ethnocentric

Yes yes I’m late today. I hit the ground very slowly this morning after listening to #2 child cough all night, thinking today would be quiet and I could play catch-up around the office once I got to work. Sadly, that was not the case.

So anyway…today’s topic is um wow, probably pretty obvious. If you read my “How to Write Black…” post at my blog last week, then you’re not surprised.  So here we go….

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one’s ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one’s own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to their own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity‘s unique cultural identity…  Anthropologists such as Franz Boas and BronisÅ‚aw Malinowski argued that any human science had to transcend the ethnocentrism of the scientist.  Both urged anthropologists to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in order to overcome their ethnocentrism.

I would go so far as to say that, as a writer, it’s my job to overcome any ethnocentric tendencies I might have, just as if I were an anthropologist. Especially since being a writer has deep, intimate ties to human nature and human nature goes to character (and in terms of writing, Character is King). How can one truly know & understand human nature if we limit ourselves to only writing about certain cultures or skin colors? Our commonalities are just as important (and just as varied) as our differences, and in case you’ve forgotten, we’re all different. My son’s friend used to laugh because we’re not Asian but we eat a lot of Thai food and he’s Thai but he’s eats a lot of American food. *shrugs*

“I honestly can’t relate to black women in stories.  I come from a good solid family, I don’t like rap, and I’ve never set my boyfriend’s car on fire.” – spotted by Raine in a comment thread somewhere in a discussion on RiR. This is paraphrased and not a direct quote but sort of a damned fine, if slightly cockeyed, example of Ethnocentrism which, in case that paste from Wikipedia made no sense is, judging others by the standards of your culture, not theirs.

Statements like the bolded one above are what unintentional racism are all about.   That someone said and believed something that ludicrous (in this day and age) just boggles my friggin mind!  Methinks someone needs to get out more and definitely watch less MTV (or whatever station it is that actually SHOWS videos these days).  What you’re being fed by the media is not the last true and only gospel of what it means to be a black woman or even what it means to be black –or whatever flavor of skin color it is that leaves you wringing your hands in fear at the thought of writing — (in the United States or Elsewhere in the world … cuz hello, we don’t have the market cornered on the black peeps!  They live in other countries too!  They even speak other languages).

For the record, while I do like some rap music, I have never set a man’s car on fire–maybe that’s a hazard of being biracial.  *shrugs*  I have to admit, I had a BLAST writing that HTBB blog post in part because it pandered to so many pre-conceived notions about what it means to be black.

And for the record, I’m not ranting because I believe it’s my job to be offended for all black women in America — even those who don’t even realize they’ve been insulted because someone has to defend our sistas!*

/removing tongue from cheek.

Becoming irate on behalf of others can be just as ludicrous as making broad sweeping statements like the one above.

I also don’t believe that writers who fear “getting that other race wrong” should worry so much, in part because the HUMAN experience is varied and multi-faceted regardless of the color of your skin.  What one reader might call you on for “getting wrong” another might relate to in a way that makes you both chuckle.

Now grow a pair, and just do it!

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*Just an FYI: 2 of my (black) siblings are college graduates–one has a masters, one is working on a masters–and one is a sophomore in college. And me? I’m the college drop-out!