precursor

We all have family members who take on an almost Mythic quality after they pass on. They may have been a character in life, or a perhaps a spiritual practitioner. Maybe they were known for their generosity, or lack of it, or their strength or brilliance. Nonetheless, it is someone who, even in death, still makes an impact. In personal practices, we may work with these ancestors for guidance and healing, but what happens when their influence spreads past your family, into the local community or even entire country? This and many other strange circumstances often explain the origin and powers of Folk Saints and Elevated Dead. I will be going into the various Folk Saints and Deified Ancestors of the Caribbean, (including Florida), but before I can do that I need to explain where these spirits come from, and why they are so potent in our everyday lives.

What are Folk Saints and Mighty Dead?

Folk Saints and Mighty Dead are spirits of dead people who were either elevated in life, or became elevated after death. Their elevation often is then connected to their ability to grant various petitions made to them. Some of the Folk Saints I will be talking about were used to disguise other figures who were outlawed by the Colonial government at the time, while others are various figures of marginalized communities who gained sorcerous or otherworldly reputations after death.

Cuba and Florida are Lands of diaspora and syncretism. Many different traditions abound and each tradition has multiple lineages, so the classification of spirits differs depending on the worldview of the person explaining. Some practitioners work within a framework of Catholicism, some use elements and some flat-out reject Catholicism completely for decolonization purposes. For this reason, I have differentiated Folk Saints from the Mighty Dead.

Folk Saints will include those spirits who are worked with in a Catholic context, but are usually not canonized or not at first. On the other hand, the Mighty Dead will include spirits who are venerated amongst Indigenous and African traditions in Cuba as well as the surrounding areas, as to not group them under a title created by Colonizers. If you are Cuban or Caribbean, these Folk Saints and Mighty Dead offer power at a closer degree because they are more proximal to your Spirit Court, and may even already have bonds with them.

It is important to note, spirits like Orisha and Cemí have very specific protocols, manners and taboos when approaching them, so this is best done with the help of a priest, such as Oloricha or Babalawo, or a Taíno Behike. These are not energies you simply feel drawn to and work with. Orisha and Cemi are in some cases Deified Ancestors and others Personified Forces of Nature, among other things. This varies from the Ancestors and Spirits I will be discussing in this series.

Benefits of Working with The Mighty Dead

Folk Saints and Ancestors give us a closer connection to the divine through their proximity to the Divine and their individual virtues and personalities. As with all spirit relationships, you will get out what you put in.

Folk Saints who are related to the Land you live on, such as Uncle Monday or Bessie Graham for us Floridians, can help to deepen your connection with the local community. They can help you to further your relationship with the Earth and introduce you to other Land spirits.

Spirits related to your Ancestry can help to work through generational issues. Some ancestral spirits, like José Martí or Guamá for us Cubans, are related to ideas of War, Rebellion, and overcoming oppression. These spirits can be worked with for the same pursuits of defeating oppressors in the modern day. Each spirit has a story and is multi-faceted, so it really depends on what your connection is to the Spirit and what you are capable of offering them.

How to Work with Deified Dead

Working with these spirits is individual to each spirit, based on what their heritage is, as well as their personal tastes. When starting out, it’s best to keep things simple. Instead of going and creating an entire altar dedicated to a spirit, begin by praying about it at your Bóveda or ancestral altar. Here, you may find that a spirit is not compatible with your current situation, or doesn’t want to work with you ever! Should the omens be good, however, and you may begin establishing a connection to that spirit Research and talking to other devotees can give you great insight into what a relationship with that Spirit can look like.

My formula for reaching out to these spirits is always different, but I follow basic principles. I always begin with a representation of the spirit, a small offering and a candle. The representation can be anything, from a statue to a printed picture or even just their name on some paper. The offering is in most cases water until the spirit makes other wants known to me, but when a spirit doesn’t take water I offer food or tobacco instead. The candle is something I was taught helps to enhance spirit communication, carrying messages between the worlds. It is helpful to research about whoever you are attempting to communicate with, and if possible you should speak to other practitioners who work with the same Spirit. Often times, this is someone-you-know’s father or grandmother. From here, you should sit with whatever entity you are contacting, allowing yourself to experience a personal relationship with them. I will share individual experiences of what each spirit has been like in practice for me, or people I know, but for beginning this is a good basic way to start out.

I look forward to sharing more about these incredible figures who influence my favorite corner of the world to this day.

Paz y Progreso 🕯️

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

HH Critical- Alastor thoughts

Critical of Hazbin Hotel, if you do not want to hear critique, do not read.

As time has gone on and I have heard multiple takes on Hazbin Hotel, I have gotten some ideas about exactly why Alastor feels so flat to me.

The show spends more time propping Alastor up than challenging him. Up until the last episode, Alastor is treated mostly as a powerful badass who can beat up anyone. Only Zestiel and Lucifer seem more powerful, and even then we never see any sort of conclusion to the Lucifer vs Alastor fight.

Alastor is a main character and basically the mascot of Hazbin Hotel. Yet he mostly serves as the devil on Charlie's shoulder in the first season. This would be fine if he served as a static character like Monokuma or Kyubei, but he clearly is meant to have depth.

Suggestion: Have Alastor pick more fights he can't win. We are shown that he is a sociopath who enjoys the suffering of others. Sociopaths who murder often get caught because they lack fear and get too arrogant. Alastor should have to fight to get back his overlord status and lose some fights due to arrogance.

Alastor's race and faith are window dressing. There is absolutely no weight to either Alastor being a mixed-race person from the 20s or him practising Voodoo. Both exist mostly to justify his shadow powers. Alastor also seems to get his power for 'free' as he does nothing in the series that even hints of worship.

Suggestion: Actually address both aspects. Voodoo especially (with the right research) could be interesting to tackle as the faith is a combination of Catholicism and African Diaspora faiths mixing. What does it mean to be a non-Christian in hell? How is his relationship with the pantheon? Does Alastor feel abandoned by his Loa?

Alastor doesn't have anything to do for most of the series. Aside from trolling Vox, Alastor basically leers in the background for most episodes until the very end. He has no goals or anything driving him but amusement. While at the end we know he HAS an overarching goal, it is in the last minutes of the last episode.

Suggestion: Alastor is most likely doing what he is doing because Lillith is pulling his leash. Give him moments of small rebellion and show him trying to find ways out. At first, it might seem he is just stealing for lolz, but every item is chosen as a way to get free.

General suggestions;

Show how meaningless it is to be an overlord. Hell has a lot of opportunities for its citizens, different ecosystems and cultures to live in and chances to make it big for everyone. The Sinners get none of that and are stuck in the Pride ring. Overlords are just slightly bigger fish in an aquarium, they have more power but are as much prisoners as the regular Sinners.

This should be shown more clearly with glimpses of Goetia nobles, the Deadly Sins and the like. Both Alastor and Vox should lose their audience to Verosika or Fizzarolli, nevermind Asmodeus.

Make Alastor's main goal a quest to leave the Pride Ring. Relating to the above, Alastor wants real power, he doesn't want to be chained in any way. Being close to Charlie and her being in his debt are stepping stones to true freedom in hell.

Showcase the lines he won't cross, then make him suffer for them. One of the tried and true ways to develop a character is to challenge their morality and resolve. Especially with characters as powerful as Alastor, it is important to know what could actually hurt them. Put his quest for power against his care for Mimzy and make him choose. Offer him what he wants but at the cost of his morality. The point is not to break him but to challenge him.

These are just a few suggestions I've had, but I feel they cut to the root of my problem with Alastor.

[leikeliscomet]

No, Ncuti Gatwa's Casting Isn't Regressive

**Contents** Intro Chapter 1 - For Black Boys? Chapter 2 - Strong (White) Female Character Chapter 3 - Dancing Queen/Conclusion

Intro

Ncuti Gatwa is making history. I don't say this as an exaggeration or flex. He literally is. In Doctor Who’s 61-year history, he is the first Black queer man to play the role. To reactionary sides of fandom, this is meaningless virtue signalling and from the colourblind, we’re erasing Gatwa’s skill by ‘focusing on race instead of the content of his character’ (or whatever MLK quote they’ve decided to misuse that day). But their ignorance doesn’t matter. When Gatwa’s casting was announced, there was joy all over the internet from Black diasporas across the globe. Black Brits were excited. Black Scots were excited. Black Americans were excited. Black Africans were excited. Black fans were excited. For Black and mixed-race fans of this show, we see this light no matter how hard right-wing British circles want it dimmed. 

In the words of the man himself, the Doctor is fucking Black.

So when did the word ‘regressive’ become attached to Gatwa’s name? How could this be a sad moment when there was so much joy? This announcement came at the end of the Chibnall era which for many had been a major moment of representation already. Jodie Whittaker was the first woman to play the Doctor and her casting was felt by many women and girls who were fans of the Chibnall era. Not only them, but many other marginalised genders felt seen by Thirteen because Whittaker saw the gender fluidity of the character, specifically noting Thirteen wasn't just wearing a ‘woman's costume’, but that it could be worn by anyone. But as one door closes another opens. Whilst Thirteen’s exit was painful for many, Gatwa’s casting is not a step back or a lesser form of representation. This creates a binary of Black v woman which alienates Black women in the fandom like myself and further perpetrates misogynoir that makes us have to ‘choose’ which parts of our identity matter more. On top of that it not only erases the significance of a Black doctor but also erases the potential of showing the Doctor from a queer Black male (presenting) POV in a show that has historically been underwhelming in representing the experiences of Black men and boys.

Chapter 1 ->

[uzumaki-rebellion]

The World-building of Wakanda: Black Panther and Afrofuturism

I've been revisiting the Wakanda Syllabus that an educator associate of mine Dr. Walter Greason put together when the first Black Panther movie came out, and also reviewing old discussions about the significance of that era as a cultural moment and movement at the same time.

The fact that I still write Black Panther fanfics is a testement to the love I have for that fandom and its importance to Afrofuturism and Black Diaspora Futurism. I'm always happy when I see other Black writers out here still churning out plots and series fics because it is a digital archive for how we perceive a fictional future where as Killmonger once annouced "We're on top."

These works are important and specifically center the Black experience. And we don't have to fit our characters inside of white story spaces where we are usually the sidekick or fetish characters. I had an interesting talk with a friend of a friend and she wanted to argue that Black characters in the MCU who were not in the Black Panther/Wakanda Forever films should be included in the discussions of Afrofuturism, and I said they didn't belong in it fully because those characters are not centering Black people's futures. They center the non-Black white leads and their American/American adjacent interests (I'm talking about War Machine, Nick Fury, Sam Wilson, Valkyrie etc). It was a good back and forth because I am always questioning how Black people can build Black solidarity/communities by always working in white spaces in the service of white global agendas.

Writing Killmonger's journey (and his parents) for over six years (Lawd six years!!!!) with numerous books has taught me a lot about my role in preserving our fandom legacy as Black fanfiction writers and as readers. Afrofuturism has allowed me to explore not only Black Liberation, but Black Queerness, ATR's (African Traditional Religions), Black Matriarchy and Black Patriarchy. I've written about things I love and participate in, and also got to play pretend like I'm a kid again playing with my Barbie dolls and action figures. Black sex. Black music. Black art. Black philosophy. Blackety Black and unapologetic.

All this to say that I hope others out there like me keep writing and reading and reblogging these free little digital seeds we are planting that will truly blossom in the future when others discover our work. I know many Black writers lament that we don't get the same traction or BNF notoriety that white writers do. However, there is joy and divine calling when one simply sits and writes a Black Panther tale to give to other Black people for free all over the world. It still boggles my mind that there are people who have read my stories for years and they live on the other side of the world. People I will probably never meet, but they read and sometimes leave sweet comments that feed me to keep going.

Keep writing y'all. Keep reading and sharing and creating. You are making Afrofuturism fanfiction that is a time capsule for Black folks who aren't even here yet. Academics are secretly reading your stuff and using it to formulate academic studies on a fictional world ! Your Black Panther creations are beautiful no matter where you live on the planet!

Pat yourself on the back and keep worldbuilding and reading.

Here is a link if you want to check out some Wakanda Syllabus stuff that has been collected for the public to use.

[samueldelany]

For Ytasha Womack, the Afrofuture Is Now

The writer and filmmaker discusses the blend of theoretical cosmology and Black culture in Chicago’s newest planetarium show.

Ytasha Womack, a screenwriter on “Niyah and the Multiverse,” currently playing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, is the author of numerous works including “Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration."

By Katrina Miller, New York Times, March 16, 2024.

On Feb. 17, the Adler Planetarium in Chicago unveiled a new sky show called “Niyah and the Multiverse,” a blend of theoretical cosmology, Black culture and imagination. And as with many things Afrofuturistic, Ytasha Womack’s fingerprints are all over it.

Ms. Womack, who writes both about the genre and from within it, has curated Afrofuturism events across the country — including Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival — and her work is currently featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Afrofuturism is perhaps most popularly on display in the “Black Panther” films, which immerse viewers in an alternate reality of diverse, technologically advanced African tribes untouched by the forces of colonialism. (In 2023, Ms. Womack published “Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration,” Marvel’s reference book examining the films’ influences.)

But examples of the genre include the science fiction writer Octavia Butler, the Star Trek character Nyota Uhura and the cyborgian songs of Janelle Monáe. Some even envision the immortality of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were taken without consent for what became revolutionary breakthroughs in medicine, as an Afrofuturist parable.

Ms. Womack was one of the scriptwriters for “Niyah and the Multiverse.” She spoke with The New York Times about what Afrofuturism means to her, the process of weaving the genre’s themes with core concepts in physics and how the show aims to inspire. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

How do you define Afrofuturism?

Afrofuturism is a way of thinking about the future, with alternate realities based on perspectives of the African diaspora. It integrates imagination, liberation, technology and mysticism.

Imagination is important because it is liberating. People have used imagination to transform their circumstances, to move from one reality to another. They’ve used it as a way to escape. When you are in challenging environments, you’re not socialized to imagine. And so to claim your imagination — to embrace it — can be a way of elevating your consciousness.

What makes Afrofuturism different from other futuristic takes is that it has a nonlinear perspective of time. So the future, past and present can very much be one. And that’s a concept expressed in quantum physics, when you think about these other kinds of realities.

Those alternate realities could be philosophical cosmologies, or they could be scientifically explained worlds. How we explain them runs the gamut, depending on what your basis for knowledge is.

Which Afrofuturist works have influenced you?

I think about Parliament-Funkadelic, a popular music collective of the 1970s. As a kid, their album covers were in my basement. A lot of artists during that era — Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Earth, Wind & Fire, Labelle — had these very epic, Afrofuturistic album covers, but Parliament-Funkadelic sticks out. There’s one depicting Star Child, the alter ego of George Clinton, the lead musical artist, emerging from a spaceship. That sort of space-tastic imagery was abounding for me as a kid.

“The Wiz,” a reimagining of “The Wizard of Oz,” was on all the time in my house growing up. It had this fabulosity to it — a heightened dream world that reflected 1970s New York. You had the Twin Towers in Emerald City, the empty lots Dorothy walked through with all the trash, the Wicked Witch running a fashion sweatshop, representing the garment district. The film took an urban landscape and made it fabulous, tying in this theme of Dorothy coming into her own through her journey.

Those are images that had a very strong impact on me. As I matured, I got into house music and dance, and began to see relationships between rhythm, movement, space and time. It’s not always something I can give language to, but it’s certainly become a basis for how I talk about metaphysics, in a physical kind of way.

What inspired your team to create “Niyah and the Multiverse”?

We wanted to tell a story about a young girl named Niyah, who wants to be a scientist and who is figuring out who she is — not just on Earth, but also in the universe.

Niyah looks for insight from her grandparents, who explain some of the symbolism of the African artwork in her home. She thinks about concepts she has learned from her science teacher. And she even meets her future self, who is a theoretical astrophysicist. Together, the two explore some of the more popular multiverse theories that scientists are looking at today.

Which theories are those?

Niyah learns about the many-worlds theory, which is this idea that all of your choices evolve into different universes. The choices you make create new paths, essentially creating multiple existences of yourself.

She learns about bubble theory, which says that after our Big Bang, more universes sort of bubbled off, each with their own laws of physics. Niyah also explores the idea of shadow matter, in which particles get reassembled as similar entities in mirror universes.

So there’s this parallel between Niyah learning about the multiverse and also exploring her own identity through her ancestral heritage.

Right. Because both of these are paths of meaning, different ways of understanding who we are. Afrofuturists tend to think in a way that is accepting of a lot of different realities anyway, so it was a pretty seamless experience to weave the physics and other aspects of the genre together. There’s already this intergenerational, or interdimensional, element to the conversation and the art that comes out of it.

The show is presented in the planetarium dome, which has a 360-degree screen, so it’s very immersive. Stepping into the space and watching the show feels like an interdimensional experience of its own.

The first audience to see it had a very emotional response. Some people were crying. There were Black women in the audience saying they always wanted to see this kind of imagery, that they had wanted to be scientists at one point in time. Others were deeply touched by the vibrancy of the show, of how it was able to bring these multiverse theories to life.

It’s impressive that these physics concepts, which can be difficult for people to understand or relate to, are made so accessible with examples that are not only imaginative but very rooted in Black culture.

Right. And it wasn’t difficult for us to do that, because as Afrofuturists, we operate in that space. It’s just about mirroring a way of being that we have always been immersed in.

I think “Niyah and the Multiverse” expresses that we all have different relationships to space and time. We are all looking to understand who we are, where we come from and where we can go in this broader space-time trajectory.

And maybe for some, the show normalizes the idea that there are kids who are Black who dream and are curious about the world. That curiosity can take them in the direction of becoming an artist, or becoming a scientist.

What challenges did you face in tackling the multiverse?

In trying to write some elements of the story, we had to push our own imagination to come up with what a universe might look like if you’re not using the laws of physics that exist in this one. Like, what does it mean to have your particles reassembled into something else? Sometimes we’d come up with ideas for different worlds, and our science consultants would say that already exists.

For me, this shows the beauty of bridging art and science. Artists can give visuals and narratives to ideas that scientists come up with. Or it could happen the other way around: Artists imagine something, and scientists think about what might be needed to support a universe that looks that way.

Image

[suugrbunz]

Part One — Main Focus will be Joe Liebgott, Edward Shames, and Jewish Identity. Part two will focus on MoTa.

First let me start by saying— these are thoughts that have been forming for a long time. There are things I will say that I've wanted to say for a long time. This is just me publishing my personal opinion with subsequent facts of the matter. However, you can differentiate the two. Put the facts above my opinion and if you believe I am wrong, feel free to send me a message in my ask box about it!

First and foremost being Jewish is a spectrum. There are ethnic Jews who are secular but stay within the community, there are practising ethnic Jews who vary their degrees of religious adherence, there are ethnic Jews who are Christian converts, and there are converts who are not ethnically Jewish. We are an ethnoreligious group— like the Druze or the Yazidis. There are many forms of our religion and many different cultural practices influenced by where they lived. The main groups we have are Ashkenazim; Diaspora that lives in Eastern Europe and everyone uses them as the staple of Jewry, they're not, they're just a part of the community. Mizrahim; Diaspora that resided in the Middle East and Northern African. They have suffered through many genocides (as have the rest shhh). Sephardim; Diaspora that resided in the Iberian Peninsula before the Spanish inquisition fucked them over and they ended up in the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa, and anywhere else. Finally, there are Central Asian Jews who are often a mixture of the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi diaspora. A great example of these are the Bukharan Jews. Whilst they're their own community within our community; Many Iraqi, Iranian, and Ashki Jews ended up in their community due to genocides in the countries they lived in.

So let's talk about some of our Jewish characters in BoB and some important information!!

Liebgott’s mother was Jewish. Yes, he was raised catholic but allow me to remind you of the statement we are an ethnoreligious group. He may not have spoken Yiddish but he did speak a dialect of German because of where his parents were from. Let's be real, speaking your parent's first language at home is normal. If Liebgott wasn't ethnically Jewish he wouldn't have been pissed off at Guarnere’s blatant antisemitism towards Sobel by calling him a Son of Abraham (oy vey).

Joe may not have known anything about the religion. Joe may not have gone to shul. But neither did Billy Joel and he was similarly raised Catholic by a Jewish family and still he has said he feels connected to the community. Joel's family went to Cuba to escape Nazis as they were a German Jewish family. If he didn't feel this connection then the real-life Liebgott wouldn't have fought Guarnere, right?

We note him as being exceptionally hateful towards Nazis. We see him as this feisty individual who could initiate a fight with anyone and might just win. The first time we see the war’s true emotional toll on Liebgott is when he breaks down at the camp. Though, I'd also argue that him not getting help when injured is a big sign of his deteriorating mental health.

Sit down because we are about to take a very emotional ride which will give you insight to any Ashkenazi or Sephardic individual who had a family member perish in the Sho’ah.

As only two generations away from the Sho’ah in my family, I know where my family died and I know where they were from. The most painful thing for me is to look at the train loads of Hungarian Jews arriving at Auschwitz. That is my family. At a young age I saw that film, I remember silently crying as I questioned if my family was captured in this film. If I see them just before they're matched to their death. Now imagine being Liebgott. Imagine being any Jewish individual that came across a camp— death or work camp. Imagine knowing this could've been you if your family didn't leave their homeland. Or worse, knowing that whatever family they left behind is dead. Dead and gone. Unnamed. Unknown. Stripped of their identity and in some camps they're just a number for ease of figuring out who has or has not died. Not every camp used this system, but some did. The camp easy company came across was not one of these but… It was still a camp. I think many people don't realise the sheer amount of camps and ghettos that were spread across the whole of Europe. According to USHMM’s Encyclopedia— over 44,000 camps were established. Additionally there were around 1,000 ghettos. So, we will establish our base estimated number at 45,000. Meaning the likelihood of accidentally coming across one was generally higher than what one may believe. Especially depending on the area you were in.

On the other hand someone who is hardly spoken of; Edward Shames was a practising Jew. He toasted his son’s bar mitzvah with hitler's cognac. Which is such a fuck you to hitler. A bar/bat mitzvah is a celebration of a Jewish person becoming an adult in the religion. There's partying, reading of the Torah, and all around joyous times. It is basically; We lived, you didn't— how successful was your genocide? Oh, yeah, not successful enough. Additionally, Shames held a Pesach Seder during the war. He was as religious as he could be during the war. I do not remember if or how he reacted to the concentration camp during the miniseries. I am a bit ignorant of him, I know some information but not enough to speak any further. Both Liebgott and Edward Shames by Halacha are Jewish. Liebgott's mum is a Jew, so he's a Jew. Edward Shames' parents are both Jewish. Even though to a secular person they are not viewed as being equally Jewish... In my eyes, they kind of are.

This concludes part one of two. You can find part two here: X

[citadelofmythoughts]

I’ve always LOVED that RWBY characters and places are coded/inspired by from around the world and not just one country.

Like, this is an America produced animation, but the main group is German, French (with some Japanese influences), Chinese/Japanese, (idk how I’d classify Ruby) and are friends with French, Greek, Norwegian, and Chinese.

Eastern Sanus is Europe based

Western Sanus is African (North African mainly) based

Mistral is Asia based

And Menagerie is Australian based

Not too sure about Solitas

I hesitate to consider any of their ethnic backgrounds to be carved in stone but there are undeniable influences.

I've always had a theory that the names and locations being a bit of a hodgepodge is due to multiple diasporas due to wars and Grimm.

But yeah, I do love the fact that CRWBY borrowed from so many traditions.

[transboykirito]

Yuuki is canonically a catholic and she’s very happy to be catholic and she’s very proud to be a lesbian and catholic. She wears cross necklaces and has pictures of mother Mary.

Other than that I can’t think of any specific religions for the characters except for atheist and Shinto, maybe Agil was raised in a Muslim family? There’s a big diaspora of African American Muslims and I see him as being from Philadelphia (where there is a big black Muslim population) rather than some place in the south (where the African American diaspora is mainly Christian, such as Baptist or Pentecostal) His accent doesn’t give black southerner (as someone who knows a lot of black southerners) but that could be from his voice actors being not black.

the last point about his accent is absolutely because his voice actors aren’t black (which. i hope every day that when we get the next anime he and trish can have black voice actors. there are so many talented black voice actors, please)

but this sounds real to me!! also that’s very interesting thank you for sharing!!

[racefortheironthrone]

I'm not as upset as some by inaccuracies in entertainment based on historical events, but in real life Queen Charlotte wasn't Black, right?

There is a theory out there about Charlotte having African ancestry and/or "African features," but it's mostly held by this one particular guy who's a historian of the African diaspora, it's not widely accepted, and even then de Valdes' argument is that Charlotte's African heritage came from a Portuguese royal marriage some 300 years previously - whether a 21st century observer would consider her black is pretty unlikely and really depends on how much credence you're willing to put into a few hostile observers' comments that were (in my opinion) just using racist sterotypes to insult Queen Charlotte rather than accurately describing what she looked like.

If you're asking about Bridgerton and it's spinoff, I think this is a case where the showrunners know that they're building off this theory to create essentially an alternate history where Queen Charlotte and a number of other aristocrats are black, and those characters frequently discuss what it means to be black and trying to rise in British society, and so on. This creative decision raises some tricky questions. On the one hand, there are real issues when it comes to representation on TV and ensuring that BAME actors in the UK have equal opportunity in their careers given the prominence of period pieces in British film and television. And ultimately, color-blind casting is completely harmless - the 2021 Green Knight movie was some of the best Arthuriana ever made, and no one cared or should care that Dev Patel isn't a white Welsh guy.

On the other hand, as various black critics and commentators have noted, Bridgerton et al. isn't a case of color-blind casting, but rather of color-conscious casting, where the actors' race is a significant element of the plot. And this raises some potentially troubling issues about whether making a TV show about elite black aspiration and upward mobility in 18th century Britain can be squared with Britain's history of slavery and the slave trade and the very real discrimination faced by black Britons in this period. For example, the real Queen Charlotte notably ignored abolitionist petitions directed at her, and was pretty harshly (and ironically, through some rather racist political cartoons) criticized for not partaking in the anti-slavery boycott of sugar. There was even a slave ship called the Queen Charlotte. Is this history sympatico with a portrayal of Charlotte as a racial trailblazer in British society? How one weighs the relative importance of these issues to TV shows that are ultimately adaptations of romance novels more focused on Regency handjobs than the nuances of 18th century social history is a question that's ultimately above my pay grade, and I feel it's more appropriate for me to listen to what said black critics have to say (incidentally, let me recommend the YouTuber Princess_Weeks, who has some very good video essays on the subject).

[doberbutts]

Okay well I watched the first episode of Blood Origin and honestly my thoughts are:

I just don't understand why people are so resistant to changes/new plotlines/some lore breaking of *recent* franchises but gobble it up when it's older. People telling an untold portion of a common tale is well established in storytelling culture. The first example that springs to mind is Lancelot, who straight up does not exist in original Authorian legend and was a FRENCH invention when the myth spread. Nowadays, most casual enjoyers of King Author stuff don't bat an eye to Lancelot's presence. Lancelot, who comes to mind, because Sapkowski writes said Lancelot to be in love with Ciri, and we're totally cool with *that* but not with changes to Sapkowski's work.

It's really telling that there's such a bigoted negative reaction to this because honestly? The black people so far have been BLACK black, darker than me, darker than even my black family sometimes. I'm enjoying seeing melanin in fantasy don't mind me. And the hair on the sisters is excellent, I'm liking the costuming, and I *really* like Eile.

The accents are kind of all over the place. Both as individual characters but also as the actors themselves. Sometimes Fjall goes from generic American accent to some form of fake Irish to ????european???? and back and it's distracting and weird. HOWEVER I do like the Irish and Welsh accents in high born kingdoms, because too often those accents are for commoners and poverty only, and this sort of turns the trope on its head.

I'm not sure how much I like the pan-Asian vibe I'm getting from some of the props and architecture. Some things look vaguely Chinese while others solidly Arabic while others a weird fusion of Indian and Korean and it's just odd to me. At first I thought it was because of clan structures but then I saw that it's just sort of everywhere. I have 0% Asian in me so I'm not really a good authority to speak on it but it's a weird vibe, a little Orientalist to my eyes. I'll freely admit that I like the aesthetic since I was raised pretty pan-African but I recognize that most continentally grouped cultures don't love that and it's mainly the black diaspora that's embraced it because we don't really have much of a choice.

I STILL feel that doing away with this short-season "but the episodes are an hour long!" nonsense would help pacing so much. Literally every time I thought the episode was going to come to an end, it's been roughly at the 20-25 min mark, which a standard TV episode would have been ANYWAY. So there's not really much point to having this be 4 hour-long episodes when it could be done better as 12-15 20 minute episodes... which would be the eqivilant of a short season while 24-32 is a more "standard" season (instead of 8 hour-long episodes). It gives you more time to flesh the characters and plotlines out while also allowing you the chance to trim some of the long-and-boring content people get tired of watching.

I really do feel bitter that the witcher tags continue to be people making racist and misogynistic memes instead of a fandom happily discussing a pretty strong first episode that introduced a billion fantasy characters of color. It really sucks that black people in fantasy is received so poorly when my inner 10 year old is happy to see people who look more like me having fun with the genre. I long for the day when I can exist in a fandom space and happily discuss my favorite black characters without having to justify their existence every 2 seconds.

Oof that CGI is pretty rough though. Which surprises me because the S2 CGI was not this rough so idk what happened here. That monster in the first episode is, uh, bad. And the background in the weird magicky place is also pretty, uh, bad.

I don't understand why the first witcher being an elf would piss Geralt off except maybe because that means Jaskier knows more about witchers than Geralt does? All of Geralt's iterations- the books, the games, the show, the comics- are pretty chill with elves as long as they're pretty chill with him. He only pursues certain elves and elf-blooded mixed race people when they pose a direct threat to him or his loved ones. Same as humans. So I don't really get that line at all unless, as said, it was more a "wow Geralt's gunna be pissed that I know this story and he doesn't"