#BlacktoSilmWeek is upon us, and I am outrageously excited that this is a thing! Tolkien is often credited with being the origin of High Fantasy as a genre, and unsurprisingly, that entire genre has been desperately in need of diversifying and deconstructing since its inception.
Diversity in fiction is important (I’d argue that it may be MORE important in fiction than in non-fiction), and should be encouraged and celebrated, AND THAT INCLUDES: Diversity in the fandom!
What else, and who else, is diversity in fiction for, if not for real people to connect with? Representation matters, and it matters because of fans of color (and queer fans, non-binary fans, etc.), not because tumblr says it’s a hip thing.
SO: take this as an invitation, if you’re comfortable doing so and if you have the time and inclination, to reblog this post if you identify as a person of color and consider yourself a Tolkien fan of any variety! Silmarillion, trilogy, Hobbit, movies, whatever. 🙂 And if you want to, add something about yourself and your experience with Tolkien and/or the fandom! Are you a content creator? Are you a voracious reader of fanfic? What do you enjoy most about the stories? Feel free to toot your own horn a bit; if you’re super proud of something you’ve contributed, or of your expansive storehouse of collected lore, I want to know about it so I can keymash excitedly in your direction!!
Also: shout out to fans of color who have had to deal with not only the racism in the texts, but also in the fandom. Mainstream fantasy is rife with racist, othering bullshit, and if you’re still here you deserve a goddamn medal. And better content. I want to be in your corner, and hopefully we can get some hands raised from others in the same boat.
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 