Posting an article I read a long time ago and loved; I think it does a great job diagnosing a lot of why diasporic literature is pretty bad and doesn't do a good job speaking to cultural experiences. A lot of it is written for white audiences and prize committees that don't actually know anything about the culture and are easily dazzled.
Anyway, another article I read recently (but can't post because it's a substack) called this sort of thing 'autoexoticizing postcolonial wankery' which made me think of it again, which is a much funnier way of putting it.
“When people say the X community, I wonder whether they just mean some X people I know and refuse to say that”
People do mean “some X people I know”, because no community has a uniform consensus, but people are horrible about arguing that the people who agree with them or prove their point are the “real X community” and people who have an opinion that someone dislikes are often called “not really X” or “bad X.”
I knew this work had an axe to grind as soon as the author said about Ocean Vuong’s aunt: “it is absurd that his aunt should be horrified at figurative language that references death.”
Assuming Vuong was writing from a place of good faith, then it follows the conclusion he had drawn was based in subjective observation and objective reasoning after the fact. As such, that renders the aunt’s PoV largely unassailable. I’m willing to grant a substantial amount of leeway in creative nonfiction (CNF) op-eds and craft essays. Discounting his aunt’s lived experience as “absurd” is an egregious error in writerly judgement — almost as bad as the author’s rightful criticism of “Allen[, who had] at least lived in Việt Nam.” In seeking to undercut Vuong as a cultural commentator, the author only manages to insult the person who felt “horrified” by something they had felt. That really gnaws at me as a reader.
To be sure, the author has salient points throughout this piece. This said, the tone of the op-ed/craft essay is so strident in its grinding of multiple axes — Vuong and his aunt, jacket blurbs, “MFA nepotism,” tokenism — that the original point, blunt-force ethnic credibility, is largely lost. That’s legitimately unfortunate.
Yeah, I had mixed feelings on this essay because it felt like a mix of some really important, well-articulated points and some of the author’s personal beef.
I've not actually read it yet (I'm in the middle of another longform story, but will get to this probably tomorrow) but as someone who is actually born and raised and continues to live in the so-called Global South, I've had these feelings for many years now. Just never had the words for them.
As a fellow born, raised, and living member of the Global South (albeit one of the nicer parts; hello from Malaysia!) I get that too; it's a very interesting vibe to see from both sides.
I don't think there's been a big Malaysian diasporic breakthrough doing this sort of thing into Global North high literature yet, but from my time living in London for a while, this article gave word to a particular 'vibe' I felt among the fellow Malaysian student community there. There's a bit of pressure to bluntly assert yourself as part of your community when surrounded in a foreign land, and it leads to a lot of ethnic presentation you wouldn't necessarily do at home.
And this was with most of us born and raised Malaysian, so I can see how that need for 'blunt force ethnic credibility' can metastasize to something bigger for the born-there diaspora.
It's a good article; hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
This was well-written! As a white fella who likes to study language, literature, and history from outside my own ethnic background this topic resonates with me. There should be more discussion of this kind of thing --- guys like Allen set a poor example that needs to be called out . Moreover, there should be more awareness of these "proclivites" in our culture (to exoticize or give the "noble savage" treatment to other people who happen to have different cultural backgrounds but are still ... people). Finally, there should be more talk about how ethnicity plays such an obvious but often ignored role in how we interpret/understand/communicate in these contexts. Spot on.
[OP] Self-ReferentialName | 12 hours ago
Posting an article I read a long time ago and loved; I think it does a great job diagnosing a lot of why diasporic literature is pretty bad and doesn't do a good job speaking to cultural experiences. A lot of it is written for white audiences and prize committees that don't actually know anything about the culture and are easily dazzled.
Anyway, another article I read recently (but can't post because it's a substack) called this sort of thing 'autoexoticizing postcolonial wankery' which made me think of it again, which is a much funnier way of putting it.
arist0geiton | 12 hours ago
I don't remember who said it but there was a very good article about post colonial literature that said exactly this even in the 1980s
[OP] Self-ReferentialName | 12 hours ago
If you can dig it up, I'd love to give it a read! Pity that for all the decades and our social progress we haven't gotten past it.
homicidalunicorns | 12 hours ago
also very interested in this if you’re able to find a link or reference!
skyewardeyes | 11 hours ago
“When people say the X community, I wonder whether they just mean some X people I know and refuse to say that”
People do mean “some X people I know”, because no community has a uniform consensus, but people are horrible about arguing that the people who agree with them or prove their point are the “real X community” and people who have an opinion that someone dislikes are often called “not really X” or “bad X.”
OkInstruction3032 | 6 hours ago
I knew this work had an axe to grind as soon as the author said about Ocean Vuong’s aunt: “it is absurd that his aunt should be horrified at figurative language that references death.”
Assuming Vuong was writing from a place of good faith, then it follows the conclusion he had drawn was based in subjective observation and objective reasoning after the fact. As such, that renders the aunt’s PoV largely unassailable. I’m willing to grant a substantial amount of leeway in creative nonfiction (CNF) op-eds and craft essays. Discounting his aunt’s lived experience as “absurd” is an egregious error in writerly judgement — almost as bad as the author’s rightful criticism of “Allen[, who had] at least lived in Việt Nam.” In seeking to undercut Vuong as a cultural commentator, the author only manages to insult the person who felt “horrified” by something they had felt. That really gnaws at me as a reader.
To be sure, the author has salient points throughout this piece. This said, the tone of the op-ed/craft essay is so strident in its grinding of multiple axes — Vuong and his aunt, jacket blurbs, “MFA nepotism,” tokenism — that the original point, blunt-force ethnic credibility, is largely lost. That’s legitimately unfortunate.
skyewardeyes | 19 minutes ago
Yeah, I had mixed feelings on this essay because it felt like a mix of some really important, well-articulated points and some of the author’s personal beef.
TheLazyReader24 | 12 hours ago
Cool premise for an essay!
I've not actually read it yet (I'm in the middle of another longform story, but will get to this probably tomorrow) but as someone who is actually born and raised and continues to live in the so-called Global South, I've had these feelings for many years now. Just never had the words for them.
Thanks for the recommendation!
[OP] Self-ReferentialName | 11 hours ago
As a fellow born, raised, and living member of the Global South (albeit one of the nicer parts; hello from Malaysia!) I get that too; it's a very interesting vibe to see from both sides.
I don't think there's been a big Malaysian diasporic breakthrough doing this sort of thing into Global North high literature yet, but from my time living in London for a while, this article gave word to a particular 'vibe' I felt among the fellow Malaysian student community there. There's a bit of pressure to bluntly assert yourself as part of your community when surrounded in a foreign land, and it leads to a lot of ethnic presentation you wouldn't necessarily do at home.
And this was with most of us born and raised Malaysian, so I can see how that need for 'blunt force ethnic credibility' can metastasize to something bigger for the born-there diaspora.
It's a good article; hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
TheLazyReader24 | 9 hours ago
You have such a great way of expressing this!
Euphoric_Stick527 | 6 minutes ago
This was well-written! As a white fella who likes to study language, literature, and history from outside my own ethnic background this topic resonates with me. There should be more discussion of this kind of thing --- guys like Allen set a poor example that needs to be called out . Moreover, there should be more awareness of these "proclivites" in our culture (to exoticize or give the "noble savage" treatment to other people who happen to have different cultural backgrounds but are still ... people). Finally, there should be more talk about how ethnicity plays such an obvious but often ignored role in how we interpret/understand/communicate in these contexts. Spot on.