Diaspora Identity and #Ownvoices in Fantasy

Eluveitie

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While querying my current WIP, I've reached a dilemma. The story is a re-imagining of the Russian Civil War, set in a fantasy world based on our own, with creatures from Russian and Jewish folklore. I am of Russian and Ukrainian Jewish ancestry. I don't think it qualifies as #ownvoices, because my ancestors fled their countries during that time. However, because I use creatures from Jewish folklore and a group of people in the story are coded Jewish, it feels important to mention that I am Jewish to avoid doubts about sensitivity and representation. Do you think I should bring any of this up in my query?
 

rocoroca

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I think it'll be fine to mention your ancestry in the query. I'm not too sure about how strict the #ownvoices designation has to be, but I feel you might still meet the criteria.
 

Bufty

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If it's fantasy, I'm not sure I see the relevance, but mentioning it surely can't do any harm.

Once you have 50 posts here you can pop your draft Query into the Query Letter Forum in Share-Your-Work and see how others react on seeing exactly what you mean to include.
 
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AW Admin

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Eluveitie once you have 50 posts, you can post your query draft in Query Letter Hell. You might want to go there now and check out the stickies, and read some queries.

The password is:

vista

In the mean time, I'm porting this to SF and F, where you'll have much more response.
 

Eluveitie

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If it's fantasy, I'm not sure I see the relevance, but mentioning it surely can't do any harm.

Once you have 50 posts here you can pop your draft Query into the Query Letter Forum in Share-Your-Work and see how others react on seeing exactly what you mean to include.

Since there's been so much controversy over poor representation in YA fiction and agents are likely extra critical of the portrayal of discrimination in fiction, I think it's important to note that I belong to the marginalized group that some characters in my book are based on. Especially since I have creatures from Jewish folklore in the story, and readers familiar with history will easily be able to draw parallels.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks!

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Thanks. I'm not sure. I haven't used the #ownvoices hashtag in this way before.
 

themindstream

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I might have this wrong, but my understanding is that the Jewish culture is largely defined by diaspora. As long as you've got the ancestry, you're considered a part of it no mater where you are. By comparison, while it's possible for a Gentile to convert to Judiasim as a religion some traditionalists may not fully accept converts as 'one of them'.

So, I don't think highlighting your ancestry should pose a problem as long as you are honest about any potential shortcomings in your knowledge. (I'm guessing you wouldn't be worrying about it if you already felt a close affiliation with your ancestry.)
 
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I might have this wrong, but my understanding is that the Jewish culture is largely defined by diaspora. As long as you've got the ancestry, you're considered a part of it no mater where you are. By comparison, while it's possible for a Gentile to convert to Judiasim as a religion some traditionalists may not fully accept converts as 'one of them'.

So, I don't think highlighting your ancestry should pose a problem as long as you are honest about any potential shortcomings in your knowledge. (I'm guessing you wouldn't be worrying about it if you already felt a close affiliation with your ancestry.)

I agree with the last part. Highlighting it can only help you, and at worst I think it would just be of no benefit. I doubt it would hurt.

As to the first, a small point. I grew up Jewish and was Orthodox for a long time before converting to Christianity. I also studied in Israel for a bit. I have never met an Orthodox Jew who would not accept a convert as one of their own. In fact, the Torah commands us to accept converts as though they were born fully Jewish, with their name being "ben Abraham" or "bat Sarah" as a son/daughter of Abraham/Sarah.

Edit: One more thing. It is quite typical in Orthodox communities that the only people who know a Jew is a ger (convert) are the Rabbi and the ger (and anyone the ger chooses to tell). It is against halacha for a Kohein to marry a ger, but typically the people doing the setting up will just try to avoid that all together. And if it does happen that they meet, the Rabbi might step in and suggest to the ger that she look elsewhere--the Kohein usually doesn't even find out. This is obviously my experience, but it is my experience in multiple communities in two different countries.
 
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Harlequin

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I've never understood the ownvoices stuff in relation to secondary world. I feel like it's a hard fit for secondary world fantasy unless you're really pushing the exoticism angle (and for obvious reasons not everyone does that).
 

Eluveitie

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I've never understood the ownvoices stuff in relation to secondary world. I feel like it's a hard fit for secondary world fantasy unless you're really pushing the exoticism angle (and for obvious reasons not everyone does that).

I feel like even in secondary world fantasy, it's important to approach certain topics with sensitivity and knowledge. Especially in YA fiction, and especially when certain aspects of the world mirror our own world (in this case, pogroms). Since queries are so short, I feel like mentioning these things is the simplest way to show that I am approaching the subject with care.
 

Roxxsmom

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I've never understood the ownvoices stuff in relation to secondary world. I feel like it's a hard fit for secondary world fantasy unless you're really pushing the exoticism angle (and for obvious reasons not everyone does that).

I think if a secondary world fantasy takes place in a culture or society that is strongly informed by, or based on, a real-world one, particularly if it is one that is greatly underrepresented in fiction, then it makes sense. Also, when writing from the viewpoint of LGBTQ characters, or of people with disabilities, a person's real-life experiences could add depth and sensitivity to their portrayals, even in a fantasy world. Though of course one can create a world where the same biases don't exist, or where different ones do.
 

Harlequin

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Right but that's part of what I mean.

I don't tend to base them off particular cultures, or rather, not recognisably so I don't think. I'm not the only one who does that by any means; a lot of people fall into this weird category of bame writers who don't write explicitly or recognisably bame fantasy. And so don't really count I think.
 

Roxxsmom

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I don't try to copy specific real-world cultures either, though I suspect elements do creep in. I get inspiration sometimes from real-world cultures, though I try to alter things so it doesn't feel like an out-of-context rip off of something deep and meaningful to another culture.

In secondary world fantasy that isn't informed by a real-world culture, I think own voices might apply to identities and experiences not based on a specific religion or culture. For instance, if your protagonist is a war refugee who is seeking shelter in a country that isn't especially welcoming, real-life experiences with being a refugee would add something to the narrative, even if the cultures and ethnicities in the story are made up.

Of course, this doesn't mean that those of us who live in the country they were born in and have always been part of our society's dominant culture can't write stories about immigrants or refugees. But we wouldn't be able to claim the "own voices" status for our work.
 

Harlequin

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I get how it's helpful and why for many cases.

But I strongly suspect that, all other things being equal, the obviously Asian settings (or whatever) would get tipped as being "more" ownvoices than something like mine.
 

Roxxsmom

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I get how it's helpful and why for many cases.

But I strongly suspect that, all other things being equal, the obviously Asian settings (or whatever) would get tipped as being "more" ownvoices than something like mine.

You're probably right, though as I understand it, it's only own voices if one is writing about a culture and cultural experience the author actually shares. I don't think a story set in (or inspired by), say, Yuan Dynasty China, for instance, is any more own voices when written by a modern American of Chinese descent than a story set in Medieval England would be if I wrote it. Not unless there is a particular, transcendent experience that they author shares with the story's protagonist. Obviously, no one alive today has experienced living in a historical time period or can fully internalize the cultural norms of that period, even if they are a descendant. I think own voices is more about direct experiences than cultural settings.

This doesn't mean someone who is of Chinese descent wouldn't be able to bring a different perspective to a work of HF of their own cultural heritage than I could, though. And of course, there have been far more well-known books written about European history, and about the history of other countries and cultures too, by people who are of European heritage than by people of different heritages. I think it's pretty well established that voices that aren't of British, or of European-American heritage are underrepresented in most genres, including SFF, even if it's not strictly what is meant by own voices.

I could be wrong about this, though. I've struggled to understand what it refers to, aside from specific modern situations, such as being an immigrant from a particular country or living with a particular disability or writing based on another specific and personal experience that tends to be under (or mis) represented in fiction. I also understand that the story should be focused on that experience or identity, and it shouldn't be incidental to the plot and character arc.
 
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LadyEllie

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Can someone explain what ownvoices means? It is starting to sound really restrictive.
 

Harlequin

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Anyone can claim ownvoices, and that's not restricted.

what is restricted is the inherent value judgement that agents inadvertently assign some claims and not others as the unavoidable result of their own biases.
 

BethS

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Can someone explain what ownvoices means? It is starting to sound really restrictive.

See this explanation. A quote:

"The hashtag #OwnVoices is meant to showcase works that are created by authors/illustrators who share the identity of their characters, such as a book with a d/Deaf protagonist written by a d/Deaf author."