Race, Culture and respect in Witing.

“When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.”

 Arapaho  proverb

I received an email late last night from a writer I know who has been having issues writing scenes using characters that are from different ethnic backgrounds than the writer is familiar with and is having a tough time translating those differences in a respectful manner.

“…I am very uncomfortable about writing a character that is (insert ethnic group here), and writing any non-Western characters are something I feel a white person cannot do…”

Wow. Ok so this came from the writer trying to write about an Arapahoe and Ute (Native American) kids who are attending a high school where paranormal events happen. These characters are medicine people and are central to solving the problems of the school. I applauded her for stepping outside of the traditional central casting depictions of Natives and coming up with some very different and unique characters. She wrote me asking for some advice on how to do this.

I can see this being an issue, especially in our strained times regarding race and religion. Hello Washington Redskins naming controversy. It is one thing to write about fantasy races such as dwarves or elves and discuss their religions or their racial hatreds and even slavery in a setting where these beings only exist in fiction.

However, when dealing with real ethnic and religious backgrounds for our characters it is a little different. We must be respectful and as authentic in our representation of the cultures we are writing about.

I know why she sent me the email; I have had extensive contact working with Native Americans in San Diego and in Washington State. I was able to point her to cultural sites and towards cultural historians who are willing to help her understand the Native culture so she might represent them better. And I was able to give her some insights from an outsider on the hardships I saw when I visited the Rez’ and how the addition of a casino can change the lifestyle for the better and worse for the populations on the Rez where the casinos are located.

I told her that the only way she can be sure of her depiction of these character is to do research. Contact the cultural liaison of the tribes close to her, and if there is none, contact the Tribal offices of the Natives she wants to depict. Believe me they want nothing more than to have a writer who is depicting their culture to get it right and are surprising willing to help in this process.

However, to address the larger point, that “white” writers are incapable of depicting other cultures is far off from true. I grant that the hardships, racism and everyday struggles may be difficult to accurate portray since these are personal and intimate experiences hard to understand. But other aspects such as the culture and the outlook that people have based on their cultural upbringing requires research and talking to actual people who grew up in those cultures.

I am not a scientist, but when I write about scientific ideas or concepts in my stories I make sure I gather as much material on the subject I am going to explore. I send emails to scientist or researchers asking them to explain some aspect of it and I am clear that I am a writer looking for help in understanding the topic. 

Talking to people of a different culture and not just one but several, many, as many as you can to get an idea of how even within the culture we can see that perspectives on issues differ, we can then effectively write and depict various cultures with respect.